Preps |

Cherry Creek wins record fourth straight Class 5A football title, rallying in second half to beat Valor Christian 24-17

When it comes to big-school prep football in Colorado, there’s Cherry Creek, and then there’s everybody else.

The Bruins cemented that fact Saturday at Empower Field, rallying to beat Valor Christian 24-17. It marked Cherry Creek’s fourth consecutive Class 5A crown, a Colorado record, while Bruins head coach Dave Logan also broke a state mark with his 11th state title.

Logan downplayed his and his program’s feats after the game, but the Bruins players danced around him while chanting “Four-peat! Four-peat!”

“This means I’ve been blessed to coach 30 years, and the core group of my staff has been with me for 25 or so years, which has been a big part of my success,” Logan said. “And I’ve been blessed to have great players who buy in and do the right thing… We gave things away in the first half, but we had enough resilience and mental toughness to stay the course and come back.”

A quarterback switch, the run game and stingy defense fueled the Bruins, who trailed 7-3 at the half. Logan swapped freshman quarterback Brady Vodicka out for senior Brian Rudden in the locker room and Rudden threw a pivotal 34-yard touchdown to Ismael Cisse in the third quarter.

“In the first half we were a little out of sync offensively,” Logan said. “We throw two picks, we got stopped on fourth-and-short, we miss a field goal. We had self-inflicted wounds, so I just wanted to settle us down a little bit. Brady’s going to be a really good player, but I thought Brian came in and did a nice job.”

Senior linebacker Blake Purchase, an Oregon commit, had the game-winning touchdown with 6:12 left. Purchase’s four-yard run was his first offensive snap of the year and first career varsity touchdown on offense.

“(Logan) said to go in because he trusts me with the ball in my hands, so I was just trying to make a play,” Purchase said. “I was hiding behind the linemen, waiting a moment for the hole to clear up, then I took off and scored.”

Cherry Creek now has 13 titles overall, second all-time behind Limon, which won its 21st championship this year. Logan overtook longtime Limon coach Lloyd Gaskill for the most Colorado football titles all-time in the Bruins’ victory.

Cherry Creek previously three-peated from 1994-96, a feat matched by Logan’s Mullen teams from 2008-10. But the Bruins were able to accomplish on Saturday what no 5A, 4A or 2A team had previously done. Palisade won four consecutive Class 3A titles from 1994-97, and Limon won six straight 1A titles from 1963-68.

“In the locker room at half all the seniors came together, and everybody committed to playing the full 48 minutes and seeing this thing through,” Purchase said. “We knew we could get it done. We weren’t going to walk out of here without (the fourth title).”

Valor Christian broke the defensive stalemate late in the first half when Greg McDonald’s three-yard touchdown run capped a 17-play, 95-yard drive to give the Eagles a 7-3 lead with 38 seconds left in the second quarter.

But the Bruins responded quickly in the third quarter. Senior running Carlson Tann had a plus run to set up his 16-yard touchdown run the very next play, giving the Bruins their first lead at 10-7. On Cherry Creek’s next drive, Rudden launched the momentum-shifting bomb to Cisse to make it 17-7.

“I told these guys we were going to win this game when I came in,” Rudden said. “We had probably the best receiver in the state, one-on-one on that touchdown pass. I don’t know why you don’t throw it to him.”

After Valor Christian added a field goal, Purchase’s TD put Cherry Creek’s win on ice, though the Eagles got a late touchdown to pull within one possession. When their subsequent onside kick failed, Rudden and the Bruins knelt out the clock for the win.

Rudden, who started the Bruins’ first couple games before losing his job to Vodicka, ended up with the ball in his hands when the clock struck zero. It marked a final, fairy tale leg of a roller-coaster season for the senior, who said his job as the Bruins’ holder while he was the backup quarterback kept him ready for Saturday’s save-the-season performance.

“(Being the holder) meant a lot to me,” Rudden said. “I know it’s a little role, but it kept me up emotionally through all of it. It’s not easy coming out and coming back in (as the backup).

“Coming into the game, you try to imagine all scenarios, but — no, coming in and (helping win the game), I did not imagine this.”

Logan stands alone

Cherry Creek head coach Dave Logan claimed the 11th state championship of his coaching career Saturday, and fourth in a row at Creek, with Saturday’s 24-17 win over Valor Christian. He now has the most state titles of any coach in Colorado prep football history, passing Limon coaching legend Lloyd Gaskill at 10. Here is a look at each of Logan’s titles across four different schools:

Source: CHSAANow.com