Cherry Creek and Mullen clash in 5A football rivalry

By Sara Burnett, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 29, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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It may be the one thing about this weekend's matchup that folks at Cherry Creek and Mullen high schools agree on: Theirs is the biggest, best rivalry in Colorado high school sports.

"It is the greatest rivalry," Mullen athletic director Tony Schenbeck said this week.

"I would say so," agreed Terrance Walker, a senior cornerback and wide receiver for Cherry Creek.

Today, the biggest rivalry takes the biggest stage for the biggest stakes, as the two schools meet at Invesco Field at Mile High to decide the Class 5A high school football champion.

Championship Saturday begins at 11 a.m. with the Class 4A final between Wheat Ridge and Greeley West, followed by the 5A game at 2:30 p.m.

The Mullen-Cherry Creek story couldn't be better if Hollywood had scripted it: two teams with rich histories but neither one the preseason favorite.

A public school with the enrollment of some colleges vs. the smaller, but just as respected, parochial school.

One of the best-known and most successful coaches in high school football across the field from a first-year head coach who also coaches boys basketball.

And the all-time record between the teams at an 18-18 tie - one that's just waiting to be broken.

"Oh, the implications are huge. It's bragging rights," Schenbeck said.

Whichever team wins, Schenbeck added, their fans will chant the final score when the two schools meet on the basketball court this winter. And any time the winning team is trailing in any other Cherry Creek-Mullen sporting event this year, the victors' new favorite chant will be "What about football?"

With so much on the line, fans have been busy preparing for the big day.

"There wasn't a whole lot of work getting done today," parent Jim Healy, president of the Mullen High School End Zone Club, said Monday.

It was Healy's first day back at work after Saturday's final playoff game, and with the championship game set, he spent most of the day helping plan the "world's biggest high school tailgate" - complete with an RV and balloons - for outside Invesco.

Not to be outdone, Cherry Creek's Touchdown Club is planning a tailgate of its own. On Tuesday, parent volunteers also served a free "fan appreciation lunch" - 80 extra- large pizzas and three 4-foot sheet cakes - to students.

It's a rivalry that has existed for years, even as the faces have changed.

Today, Mullen's head coach is Dave Logan, the former NFL player and current Denver Broncos' play-by-play radio announcer who has led three schools - including Mullen - to state football championships.

At the helm at Cherry Creek is Mike Brookhart, a former Bruins quarterback who agreed this year to be head football coach as well as head basketball coach, making for some long days as the seasons now overlap.

Mullen beat Cherry Creek in their only meeting this year. Mullen also came out on top the last two times the schools met for the state football title - in 1998 and 2004.

Both teams insist they respect the other, and there's little if any trash talk coming from either side, no stolen mascots or other pranks.

But a victory in this match-up would make the state title a little more sweet.

"We both just want to beat each other so badly," said Charlie Zeller, a senior safety and wide receiver for Cherry Creek. "The fact we get to play each other in the final game - you couldn't really ask for more."

• November 29, 2008

  4:42 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  theinfamouskwon writes:

  wow money meets money what a suprise

• November 29, 2008

  7:54 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  denverrma writes:

  infamouskwon:

  Not money vs money....it's all about 2 schools where parents are a big part of kids lives, care about how they do in school, are involved in their academic lives and encourage them to be the best they can.

• November 29, 2008

  8:32 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  JohnSWren writes:

  What do you think about the value of high school and college sports in today's pro sports world?

  Tell us your opinion on this or any other topic, or just listen to what others have to say at Denver Speakers Corner, tomorrow (Nov 30) and every Sunday, 4 p.m. under the Civic Center North Pavilion, on Colfax across the street from the Denver Newspaper Agency.

  More info and optional RSVP at http://cocacop.meetup.com/2

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