Cherry Creek overcomes gaffes, rallies to beat Valor Christian as Bruins advance to 8th straight title game

GREENWOOD VILLAGE Cherry Creek survived The Bruins overcame four turnovers several other costly miscues and Valor Christian s best effort on Saturday at the Stutler Bowl Cherry Creek rallied to beat Valor Christian - to advance to its eighth straight title event Cherry Creek the defending champion that has won five of the last six Class A crowns couldn t get out of its own way at times in Saturday s semifinal Meanwhile Valor Christian went toe-to-toe with the Bruins in the trenches matching and often surpassing the physicality of the Bruins acclaimed front on both sides of the ball But in a match where Valor Christian needed a knockout blow to pull off the upset the Eagles failed to come up with one The visitors led at halftime and early in fourth quarter but couldn t hang on as Cherry Creek owned the final minutes of play Valor Christian s attempt to tie the encounter in the waning seconds was stifled as the Bruins forced a strip-sack on the last play of the competition from the Cherry Creek -yard line With the win the Bruins who won last year s semifinal at home against Valor Christian in a - blowout improved to - in the all-time series between the Colorado heavyweights Cherry Creek now - faces the winner of Ralston Valley and Mountain Vista in next week s title competition at Canvas Stadium in Fort Collins Jayden Fox s fumble ended Cherry Creek s promising first drive as the Bruins were marching into Eagles territory But after forcing a Valor Christian punt the Bruins needed just three plays to drive yards for a sum on their next possession The - lead via Brady Vodicka s -yard TD scramble was set up by a couple long passes to tight end Ty Goettsche and wideout Maxwell Lovett But Valor Christian controlled the momentum for the rest of the first half following that moment The Eagles got a -yard field goal by Luke Brust late in the first quarter to cut the sum to - The Bruins appeared primed to strike right back on the next drive using another Goettsche reception to set them up deep in Valor Christian territory But a holding call wiped away Fox s -yard TD run then a forced fumble on a sack pushed the Bruins even further back Cherry Creek ended up punting and Cash Spence muffed the fair catch which the Bruins recovered inside the -yard line Once again a flag negated another shift in the event for Cherry Creek as a pre-snap penalty forced the Bruins to re-punt Then Valor Christian went on a march The Eagles sped up the tempo with a no-huddle drive that ate up over nine minutes of clock The Eagles leaned on the senior running back combination of Chase Hanosh and Channing Fox to ram the ball down Cherry Creek s throat converting a fourth-and-short en track to Fox s -yard TD dive It gave Valor Christian a - lead and Brandon Wright s interception of Vodicka on a deep ball intended for Goettsche on the ensuing possession had the Eagles hyped heading into halftime In the third the Bruins forced a punt and then were driving to take the lead But Alijah Landrum-Hamilton fumbled in the red zone and Valor Christian s Rocco Cali recovered Related Articles How Limon Colorado s football titles leader built one of America s preeminent small-town dynasties Cherry Creek-Valor Christian putting it all on offensive lines in Class A semifinals Scouting the Colorado high school football semifinals in Class A A and A No Cherry Creek rides Jayden Fox s big day to wild Class A win over Fairview Valor Christian triumphs over Legend in dramatic Class A quarterfinal batting down two-point conversion on final play It was the same story on Cherry Creek s next drive when the Bruins were about to result again but Fox coughed it up at the -yard line and Valor Christian s Jaxon Wells recovered It was Cherry Creek s fourth turnover of the day all of them coming in Eagles territory and two of them in the red zone But Cherry Creek s defense got another stop and once again the Bruins determined themselves knocking on the door of a tally This time Fox punched it in with a -yard TD run that gave the Bruins a - lead with left in the championship Fox then put Cherry Creek firmly in control with a -yard TD run on rd and with remaining Valor Christian moved the ball efficiently on its final drive in the waning minutes but the Eagles stalled out after Titus Huard was sacked on the last play fumbled and Tate Matthews recovered This story will be updated