Ralston Valley and Cherry Creek will battle for 5A football state championship

ARVADA — Ralston Valley advanced to its first football state championship game in the school’s history with a Class 5A state semifinal win Saturday night at the North Area Athletic Complex.

“Amazing. Amazing,” Ralston Valley coach Jared Yannacito said after the last-second, game-winning field goal by junior Landon Plichta sailed through the uprights for the Mustangs. “There has been a lot of good players who have come through Ralston Valley. We’ve come so close. This feels amazing to knock down that door and get to that state championship.”

The No. 2-seeded Mustangs edged No. 3 Mountain Vista 31-28 in a battle between undefeated teams. Ralston Valley (13-0 record) will face top-seeded and defending 5A state championship Cherry Creek (13-0) in the state championship game at 5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 6, at Canvas Stadium on the Colorado State University campus in Fort Collins.

“We broke the curse. We broke the curse,” Ralston Valley senior Nico Benallo said. “I know we can beat Creek. Anyone is beatable. They aren’t the Avengers.” 

Cherry Creek overcame a halftime deficit to Valor Christian in the other 5A semifinal. The Bruins took a 21-13 victory at Stutler Bowl in the other semifinal that kicked off two hours before the 5A semifinal at NAAC.

“I want to enjoy this for 24 hours,” Yannacito said of facing Cherry Creek in the title game. “My coaches and myself will be going to work all night starting Sunday on those guys.”

Ralston Valley and Cherry Creek last two meetings were during the 2023 season. The Bruins got the better of the Mustangs in the regular season and took a 21-14 victory in the state semifinals. 

Columbine would eventually win the 5A state title in 2023 with a 28-14 upset of Cherry Creek.

“That’s super exciting. It is what we’ve been talking about this whole season … ‘Make history. Make history.’ We did that,” Ralston Valley senior quarter Zeke Andrews said of heading to Fort Collins where he has verbally committed to play for CSU next year. “We still have one more game and we are going to go win it.”

Andrews orchestrated a masterful game-winning drive in the final minutes Saturday night against Mountain Vista. The Golden Eagles (12-1) tied the game at 28-28 with 2:48 left in the fourth quarter on a 7-yard touchdown run by junior Hudson Modrzewski.

Ralston Valley took over on its own 28-yard line with under 3 minutes to play in regulation-time.

“I knew we had plenty of time. My mindset was just to make plays,” Andrews said of the nearly 3-minute drive. “I wanted to find my guys and have them make plays. They did a great job of that. We just executed. We knew it would come down to something like that and we were ready.”

The Mustangs were able to convert a pair of third-down conversions during the 11 play, 65 yard drive. Andrews connected with Benallo three times for 37 yards.

“We just find ways,” Benallo said. “We have the best team chemistry in the state.”

There were a couple of roadblocks during the drive. Andrews had a big 15-yard run down to Mountain Vista’s 5-yard line, but it was called back due to a holding call. Andrews also had a throw to junior Levi Rillos on the cross route, but senior Ethan Shirazi actually knocked the ball away from his teammate.

However, Shirazi had a huge 14-yard catch down to Mountain Vista’s 7-yard line to set up the game-winning field goal.

“I told Zeke we didn’t need to get it all in one play,” Yannacito said of the final drive. “They executed perfectly. Landon Plichta to kick the field goal was huge. It was awesome.”

Senior Colby Kurtz was the snapper on the final field goal and senior Evan Shirazi was the holder for Plichta who split the uprights with 4 second remaining.

“We knew we were going to do it,” Benallo said of the final offensive drive. “We didn’t want to go to overtime again them. Plichta is a stud and we knew we could rely on him.”

Mountain Vista jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. Junior quarterback Marquise Reese had a 9-yard touchdown pass to junior Luke Bentley on the opening drive of the game.

The Golden Eagles extended the lead to 14-0 on an impressive 11-play, 78-yard drive capped off with a 3-yard touchdown run by Modrzewski with 1:59 left in the first quarter.

“Our kids never doubted the game plan. They never quite,” Yannacito said of the Mustangs’ 14-0 deficit in the first quarter. “They kept punching.”

Ralston Valley battled back in the second quarter. Andrews capped off a 69-yard scoring drive with a 2-yard touchdown run. The Mustangs took advantage of an interception by senior Hunter Essenpreis that set up the game-tying touchdown.

“We actually called the wrong play on defense,” Essenpreis said about the pick. “Our coaches called something and we ran something different. It just worked out.”

Essenpreis was playing back in a safety position and saw the overthrow and was able to catch the ball despite it being tipped. 

Junior Sawyer Bolmquist scored on a 4-yard touchdown run with 1:51 left in the second quarter to tie things up 14-14 going into halftime. Ralston Valley actually didn’t take its first lead until a 65-yard touchdown run by Rillos with 9:20 left in the fourth quarter.

Up now for Ralston Valley will be mighty Cherry Creek. The Bruins have won 14 football state championships, including winning five 5A state titles over the past six seasons with the only blemish being the loss to Columbine in the 2023 championship game.

“This has been the vision. Now we just have to go win it,” Essenpreis said of facing Cherry Creek. “Take out the giant. That is the mentality we have. Play our best game and see what happens.”