DENVER – On Monday night, Owen Corsi did two things he’d never done.
First, Cherry Creek’s senior goalie scored a goal himself and shortly thereafter, he won a Class 5A state championship at the conclusion of a rousing 11-8 victory over rival Valor Christian in front of a packed house at Peter Barton Stadium on the campus of the University of Denver.
Corsi’s length-of-the-field shot into an open net capped a decisive seven-goal run for the top-seeded Bruins, who rallied to deny the third-seeded Eagles a second straight state title and win the first for the program since 2019 and eighth all-time.
“I never scored a goal in my life and when I saw it go in, it was the best feeling ever,” Corsi said. “When I scored that, I knew it was over.”
Corsi’s goal was the last of seven straight scores for coach Matt Bocklet’s Cherry Creek team, which rallied from a three-goal second half deficit to complete an undefeated season with its 19th consecutive victory.
“We stayed the course, we told them Valor is an incredible team, they are the defending champs, but even when they get their runs, we have to do what we do well,” Bocklet said. “We trained for this and it showed up in the second half.”
It certainly wasn’t the ideal start for Cherry Creek, which watched the Eagles (16-3) get a goal from junior Blake Ham just five seconds after the opening face-off and add another just 15 seconds later from junior Ashton Hutter.
The Bruins scored the last three goals of the quarter — including two from senior Collin McIness — to take the lead, then watched the Eagles catch fire in the second and enjoy a 4-1 advantage in the second period to take a 6-4 halftime lead.
That edge increased to three early in the third quarter, but Cherry Creek remained undaunted.
“We don’t like Valor, you never like Valor when you are at Creek, and you definitely don’t want to lose to them in the state championship game,” Corsi said. “It was a two-goal game at halftime and we knew we were right in it. We wanted it more and we knew we had to get to more groundballs to change things and we did. It was amazing.”
Cherry Creek’s offense finally came alive as six different players scored in its run of seven goals, which include the go-ahead score with 2:18 left in the third period from senior captain Ollie Nolting and also Corsi’s first-ever score at the 8:14 mark of the fourth quarter.
The Eagles cut the deficit to three a minute later, but Corsi snuffed out point-blank shots by Ham and sophomore JT Cross and the Bruins essentially killed off the rest of the clock before they could celebrate.
“I knew it was going to be a dogfight and we went out and really competed,” Nolting said. “We wanted it so bad. It makes my heart feel good to be a part of this as a senior.”
Added Bocklet, who got his second championship as a head coach: “It’s been six years and at Cherry Creek that’s a long time to not win a state championship, so this sure feels good.”
(Eric Brown/ebrownfoto.com)
