Colorado football power Cherry Creek brings rich history of greatness to Chandler

John Elway's son went to school there, and its head coach is the Denver Broncos' play-by-play announcer.

Dave Logan brings his Cherry Creek High football team to Chandler on Friday to take on a team that has won 37 consecutive games and is considered the measuring stick for all other teams in Arizona.

Cherry Creek, out of Greenwood Village, has won the past two 5A Colorado championships and 25 games in a row, going 14-0 in 2019 and 9-0 last year when COVID-19 shrunk the season.

A trip to Pennsylvania that was canceled last year opened up this opportunity for Cherry Creek to travel to Chandler, which has won the past five Arizona championships, including the last two Open Divisions, and is ranked No. 14 nationally by MaxPreps.

Cherry Creek (2-0) has yet to allow a point this season, but, like Chandler, it is young and loaded with talent.

"It's a great community for sure," said Logan, a former NFL wide receiver who played his last season in 1984 with the Broncos. "I don't know how many Broncos' (sons played there). But John Elway's son went to school there. I was at another school.

"It's a community that cares about academics with 95% percent of graduates going on to colleges. It's a strong academic school that cares about sports."

Cherry Creek has won 10 state championships in its history.

Logan has been the head coach the last 10 years. He had previous head coaching stops in Colorado at Arvada West, Chatfield and J. K. Mullen, a rival school of Cherry Creek. He was at Mullen from 2003-11 and at Cherry Creek ever since.

Six former Cherry Creek players have gotten to the NFL. Chandler has 13 former players who reached the NFL.

There are no current Cherry Creek players  who have fathers who played for the Broncos.

Their best current players are offensive lineman George Fitzpatrick (Ohio State commit), wide receiver Ky O'Day (Colorado State commit), junior linebacker Blake Purchase (the No. 2 2023 prospect in Colorado who has offers from UCLA, Colorado and Iowa State), junior tight end Ty Pell (the No. 3 prospect in 2023 class in Colorado with an offer from Arizona State), and defensive lineman Hank Zilinskas (No. 9 2023 Colorado prospect with an offer from Colorado State).

"They're the big dogs of Colorado," Chandler coach Rick Garretson said.

With the injury to wide receiver Kyion Grayes II, Chandler had only one returning starter on offense in last week's season-opening 28-7 win over Peoria Centennial. But the Wolves stuffed two of the state's top running backs, Kavaughn Clark and James Scott.

It was an impressive display of speed on defense, and efficient work by senior quarterback Blaine Hipa, who three for three TDs, after not having had a game since 2019 because of Hawaii's decision not to have a high school football season last year due to COVID-19.

Garretson expects to see improvement from his team in the second week of his team's season, but he likens Cherry Creek to the Liberty (Nevada) team his Wolves opened the 2019 season again, winning 31-17.

Cherry Creek relies on being physical and pounding the football with a strong, disciplined defense.

"They're a physical team," Garretson said. "There's a reason why they've won state championships. They know what they're doing. Their wildcat packages look good. They'll be forceful. They know how to run the football. ... We have no easy games."

Valor Christian, with the McCaffrey brothers, have been on the national radar in Colorado. But Cherry Creek has been back on top, especially after beating Valor 21-0 in last year's Colorado final. Last year's team allowed only 41 total points, while scoring 350, in nine games. Logan said that was a senior-dominated team.

But Cherry Creek is on the national track.

The NFHS is making it the national TV game of the week, starting it at 7:30 p.m.

"This school had a very rich football tradition before we got here," Logan said. "We tried to continue building that and putting kids in position to succeed. We want to teach life lesson and mentor kids. A lot goes into coaching kids at this age. There are a lot of other things we strongly believe in that builds the foundation of our program."

To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at richard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on Twitter @azc_obert.

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