Flag Football: Mountain View wins 4A state title in shutout fashion

LAKEWOOD — It took seven different schools from northern Colorado to form the girls flag football team at Mountain View High School in Loveland.

Now, every one of those schools have a historic state champion at their school. No. 2-seeded Mountain View defeated The Classical Academy 26-0 in the first CHSAA-sanctioned Class 4A girls flag football championship game Saturday at Trailblazer Stadium in Lakewood.

“We got 21 of the most incredible people who happen to be amazing athletes as well,” Mountain View coach Tim Test said after his squad defeated top-seed TCA. “I still can’t believe it.”

Mountain View (18-1 record) jumped out to a 13-0 lead in the first quarter and never looked back. Senior quarterback Mason Premer hit Kendal Finley on a 3-yard touchdown pass to get the scoring started. Junior Mekayla Mecias extended the lead in the final minute of the first quarter with a short touchdown run.

“Coach (Noah) Tank and I have been saying since Day 1 that we were going to win state,” Finley said. “That was our goal. We never had a doubt with this team. Here we are 26-0, shutting out the No. 1 team. It feels amazing.”

Finley had a monster game with a touchdown pass and interception in the fourth quarter to seal the victory. The Mountain Lions’ defense kept the shut out in alive with senior Gwynn Marks scoring on a pick-6 in the final minute to extend the lead to 26-0.

Senior Miah Ardis grabbed an interception to give the ball back to Mountain View in the final seconds.

“Everyone played a key part on this team,” Finley said. “Gwen with the pick-6 and Miah with the interception at the end of the game. It was amazing.”

Test talked after the historic victory about how his first experience seeing girls flag football being played at the NFL Pro Bowl changed his life.

“Thank God to the Broncos and doing the pilot (2-year) program,” Test said. “I said we won as soon as we started playing flag football. The fact that I got hired by Mountain View, the only school north of 136th Avenue, was a dream come true.”

Mountain View will graduate eight seniors from the the state championship squad.

“It has been one of the most unique experiences. I’m glad we were able to see such a positive outcome from it,” Premer said. “These girls are from all over the place. They come so far for practices and worked so hard every single practice. This is amazing for northern Colorado as a whole.”