AURORA | A capsule preview of the 2025 Class 5A state football second round playoff contest between Eaglecrest and Mountain Vista scheduled for Nov. 14, 2025:
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@aurorasentinel.com.Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
2025 CLASS 5A 2ND ROUND STATE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF GAME
No. 14 Eaglecrest (7-4) vs. No. 3 Mountain Vista (10-0)
Nov. 14, 7 p.m. at The Stadium at Redstone Park
BREAKDOWN: Eaglecrest and Mountain Vista square off in the postseason for the first time and haven’t played each other historically. …Eaglecrest is in the postseason for a fourth straight season after missing out in 2021 and has made 18 appearances since 2000, with its deepest recent run coming when it made the state championship game in 2017. The program won the state title in 1993 when it defeated Hinkley in an all-area championship game. …Mountain Vista has appeared in the postseason for five straight seasons and advanced to the quarterfinals for each of the past two seasons.
EAGLECREST: Coach Jesse German got his first playoff win in his third season with the program since he arrived from Green Mountain when the Raptors defeated No. 19 Legacy 32-10 in the opening round. Sophomore RB Clyde Surrell rushed for three touchdowns in the second half, while sophomore DE Cooper Shaw scored defensively and senior DB Cameron Bell took back a punt for a score as Eaglecrest pulled away in en route to the program’s first postseason win since 2019 (see story, here). The playoff win came on the heels of a regular season in which the Raptors’ 10 opponents were a combined 50-50 and seven of them made the postseason in No. 1 Cherry Creek, No. 9 Arapahoe, No. 11 Grandview, No. 13 Fort Collins, No. 16 Cherokee Trail, No. 20 ThunderRidge and No. 22 Chatfield. …Offensively, Eaglecrest has been shut out once (by undefeated Cherry Creek), but scored in double figures in every other game and averaged 28.5 points per contest. In his first season as starting quarterback, sophomore QB William Brinkman has been a dual threat with 896 yards through the air with seven touchdown passes against nine interceptions, while he has also rushed for a team-high 654 yards and 11 touchdowns. Surrell missed four games due to injury, but has amassed 504 yards and four touchdowns, while senior RB Sterling Dufour (303 yards, 3 touchdowns) and junior RB Josiah Assibey (251 yards, 4 touchdowns) have taken turns contributing in the backfield. Three players have accounted for the majority of the receiving yardage in junior WR JayAnthony Green (159 yards, 1 touchdown), senior WR Quincy Clayton (157 yards, 2 TDs) and junior WR Jack Steiner (136 yards, 2 TDs). …Helping to boost Eaglecrest’s output on the scoreboard has been the defense, which has contributed five touchdowns (four via interception return and one via fumble return) and generated a total of 22 takeaways. The Raptors — who have allowed just under 16 points per game — have a tone-setter in Bell, who leads the team in tackles with 85 and has accounted for five turnovers with three interceptions and two fumble recoveries. Senior DT Javon Jones has been credited with 22.5 tackles for loss, which includes a team-best nine sacks, while 10 defenders have contributed at least one-half sack. Bell, Shaw, junior LB Braydon Turner, senior DB Noah Fulgham and senior LB Sam Johnson have all scored defensively for the Raptors. …Bell has also been a special teams ace with three punt returns touchdowns and a kickoff return score, while he also blocked a field goal attempt in the playoff win over Legacy. Sophomore PK Julian Trujillo has made three of his five field goal tries (with a long of 34 yards) and has be an asset punting the football, while junior PK Trey Patton is 26-for-30 on extra points.
MOUNTAIN VISTA: Coach Garrett Looney — who served as Eaglecrest’s interim coach for the majority of the 2018 season in which it finished 9-2 and made the state quarterfinals — guided the Eagles to undefeated regular season, which included teams that went a combined 45-57 and six of the nine opponents made the postseason (No. 5 Valor Christian, No. 9 Arapahoe, No. 12 Erie, No. 16 Cherokee Trail, No. 18 Fruita Monument and No. 20 ThunderRidge). …Mountain Vista’s offense is the most prolific from a points scored standpoint in 5A with a whopping 478 points in 10 games with a low output of 20 points against Arapahoe in Week 2, while it has racked up 4,230 yards of total offense. The Golden Eagles feature the 5A classification’s leader in passing yards by far in junior QB Marquise Reese, who has thrown for 2,716 yards and a state-best 41 touchdowns against just five interceptions. Not surprisingly, Reese’s top target (junior WR Brooklyn Bailey) leads the state regardless of classification in receiving yards (1,218) and receiving touchdowns (20). Six Mountain Vista players have 115 or more yards receiving, while senior WR Ja’Pree Jennings (464 yards, 3 touchdowns), junior WR Luke Bentley (363 yards, 5 touchdowns) and senior WR Sammy Brown (230 yards, 6 touchdowns) have been the primary passcatchers along with Bailey. Sophomore RB Brody Callister is the leading rusher with 383 yards, while Reese has used his legs for 328 yards (plus five touchdowns) and junior RB Hudson Modrzewski has 268 yards and joined Callister with four TD runs. …Overshadowed a bit by the offense is a Mountain Vista defense that has posted two shutouts and held five other teams to single digits with the majority of its 129 points allowed coming against a California team in Liberty (which scored 45) and Valor Christian (which tallied 36). Junior LB Kade Ingrassia and junior LB Xavier Borel share the team lead in tackles with 54, while senior LB Quillan Gulick is just two behind and has a 6.5 sacks, which puts him only behind the 8.0 from senior DL Adrian Lee. The Golden Eagles have forced 24 turnovers and 16 of them have come via interception with senior DB Lucas Conklin leading the way with four, including two that went for touchdowns. …On special teams, Mountain Vista has only two field goal attempts and freshman PK Grayson Rooney made both of them and senior PK Braelynn Looney is 44-for-48 on extra points.
WINNER GETS: The Eaglecrest-Mountain Vista winner moves into the quarterfinals where it will take on the winner of the second round contest between No. 11 Grandview and No. 6 Arvada West (capsule look, here).
