PARKER — In the wake of a thrilling win, two tough guys nearly cried.
Moments after fifth-seeded Valor Christian beat No. 4 Legend 31-30 on Saturday at EchoPark Stadium, batting down a two-point conversion pass on the final play to advance to the Class 5A semifinals, Valor Christian senior Channing Fox found Eagles head coach Mike Sanford and the two shared an extended emotional embrace.
“This is all I ever dreamed for,” Fox told Sanford, tears welling in the eyes of both. “… I’ve been waiting my whole life to play a football game like this.”
The “football game like this” was all any fan could ask for — a see-saw heavyweight fight in which Valor Christian’s run game was dominant and Legend senior QB DJ Bordeaux was electric. The QB scrambled for a game-tying 16-yard TD run on the final play of regulation, before Valor Christian responded with Brandon Wright knocking down Bordeaux’s two-point pass attempt.
For Fox, the instant classic stirred emotions because of all he’s been through prior to playing a pivotal role in Valor Christian’s win.
Fox broke his collarbone as a freshman, then suffered consecutive ACL tears in different knees before the start of his sophomore and junior seasons. Sidelined for over two years, Fox made up for lost time Saturday in all three phases of the game. He had 21 carries for 95 yards rushing with two TDs at tailback, plus five tackles, a tackle for loss, a pass defensed and a strip-sack on defense.
“Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve sat in those stands watching at this field, so the last couple years I’ve been hurt and asking why God’s been making me hurt. Asking why I had to be out,” Fox said. “The toughest part wasn’t the physical pain. I felt like I let everyone down — my teammates down because they were expecting so much from me, and my body couldn’t hold up. I felt like I let my family down, who pour everything into me.
“The hardest part was the agony of being out there every day and not doing what I loved. But I kept praying I would get healthy again, and today God paid me back.”
Fox’s impact on defense was all the more impressive considering he only started playing on that side of the ball around six weeks ago. The rodeo cowboy (he competes as a header in team roping) wasn’t 100% settled back in from his second ACL tear until more than halfway through the fall.
“It took like eight weeks for (Fox) to get his legs under him, and really explode,” Valor Christian head coach Mike Sanford said. “I challenged him and he kept responding, and then we saw the need for him on defense. That opened up his game offensively. There’s less processing and less thinking about which cut should he make, which read should he make. That was clear today.”
Fox was the thunder and fellow tailback Chase Hanosh was the lightning on a warm late-November day where Valor Christian controlled possession and wore down Legend’s defensive front. Hanosh had 32 carries for 219 yards and a touchdown behind a potent Valor Christian offensive line headlined by USC commit Kannon Smith.
The Eagles struck first, with a long run by Hanosh setting Valor up in the red zone and eventually leading to Fox’s 1-yard TD run to make it 7-0.
Legend responded with a drive that ate up the end of the first quarter and about half the second quarter, too. The Titans converted a fourth down in the red zone, but then were stopped on fourth-and-goal from the 10-yard line as a reverse pass failed.
Valor Christian went three-and-out on the next drive, then a high snap on the punt resulted in the Eagles barely getting the punt off. The shank set Legend up at the Valor Christian 15-yard line. But Fox’s strip sack two plays later on a thunderous hit of Bordeaux turned possession back to Valor.
On the ensuing drive, Hanosh ripped off a 63-yard TD run on fourth-and-1. He found a seam and burst through the hole untouched, extending Valor’s lead to 14-0.
“There was nothing to the right, but I looked left and there was nobody there,” Hanosh said. “I took off and knew no one could catch me.”
Legend came back with an efficient drive. Bordeaux marched the Titans down the field and capped it with a 7-yard TD pass to Ryken Banks to cut the score to 14-7. Valor Christian had the final say of the first half via a 35-yard field goal by Luke Brust.
But the Titans, facing a 17-7 deficit, came out of the locker room with renewed mojo.
Legend activated Bordeaux’s legs on designed runs, first to set up a 36-yard field goal by Evan Albrecht-Reed at the 5:21 mark of the third. Then Legend tied the game 17-17 on Bordeaux’s 55-yard TD pass to Kellen Marchand on a play where two Eagles collided in the secondary.
After the Eagles re-took the lead on Titus Huard’s 1-yard TD run on a naked bootleg, the Titans didn’t need much time for another equalizer. A 46-yard kick return by Banks set Legend up near midfield, then Bordeaux broke loose for a 51-yard TD run on a QB read up the middle in the waning seconds of the third quarter.
“Bordeaux always had an answer for them,” Sanford said.
With the game tied in the fourth, the Eagles swung the momentum back their way thanks to Noah Pacheco’s interception. That led to Fox’s 1-yard TD run with 5:29 left as Valor Christian re-took the lead, 31-24.
The Eagles defense forced another turnover on Legend’s next drive, turning what at first appeared to be disaster into good fortune. Bordeaux broke loose on a QB draw for 61 yards, but was chased down by the Valor Christian defense. Wilson Ptacek forced the fumble, and Grant Cook recovered.
From there, Valor Christian continued to lean on the run game with Hanosh and Fox. Legend got the ball back with under a minute to play, and used three incredible scrambles by Bordeaux to pull within a point. The QB’s most clutch run of the day came on the final play of regulation, when he ran it in from 16 yards out, evading several defenders along the way and diving over the goal line.
But it was Valor that threw the final haymaker by stopping the two-point conversion on a play where Bordeaux rolled right, but had to throw it up in the end zone after multiple Eagles were closing in on the QB.
“I’ve never seen a quarterback scramble with five seconds left from the 16-yard line in any level of football, and honestly, that’s DJ Bordeaux for you,” Sanford said. “I knew he was a great player, but I told him after the game, ‘I didn’t know you were a dawg like that.’ He’s the most talented player in the state in my opinion, him and (Cherry Creek running back) Jayden Fox.”
The Titans finished 10-2, with both of their losses coming by one point. Valor Christian improved to 10-2 and will face top-seeded, defending champion Cherry Creek next week with a trip to Canvas Stadium on the line.
