LAKEWOOD - Mountain Vista – the inaugural state champions with a perfect 19-0 record a year ago - took the field at Trailblazer Stadium on Saturday night facing another potential perfect season. Sporting an 18-0 record and looking for their 38th-straight victory, they put it all on the line against a Legend team that was looking to avenge its lone loss of the season: a 40-13 decision to Mountain Vista on September 10.
Ariana Akey, the 2024 5A CHSAA Player of the Year, showed she was too much for the Titans, helping Mountain Vista defend its state title and cap off the year undefeated, once again.
“She’s amazing,” senior captain Braelynn Looney said of Akey. “She’s humble. She’s probably the most humble person I’ve ever met and she locks in and you see all of her energy. When she’s locked, we’re all locked.”
Akey wasted no time getting Mountain Vista on the board, as she ran it in herself on a 4th-and-goal from the 5-yard line in the first quarter.
Legend’s quarterback Madi Smolen then showed the strength of her arm to open the second quarter, launching a 15-yard bullseye to Lucy Thompson – who had competed earlier in the day at the 5A Softball State Championships for Legend – for a score, which evened the game at 7 all.
Akey would show her versatility, throwing a strike on the run after shaking a pair of defenders to Harper Hofmeir, who caught the cross-field pass and ran it into the endzone for the Golden Eagles’ second score.
Presli Easley had an answer for Legend, as her 18-yard run evened the game at 13-13, but Akey’s second rushing touchdown and then Lauren Culebro’s interception as time expired Vista into the break with a 20-13 advantage.
Mountain Vista started to break away in the third quarter, as Akey’s two-yard run and then one-point conversation extended the Golden Eagles’ lead to 14. Smollen would score again for Legend, moving the score to 27-19, but that’s as close as the Titans would get as Mountain Vista went on to win, 48-26.
“I think the biggest pressure that they have is on themselves,” Mountain Vista head coach Dana Srdoc said. “At the very beginning of the season, we talked to the girls and said ‘look we’re going to have a target on our backs because we’re the defending champs, and the thing that we have to remember is that as long as we stay true to form and true to who we are, we’re going to be successful’ and that’s kind of what we did the whole time.”
The title marks Mountain Vista’s second-straight in the two-year history of flag football being a CHSAA-sanctioned sport, with both Golden Eagles’ titles capping off undefeated seasons.