Flag Football: Mountain Vista ends perfect season with 5A state title

LAKEWOOD — Mountain Vista’s student section had the most appropriate chat — ‘You can’t stop her!!!’ — late Saturday night at Trailblazer Stadium.

Mountain Vista senior quarterback Ariana Akey led the Golden Eagles to the first CHSAA-sanctioned Class 5A girls flag football state title with a 32-21 victory over Arvada West. 

Akey rushed for three touchdowns, tossed a pair of touchdowns and finished things off with a pair of interceptions in the fourth quarter to seal the historic victory. Mountain Vista (19-0 record) finished the season undefeated and were mobbed by students and fans after receiving the state trophy.

“It is so great because we have so many seniors. Everything is for them,” Akey said. “I’m just so proud of this team.”

Mountain Vista actually finished its season the same way it began, defeating A-West (16-3).

“It was definitely in our mind,” Akey said of the rematch against A-West which was Mountain Vista’s season opener Aug. 17 at Trailblazer Stadium. “A couple of us watched film from that game.”

The Golden Eagles took a 25-13 victory over the Wildcats back in August. The Wildcats returned almost everyone from last year’s squad that won the state title during the second year of the pilot program in 2023 for girls flag football. 

Akey got things going in the rematch with a 13-yard touchdown to senior Isabel Vaillant with 9:31 left in the first quarter. An interception of A-West quarterback Saylor Swanson set up Akey for a 2-yard touchdown run to push the lead to 13-0.

Swanson got A-West on the board with a touchdown pass from Swanson to senior Sara Walker, but Akey struck again with a touchdown run to make it 20-7 at halftime.

It was all Wildcats in the third quarter with back-to-back touchdowns from Swanson to Walker to give A-West a 21-20 lead.

“Garrett Looney, our coach, wasn’t worried. He had confidence in us,” Akey said of the response after Walker’s third touchdown of the night gave the Wildcats their first lead. “We just had to go down and score. That is all we had to do. I think our team executed great.”

Akey had her third touchdown run of the game to give the Golden Eagles the lead back to 26-21 with 9:43 left in the game. Akey then intercepted Swanson and cashed it in with a second touchdown pass to Vaillant on the night to seal the 32-21 victory.

“I made a promise to Leanna Rivera that I would huge her,” Akey said of what the first thing she did after she took the final knee to run out the clock. “I really don’t like hugs, so I hugged Leanna.”