DENVER – The Cherry Creek Bruins are still the champs.
 
On Saturday at Empower Field at Mile High, No. 2 Cherry Creek won 21-0 over No. 1 Valor Christian in the Class 5A state championship game to defend its 2020 title by the same score against the same team the Bruins defeated last season. The shutout victory was not only reminiscent of last year’s title game, but also completed a three-peat for the Bruins.
 
Cherry Creek has now won 12 football championships in its history and four under Dave Logan, who collected his 10^th coaching championship on Saturday afternoon to tie him for the most all-time in Colorado history.
 
“It’s incredible. This feeling is unmatchable,” Bruins offensive tackle George Fitzpatrick said. “I’m just so proud of my guys. They played so hard. Everyone did their job. We worked so hard this summer and this week in preparation. It’s just a dream come true and I couldn’t be happier.”
 
The Bruins took the early lead when quarterback Christian Hammond hit Maxwell Rodriguez with a 21-yard touchdown pass with just over four minutes left in the first quarter. On Valor Christian’s next drive, Henry Lamar intercepted a pass from Valor Christian’s Colton Allen and returned it 18 yards for touchdown.

Heading into the second quarter with a 14-0 lead, Hammond hit Ismael Cisse for a 39-yard touchdown that put the Bruins up 21-0 at halftime. That score would hold up throughout the second half behind a Bruins defense that held Valor Christian to 278 yards of total offense and got a trio of interception from Lamar, Tyler Tolbert and Blake Purchase.
 
“At Cherry Creek, we take pride in our defense,” said Purchase, who also had a team-high 10 tackles. “So if we can stop a team and give up zero points, we’ll win every game. That’s our goal and we came in and we did that.”
 
Even Logan was impressed by how dominant his Bruins were against a Valor Christian team that was unbeaten in 2021 prior to the championship game.
 
“I thought we played great on defense,” Logan said. “I thought we were physical at the point. We ran to the ball. We played at their speed, which is hard to do because they play so fast that it limits how many calls you can get in from a defensive perspective. We worked all week long trying to simulate that tempo.
 
“Then offensively, I thought we made enough plays. It was tough sledding. We ran the ball. We just were efficient on offense. Ball security has been very, very important and we didn’t turn the ball over one time in the playoffs and I think we got three turnovers in this game. That’s something we preach to our kids all the time and all in all, I could not be more proud of our bunch to play the way they did against a team like this.”
 
Offensively, the Bruins finished with 193 total yards. Hammond, whose older brother Julian Hammond quarterbacked Cherry Creek’s previous two championship team, completed 10 of 11 pass attempts for 99 yards and the two scores. Carlson Tann led the Bruins in rushing with 39 yards on the ground behind Fitzpatrick, who is headed to Ohio State, and the Bruins offensive line. Cisse finished with a team-leading 47 receiving yards.
 
Jordan Norwood led the Valor Christian defense with 17 tackles, one sack and five tackles for a loss. University of Oklahoma-bound running back Gavin Sawchuk led all rushers with 77 yards and Colton Allen had 58. Grant Simmons led the team with 51 receiving yards from Allen, who completed 17 of 34 attempts for 142 yards.
 
“I’m proud of our 29 seniors and I’m just devastated for them,” Valor Christian head coach Donnie Yantis said. “It’s about those kids who’ve given everything we’ve asked them to do and above. They’re high-quality, high-character kids and I feel for them. Hats off to Cherry Creek. They did a great job and they were the better team tonight.
 
“I’m proud of my team.”

Cherry Creek and Valor Christian have now played in three of the last four 5A state championship games.