Revenge is a dish best served cold, with a side of trash talk and hard hits. Creek will be dishing up some of that revenge to the Valor Christian Eagles on Saturday night.

The Cherry Creek Bruins face off against the Valor Christian Eagles at 6:00 pm on Saturday, December 5, in Pueblo, Colorado for the Colorado High School Football State Championship. 

Both teams enter undefeated on the season, but only one will leave with a perfect record and a ring. 

It seems this game has been in the cards since long before the season started. Star quarterback, senior Julian Hammond III, revealed that some Creek players, “Got into it a little with [Valor] over the summer.”

Senior defensive tackle Arden Walker preferred not to elaborate on the situation, but he did compare the rivalry to that of OSU and Michigan, or Texas and Oklahoma. 

“This [game] is the finishing stop on the revenge tour we started last year,” Walker said. “This is deep and we’ll just let our play speak for us.”

For those wondering exactly why the relationship between the two programs is so tense, let’s step back two years when Valor defeated Creek 24-14 in the state championship on December 1, 2018.

University of Wisconsin commit, senior cornerback Al Ashford III said, “Although I was not at Cherry Creek yet, I was able to see and feel the emotions that loss gave us as a team. It adds another level of intensity to the game.”

With budding stars lining up on both sides of the ball, this game may truly be one for the books, because neither team is going down without a fight. Each player has a part to play and something to add to the game, so what is it going to take for Creek to bring home the state title?

Senior running back James Walker II says, “My role is the same it’s been all year: Protect the ball, move the chains, keep the offense on the field, and take pride in pass blocking or blocking down field. We just have to all do our jobs for 48 minutes.”

Hammond III echoes the sentiment that, win or lose, Creek will do it as a team. 

“I think our big time players are going to have to make some plays on both ends of the football, but this is more of a team game and we need everyone to do their part if we want to win.” Hammond III says. 

Some might expect emotions to be running high on the eve of the big game, but Arden Walker is having more of a Zen moment. 

“I feel really calm and relaxed,” Walker said. “This is just another game for me to be honest.”

They say that confidence is half the battle, and that’s definitely the case for Ashford III.

“We’re the returning champions, simple as that. They have to worry about us.”