Billed as the Colorado 7 on 7 championship, the Battle on the Bayou, held at Ponderosa High School, showcased some of the top talent in Colorado. Ponderosa, Mullen, Bear Creek, Regis, Arvada West, Mountain Vista, Heritage, Eaglecrest, Chaparral, Thomas Jefferson, Aurora Central and Elizabeth High all participated. Each team was guaranteed four games and at the end of the morning four teams would be left standing for the finals.
When the dust settled from the morning, Heritage, Ponderosa, Mullen and Chaparral made up the final four. In the semifinals, Chaparral defeated Ponderosa while Heritage and Mullen took it down to the final throws before Mullen got the win to face Chaparral in the final.
In the final, Chaparral scored first, but Mullen, led by QB Tim Tancik, scored back to back. Mullen was threatening to close out the game, when on a throw to the end zone, Chaparral safety Nic Pavlich made a pick to end the Mustang threat and keep the Wolverines alive. The pick inspired the Chaparral O and QB Jerry Slota threw three unanswered touchdowns thus securing the Chaparral win for the Championship. For their efforts, Chaparral earned all the hardware as they took the champions trophy, Slota was offensive MVP and the Chap D brought home the defensive award.
Slota looks healed from an elbow injury he suffered last year as evidenced by his MVP performance. Slota also looks to have some tools to work with. Receivers Jordan Serena and big 6-3 pass catcher Matt Newton were effective throughout the day.
Mitch Griebel was he usual scrappy self and almost got Heritage to the final, but his Eagles lost to Mullen in a close one. Injured receiver Brandon Kaufman can’t be replaced but, mighty mite, Jordan Delbaugh was able to make some impressive grabs working with Griebel.
Mullen has yet to decide on a quarterback as junior to be Jonny Miller and senior to be Tim Tancik exchanged series throughout the tournament. Tancik looked good in his time at the helm.
A player to watch is Ponderosa’s freshman to be Tommy Thornton. Thornton’s dad is the Ponderosa QB coach and it looks like Tommy has learned his lessons, playing well when given his opportunity. A name to remember in a year or two.