AURORA | Save for a few plays, the Eaglecrest football team played phenomenally against ThunderRidge Friday night at Legacy Stadium.
Coach Jesse German’s seventh-seeded Raptors survived a few miscues that resulted in big plays for the 10th-seeded Grizzlies with cold execution, desire and resiliency, which resulted in a 23-20 Class 5A second round playoff victory and a spot in the final eight.
Junior quarterback Will Brinkman threw for two touchdowns, rushed for another and picked up a key fourth down conversion with less than two minutes left to seal the win for Eaglecrest, which advanced to the 5A quarterfinals for the first time since the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season in which only eight teams made the playoffs.
The Raptors (9-2) will travel to face No. 2 Valor Christian — a 62-20 winner over Legacy — for a spot in the semifinals.
Eaglecrest became the second Aurora area team to join the final group of eight teams after No. 5 Grandview made it in Thursday with a 19-13 victory over No. 12 Regis Jesuit.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2026 CLASS 5A STATE FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS
Second round, Nov. 13 at Legacy Stadium
(7) Eaglecrest 23, (10) ThunderRidge 20
Score by quarters:
ThunderRidge 6 0 7 7 — 20
Eaglecrest 0 14 7 2 — 23
SCORING
First quarter
ThunderRidge — Rylan Johnson 51 yard pass from Noah Smyth (kick failed), 3:34
Second quarter
Eaglecrest — JayAnthony Green 2 yard pass from William Brinkman (kick failed), 7:15
Eaglecrest — Jack Steiner 20 yard pass from Brinkman (Green run), 0:37
Third quarter
Eaglecrest — Brinkman 24 yard run (Trey Patton kick), 7:40
ThunderRidge — Johnson 65 yard pass from Smyth (Alex Eckert kick), 6:18
Fourth quarter
Eaglecrest — Jayden Bradley blocked punt out of end zone, 11:57
ThunderRidge — Camden Neumann 14 yard pass from Smyth (Eckert kick), 2:31
