GREENWOOD VILLAGE — Within the first 12 minutes of the season, two of Cherry Creek’s best players were standing in slings on the sideline, and the Bruins already faced their first deficit.
No sweat for a team looking to capitalize the D in dynasty, though.
The Bruins did as they usually do — wear down their opponent with superior size, depth and skill — to roll Ralston Valley, 35-9, in the four-time defending Class 5A champions’ season-opener at the Stutler Bowl.
“We had a lot of new guys coming in, a lot of guys who played before but haven’t started, and we had some first-game jitters,” Cherry Creek senior right guard Hayden Treter said. “But we did a great job of preparing, and sticking to our game-plan, and eventually, the rust wore off and we showed a glimpse of the team we’ll be this fall.”
Senior left tackle AJ Burton, an Iowa State commit, dislocated his left shoulder on Cherry Creek’s opening offensive drive. The next series, senior middle linebacker Angelo Petrides dislocated his right shoulder.
But the Bruins made do without both captains, owning the second half and keeping quarterback Logan Madden and the high-powered Ralston Valley offense out of the end zone to open the year on a high note in front of the home crowd.
The Mustangs, who began the season with a 13-7 Week 0 triumph over Mountain Vista in which the defense paved the way to victory, withstood the Bruins’ first punch when senior Jordan Herron ran for a 29-yard touchdown to make it 7-0.
Ralston Valley converted a 27-yard field goal by Marshall Strange a few minutes later, and then turned the tide of the game with Kyle Phipps’ 52-yard scoop-and-score on a botched Bruins swing pass. Cherry Creek stopped playing after Brady Vodicka’s backwards sling fell to the turf — Bruins came off the field saying they heard a whistle — but Phipps didn’t quit on the play.
Bruins head coach Dave Logan called the play “a give all the way.”
“It was a youthful mistake,” Logan said. “We had a few of those, but all-in-all, I was worried to death about this game. Ralston Valley has a lot of talent, they’re as big as we are up front, with a three-year starter at QB on a senior-dominated team. I knew it was going to be a test, and it was. It was a very physical game.”
Cherry Creek blocked the subsequent extra point, but Ralston Valley led 9-7, and a quiet but palpable intensity hit the home sideline. The Bruins knew they were in for their first fight of their title defense.
The Bruins re-took the lead in the second on the lone score of the quarter as both defenses settled in. Vodicka’s six-yard TD pass to Maxwell Lovett made it 14-9 with 10:34 left in the half, and that tally stood as the teams jogged to the locker rooms.
After that, it was all Cherry Creek, who lost only two in-state games (and none out of conference) over the prior four championship seasons. It was the second straight year the Bruins beat R.V. in their opener after a 35-21 victory in Arvada last August.
The Vodicka-to-Lovett connection broke the stalemate to start the third quarter, when the duo connected for a 67-yard touchdown through the air to give Cherry Creek its first cushion at 21-9.
After Ralston Valley’s offense sputtered out on a dropped third-down pass, and the Mustangs botched a punt snap, Bruins got the ball at their own 26-yard line. Four plays later, Jayden Fox’s one-yard TD push made it 28-9 and was effectively the knockout blow midway through the third quarter.
TreVon Polk and Eli Martinez both picked Madden in the second half, the latter setting up another Vodicka’s three-yard TD run to push the score to 35-9 with 6:59 left.
Even without Burton, Cherry Creek owned the trenches, with Treter (USC commit) and right tackle Max Parrot (Purdue) continually moving the line several yards downfield on run plays as that unit passed its early depth test. Junior Soren Shinofield filled in admirably in place of the injured Burton.
And even though Ralston Valley fell short, one major takeaway from the possible playoff preview was that Madden is as advertised. Despite the INTs, the quarterback can drop dimes downfield, step up in face of the rush, and scramble, too. So long as he is healthy, the Mustangs have a chance to go far in the postseason as they did in 2022’s semifinal run.
“You can’t make many mistakes to hang with Cherry Creek, and unfortunately, we made too many mistakes that we’ve got to clean up,” Ralston Valley head coach Jared Yannacito said. “There’s some positives to take away on offense. We’ve just got to try to break that one tackle and score, because against them, you’re not going to string too many drives together.”
