Pomona-Valor Rematch Promises Intrigue in Colorado Class 5A football

VIDEO: Ryan Marquez highlights
Watch the Pomona QB in action earlier this season against Chaparral.

It would seem that Pomona coach Jay Madden should be doing backflips.

After a narrow 29-26 loss to Valor Christian (Highlands Ranch) in last season's Class 5A championship game, Madden and the Panthers are getting another shot at the Eagles on Saturday (2:30 p.m., Sports Authority Field).

MaxPreps Colorado state football brackets

Conventional wisdom says that Madden should be thrilled beyond belief – and make no mistake, he is – but the situation isn't that cut and dried.

"It's been the hardest year I could imagine as far as dealing with expectations and trying to get up for every Friday night," Madden said this week at 5A media day. "When the kids can't stop thinking about December, you have to bring them back to earth that we have to be good tonight, or today at practice. That part is very difficult, and if we didn't have the great senior leadership it would have been almost impossible."

On paper, the matchup is tremendous. Last season's title game went down to the wire and Pomona topped Valor 23-16 in Week 5 this season. But perusing the matchup on paper doesn't tell the entire story, particularly with Pomona's injury situation.

University of Colorado-bound lineman Jake Moretti has missed the season due to a knee injury, then do-it-all junior back Max Borghi went down with a torn ACL in the quarterfinals against Columbine (Littleton). Then last week in a semifinals win over Regis Jesuit (Aurora), running back Cameron Gonzales had to be carted off with a lower-leg injury.

But rather than sulking about them, the injuries have galvanized the Panthers, who have received consistent production from their backups in quest of their second-ever state crown.

"The best athlete, in my opinion, in Colorado goes down (against Columbine) and the next thing you know we score 35 points," Pomona coach Jay Madden said. "These kids don't flinch. Then the next week we're losing to Regis 7-0 and our All-Colorado tailback goes down and we score 24 straight points. Some kids just get it, and this group of guys right here knows what it's like to say next man up."

Pomona (12-1) will lean on the talents of junior quarterback Ryan Marquez, who has thrown for 20 touchdowns and only six interceptions. He's run for eight more scores. Sophomore Billy Pospisil has been Marquez's primary target with 63 catches for 909 yards and 11 TDs. Linebacker Garrett Zanon (145) has been a beast for the Panthers, and Brandon Micale (eight sacks) is regularly in the opposing backfield.

In the first rematch in the big-school classification in 61 years, Pomona will be aiming to reverse the title-game trends of each team. Pomona is 1-5 all time, with its lone win coming in 1988 against Montbello (Denver). Valor Christian, meanwhile, is making its eighth straight appearance in the championship game spanning three classifications. The Eagles are 6-1 in those contests.

With that lofty mark, Valor's message of staying the course seems appropriate.

"We use the phrase, ‘Long obedience in the same direction', and it doesn't seem like society points to a lot of those messages," Valor Christian coach Rod Sherman said. "Society points to: you can get fast, and you can get a lot of things right at your fingertips. That's not life."

The Eagles (11-2) have been led by Michigan-bound quarterback Dylan McCaffrey (29 touchdowns, five interceptions), who has regularly connected with younger brother Luke McCaffrey (eight receiving TDs). The Eagles' feature a balanced rushing attack paced by sophomore Joshia Davis and a stout defense led by top tackler Matthew Thibault.

Despite the stockpile of recent titles, the Eagles view the season as a process and don't start thinking about hoisting the trophy until, well, now. Valor advanced to the title with a 10-7 semifinal victory against Cherry Creek thanks to a last-second field goal from freshman Brian Brogan.

"We don't start every year saying we want to win a state championship," Sherman said. "We want to keep growing, we want to keep improving. We're asked a lot about the early-season challenges with our schedule, and honestly, those are much more of opportunities for us to grow in character and grow in our ability on the field."