DENVER — Pine Creek scored the game’s final 22 points as they pulled away from Broomfield to record a 36-14 victory in the 4A state championship game at Sports Authority Field at Mile High Saturday.
It is Pine Creek’s third state title in the past four seasons.
The two teams were tied at 14-14 at the half, but Broomfield (11-3) failed to find the end zone in the final two quarters. Pine Creek, meanwhile, put together four scoring drives to pull away.
Pine Creek finished with 337 yards rushing, led by freshman sensation David Moore III’s 196 on 26 carries.
Broomfield only amassed 241 yards of total offense. Sophomore quarterback Steven Croell was 10 of 18 for 152 yards and a score and one interception. Jalon Torres led the ground game with 95 yards and a score on 21 carries.
Pine Creek struck first, getting a 20-yard pass from Brock Domann to Wyatt Weiland with 6:01 left in first half.
But Broomfield answered right back with a long drive capped by a 7-yard Torres scoring run. Broomfield missed the point after, however, as Pine Creek held on to a 7-6 lead.
Broomfield couldn’t hold on to the momentum, however, as Moore III broke free for a 73-yard touchdown run to push the lead to 14-6 with 2:50 left in the second quarter.
That set the stage for Broomfield’s most impressive drive of the contest as Croell led them down the field before hitting Mason Keeler on 29 yard scoring strike with 39 seconds left. Ryan Mazzola added a 2-point conversion to even things up as the teams headed into the intermission.
Broomfield also had an impressive defensive stand in the first quarter as they stuffed Pine Creek on four attempts from the 1-yard line to keep the game scoreless early.
But the D wore down in the second half as Pine Creek was able to put together sustained drives. They opened the half with a 13-play, 75-yard drive that resulted in a field goal.
Then in the fourth, Pine Creek added a touchdown pass from Domann to Peter Isais and scoring runs from Thomas Dantzler and Domann to put the game away.
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/BoCoPreps
