FORT COLLINS — Columbine dethroned the dynasty.
The Rebels ended Cherry Creek’s streak of four straight Class 5A championships with an exclamation point on Saturday at Canvas Stadium, 28-14, to earn the program’s sixth title and first since 2011.
Josh Snyder carried Columbine with three touchdowns, while the Rebels defense turned in a stout performance to give them an edge in the third championship meeting between Andy Lowry and Cherry Creek coach Dave Logan.
Columbine took on the mantra of “junkyard dawgs” this week and only attempted two passes, pounding the rock for 251 yards en route to the title.
“Four in a row, and they had to try to keep that legacy going — that gets to be hard at times,” Lowry said. “Our guys stepped up to the challenge. They weren’t afraid. They weren’t intimidated. I give Dave and his staff all the credit in the world for (their run), but our kids just played harder tonight. They were tougher.”
Columbine came out on fire, threatening to blow the Bruins’ doors off. The Rebels defense allowed just one first down over Cherry Creek’s first three drives, including a tone-setting three-and-out on the opening possession.
In the time between, the Rebels’ full house formation went to work. Columbine started its first drive at the Bruins’ 32-yard line after a shanked punt, converted a fourth-and-short, then Snyder punched it in for a 1-yard TD and 7-0 lead. Cherry Creek’s poor first punt was one of several special teams miscues for the Bruins.
“They tried to punt into the wind (in the first half), and that was huge getting a couple of short fields,” Lowry said.
Snyder followed his first TD by ripping off a 46-yard scoring run on Columbine’s next drive, and the Rebels went up 14-0, quieting the Cherry Creek side of the stadium and sending a shockwave through the Bruins’ sideline.
“The last couple weeks, we haven’t started off very strong, so this week we were playing a great team and we knew we had to start off strong,” Columbine QB Reeve Holliday said. “We came out and punched them in the mouth.”
The Rebels were marching to score on their third drive, too, but Holliday threw a red zone interception on Columbine’s only pass attempt of the half.
Kiyon Johnston leapt up and picked the ball off in the end zone, his second impactful interception in as many weeks after his takeaway against Ralston Valley in the semifinals helped key the Bruins’ comeback at the Stutler Bowl.
Johnston’s pick set up the Bruins’ first TD. Brady Vodicka immediately found Max Lovett for a 41-yard pass, then the QB’s long scramble finally got Cherry Creek in the red zone. Jordan Herron’s 1-yard TD run put Cherry Creek on the board, cutting the lead to 14-7 with 3:04 left in the half.
But Columbine responded right away, when Snyder recorded the first-half TD hat-trick by taking a 98-yard kickoff to the house, untouched, to put the Rebels back up by two scores at 21-7.
Cherry Creek had the final say of the first half. The Bruins got set up by Tyson Mauck’s 39-yard reception, then a few plays later, Jayden Fox’s 2-yard TD run made it 21-14 with 46 seconds left in the half.
It was the last time the Bruins would score.
“They’re unbeaten (for a reason) and we knew going in that this was going to be a battle and we had to play really well, limit our mistakes and play clean,” Logan said. “We just weren’t able to do that.”
Columbine’s opening drive of the third quarter sputtered out, and the Rebels punted for the first time. Another long reception by Mauck returned the Bruins to Columbine territory. But the Rebels defense rose up and stuffed Cherry Creek on fourth-and-4 inside the 10-yard line.
After James Cillessen ripped off a 52-yard run, the Rebels’ run game found a rhythm again. But a promising drive ended with a red zone fumble, giving the Bruins new life.
Cherry Creek, however, promptly went three-and-out, and then another shanked punt gave the Rebels the ball back at the Bruins’ 26-yard line. That led to James Basinger’s 1-yard TD run with 5:10 to play to push the score to 28-14.
“We’ve been really good in the kicking game all year long, and we were not good tonight,” Logan said. “You can’t make that many mistakes in a game like this in terms of field position. It just killed us… (This loss) hurts, but they’ve got a great program. We want to congratulate them.”
Basinger’s TD essentially put the game on ice, as Columbine’s defense came back with another stop the next possession, stuffing the Bruins on fourth down.
“I asked on the headset, ‘Do we go after them right now?'” Columbine defensive coordinator Tom Tonelli said. “We gave it a go to try to end the game right then and there and seal it. We called a stunt and it worked, and we got to (Vodicka in the backfield).
“We started 11 seniors on defense tonight and I couldn’t be more proud of them. The biggest difference wasn’t scheme. It was our kids love each other and play so hard for each other.”
Columbine, which lost 35-10 to Cherry Creek in 2019 in the Rebels’ last title appearance that was also the start of the Bruins’ four-peat, finished 14-0. The Bruins finished 13-1, and their loss on Saturday was their first defeat since falling to Grandview in league play in October of last year.
For Holliday, Saturday’s victory was personal, as his brother Jadon Holliday played QB on that 2019 team that came up short to Cherry Creek in the lopsided championship loss in Denver.
“Obviously it’s a very special game for me, just because it’s revenge for my brother,” Holliday said. “These guys fought harder than I’d ever imagine. The brotherhood came through.”
Basinger called out the disparity in the crowds at Canvas Stadium, where the Rebels’ faithful on the east side had more numbers and more energy than the Bruins’ crowd on the west side. He also noted that Saturday’s performance was an actualization of the Rebels’ year-long ethos of “it’s about us.”
“We were playing for each other tonight, hugging each other after every great play, a million high-fives,” Basinger said. “And look at the crowds — we had more than them. Our whole community was behind us, not sure if you can say that (about Cherry Creek). Everyone was on our side tonight and we came through for them.”
Cillessen, one of a handful of two-way starters for Columbine, said the disparity in size between the two teams — both in terms of physical attributes and the number of players on the roster — fueled the Rebels.
“Lowry always says, ‘The heart is better than the size,'” Cillessen said. “The five-peat? Yeah, we talked about that a little bit. But we mostly talked about us. Because it’s about us. We just kept smashing them in the mouth. We did all game. We were more physical.”
The Rebels’ title this year brings Lowry’s championship journey full circle, as their first title in 1999 — about six months after the shooting at the school — also came against the Bruins in a 21-14 affair. Lowry was overcome with emotion after this one, though, especially considering his wife Janet’s ongoing battle with cancer over the last six years.
“Nothing gets better than tonight, and I’m sure I felt like that after every single one of them,” Lowry said. “A couple of them were some lopsided scores, where we handed it to them, and I remember being on top of the world for those. But right now, it doesn’t get any better. We had the best honorary captain in the world in my wife tonight, so I told her it was all due to her. We got a lot of prayers for her… and tonight one got answered for our team.”
In winning four straight Class 5A state football titles between 2019 and 2022, the Cherry Creek Bruins set a new standard for their classification. But after losing to Columbine on Saturday, Dave Logan’s squad fell short of the state record shared by Sedgwick County and Limon. Here’s a look at each of the programs to win at least four in a row:
| Team | Streak | Years | Classification | Head coach | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sedgwick County | 6 | 2015-2020 | 8 Man | Chris Michel | Cougars had never won a state title before the streak, and haven’t since. |
| Limon | 6 | 1963-1968 | B/A | Lloyd Gaskill | Gaskill led all coaches in state titles at 10 before Logan passed him last fall. |
| Cherry Creek | 4 | 2019-2022 | Class 5A | Dave Logan | Creek’s first victim in the streak (Columbine) was also the team that ended it. |
| Palisade | 4 | 1994-1997 | Class 3A | Joe Ramunno | Ramunno turned Palisade success into 14-year stint as Colorado Mesa’s coach. |
| Stratton | 4 | 1992-1995 | 8 Man | Greg King | Stratton reached six straight championship games, losing just once in 1996. |
| Hugo | 4 | 1968-1971 | 8 Man | Harold Kravig | Kravig’s Hugo teams made the title game all seven years he coached, winning six. |
Source: CHSAANow.com
