Running away to win
Davis propels Eagles with three TDs in rematch of 5A final
ARVADA» For the first quarter of Friday night’s Class 5A football showdown at a packed North Area Athletic Complex, No. 1 Valor Christian and No. 2 Pomona — opponents in the last two championship games — tussled as heavyweights often do.
But it was two-time defending champion Valor Christian that used an array of big plays — including three touchdown runs from junior Joshia Davis — to push past the Panthers 34-21 in the highly anticipated nonconference matchup.
“Our last two games have showed his versatility,” Valor Christian coach Rod Sherman said of Davis. “Last week he had two receiving touchdowns and was our leading receiver, and this week did all those things in the run game. It shows why CU’s offered him, and why a ton of schools want him to come play for them.”
Valor took a 3-0 lead early in the second quarter. And big plays pushed that lead to double digits.
First, junior Luke McCaffrey’s 40-yard pass to sophomore Kaiden Keefe set up Blake Stenstrom’s 11-yard touchdown toss to Keefe a few plays later to make it a 10-0 Eagles advantage midway through the second.
On the first play after a Pomona punt, Davis busted right up the gut for an 80-yard touchdown run that made it 17-0.
“We had Davis in the backfield on that first touchdown, and he popped through,” Pomona coach Jay Madden said. “That was a blown assignment, and the great teams make you pay for that.”
But Pomona responded. Ryan Marquez’s 32-yard keeper combined with junior Billy Pospisil’s 35-yard reception put the Panthers within striking distance, whereupon Marquez got his team on the scoreboard with a 31-yard touchdown pass to senior Riley Govan on fourth-and18 to cut the Eagles’ lead to 17-7 at halftime.
Valor Christian took the momentum right back in the third quarter, again using a large gain to set up another Davis touch-
down run, this time from 7 yards out midway through the third.
“Our offensive line played great. We knew it was going to be a tough game, and we fought through it,” Davis said. “We really started to settle in during the second half, and I could tell our big guys were starting to wear them down.”
It looked like the Eagles were on their way to a blowout, but the next play, Pomona senior and Washington State commit Max Borghi took the Valor Christian kick return 93 yards to the house. The touchdown made it 24-14, sparked the Panthers’ sideline and rejuvenated a subdued Big Black crowd.
However, it was going to take a knockout punch to defeat the Eagles, who continued to tack on to the scoreboard. A 41-yard Brogan field goal, followed by a 51-yard scoring scamper from Davis with time winding down in the third quarter gave Valor Christian a 34-14 lead and essentially put the game out of reach.
“We know what the gold standard is, and we’ve got to raise our level if we want to have a chance,” Madden said. “I thought we did there at times, but we didn’t maintain it. Our defense got a little tired, and we had some bad tackling on a couple plays.”