More photos. (Mark Adams)
FALCON — As Pine Creek head coach Todd Miller looked at his players in full celebration over their 34-14 Class 4A semifinal win, he couldn’t help but let his emotions show.
In the last several years, Miller had seen many of his players battling through adversity. Whether it be not making the field of 16 in 2012 or watching their community endure the wrath of the Black Forest fire, it had been a rough few years for the Eagles.
But today, Miller and his boys stand one win away from a second consecutive 4A state championship. All that stands between them and the perception of a dynasty are the Longmont Trojans.
“These kids deserve it, we’re a community,” Miller said while choking back tears. “I guess the work you put into get to this point… your family has to give, these kids’ families give and these coaches give a lot. This game is so great, but it takes a lot from you.”
More photos. (Mark Adams)
The Eagles weren’t going to advance without a fight from Falcon. The Falcons took Pine Creek to overtime earlier in the year and felt that they had a chance to win that game. That mentality gave them the confidence that anyone needs when stepping on the field with a defending champion.
The game plan for the Falcons appeared to be very cut and dry early. They wanted to keep the ball on the ground and eat up as much clock as possible.
They also had no problem throwing caution to the wind early.
Facing an early fourth down, the Falcons went for it, converting on a Wyatt Aaberg run. The overall plan worked well as their opening drive took 6:12 off the clock before Kennieth Lester punched into the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown run.
“We thought defensively it was the two best teams in the state” Falcons co-head coach Brian Green said. “We knew defensively they would be tough so it was important to score some early points.”
Not only did they score early points, but they kept the Eagles’ offense off the field for more than half of the first quarter. The unit appeared to out of sync after spending so much time on the bench. They drove for an early first down, but Eagles quarterback Tommy Lazzaro was flagged for intentional grounding then sacked on the next play.
In fact, the Eagles couldn’t gain any traction until 4:04 remaining in the first half. Lazzaro connected with running back JoJo Domann for a 20-yard touchdown pass, finally getting the Eagles on the board.
“We just kept fighting and we didn’t get frustrated,” Lazzaro said. “The offensive line kept giving us some good looks and once we settled down we were able to find the end zone.”
The first touchdown for the Eagles came off a blocked field goal attempt for the Falcons. While playing like they had nothing to lose early, they suddenly went conservative.
“Our thinking was to get a two-score lead,” Green said. “We had a chance to get up by two and we had confidence in our kicker so we gave him a shot.”
The Eagles found the end zone with less than a minute remaining in the half, taking a 14-7 lead.
After forcing a turnover in the opening minutes of the second half, the Falcons’ offense appeared to be stuck in neutral. The Eagles defense proved to be two much and two more touchdown runs by Lazzaro gave Pine Creek a 28-7 lead in the fourth quarter.
Each team would add a late touchdown, but when the final horn sounded, the Eagles were given a chance to defend their state title win from a year ago.
“We didn’t panic,” Miller said. “You get down in a lot of games like this and you panic, but we have a lot of experience here. It wasn’t our first time. We just kept playing and stuck to the plan.”
Pine Creek and Longmont will be the first game of a state championship double-header at Sports Authority Field on Saturday. It is Pine Creek’s third state championship game since 2011. Kickoff is set at 11 a.m.
More photos. (Mark Adams)