Creek’s varsity football team completed their season-long run for the Class 5A State Championship title after beating Legend High School in a 13-10 game on Dec. 7. Going into the game, Creek was ranked No.1, and Legend was ranked No. 6. Played at Colorado State University’s Canvas Stadium, the game followed the 3A and 4A playoffs as well, where Thompson Valley and Broomfield prevailed respectively. 

The game remained tight throughout the whole night, teams traded fouls and rapidly called time-outs to extend the clock as much as possible. Creek went into halftime without a score on the board, and Legend held ten. Players after the game agreed that the energy in the locker rooms during halftime was intense, but helped them motivate to take back the game.

“I told the team that ‘We’re not going to lose this game.’ After that, we really picked up that momentum and were super blessed to come back,” junior quarterback Brady Vodicka (#13) said. 

After halftime, Creek built up a scoring drive, scoring two touchdown passes and one extra point to take their final score to 13. In the fourth, the team’s main goal was to prevent Legend from scoring, and run the clock out. 

“It’s all in our guys, in the leaders of our team,” junior defensive tackle and nose guard Tufanua Ionatana “T.I” Umu-Cais said. “We went into that locker room, and everybody’s just hype. We were down ten, but our guys just talked to each other and we came out with that dog mentality in the second half.”

When Creek secured the championship, the team immediately rushed into the stands to celebrate with fellow students, hoisting themselves up into the grandstands to cheer. Afterward, freshman Elijah Cromwell was named the MVP, and the trophy was passed to head coach Dave Logan and Vodicka. 

“We’re so blessed to be able to do this, this team had so much momentum going into the game, and it feels good,” Vodicka said. 

Last year, Creek lost the state championship to Columbine High School with a score of 28-14. During that game, Creek struggled to gain a solid footing against their opponents, similar to how they struggled to score during the first half this year. However, many players viewed this game as completely different, primarily because they had new and different talent on the team. 

“We’ve got different guys, we’ve got different players, we’ve got more heart this year,” Umu-Cais said. “It’s all about togetherness in this sport, and this year has been great.”

In order to prevent another championship loss, practice leading up to this year’s game was described as intense, and players agreed that the team was working overtime to prepare for their game against Legend. Throughout the season, the team aimed to focus on their successes, but also better their faults.

“Our strengths this year were definitely running the ball on offense and stopping the run on defense,” senior defensive end and offensive linebacker Keegan Perea (#80) said. “Our weakness this year was probably our passing defense and secondary as I feel like we made too many mistakes and gave up too many big plays in the secondary this year.”

Overall, Creek held a strong leadership position over other teams in the 5A bracket, maintaining a 5-0 league record and a 13-1 overall record, only losing once to Utah’s Skyridge High School. Moving forward, the team hopes to continue their strength into the next season. 

“Winning it makes all the difference in the world,” Perea said. “I’m sure the young guys are looking forward to coming back strong again and making another run. 

Creek is aiming to continue to build off of their success, and take their momentum into the next year. “The work starts tomorrow,” Vodicka said.

See moments from the game below.