3A Championship Standoff: Thompson Valley vs Mead

The 3A Championship pitted two teams looking for their first championship win in program history. The game showcased the #16 Thompson Valley Eagles against the #24 Mead Mavericks. The Eagles battled throughout the game, and fought comebacks from the Mavericks. Their defense kept making plays to keep the Eagles in it. As I predicted in my preview, I believed it would be a lower scoring affair with the defense showing out against a stout run game from both teams.   Congratulations on the Thompson Valley Eagles for their 1st championship in program history.   *I will update the stats for the Mead Mavericks once they are posted*    Gray is my MVP in this championship game. I had the pleasure of talking with him after the game, and he's a great kid. The 6'4 210-pound senior racked up 9 total tackles (2 solo, 7 assisted), 1 interception returned for a touchdown. He has very good athletic ability due to elite acceleration, very good speed, and jumping. His very good strength was shown throughout the game. He was throwing running backs around with ease. He used his very good mental processing to identify which gap to rush leading to a run stuff. Very good tackler, he'll wrap the defender down and pull them down. On the touchdown play, Owen Walsh tipped the punt. Gray used his very good ball tracking skills to come down with the catch, and ran into the endzone. Very good competitive toughness. He keeps playing through the whistle, and continues to help his teammates finish tackles. The senior DESERVES more eyes looking his way.     Hiner made the big plays in the right moments. The QB led the Mavericks down the field. Chris has very good throw power to launch it up. Hiner's pocket presence and poise under pressure really stood out to me. On his touchdown pass, he shed a sack, kept looking downfield and threw a perfect 30 + yard strike downfield for the touchdown. On out routes, his accuracy shined. He has good ball placement on out routes, and corner routes. Hiner would lead his receiver with the ball, for the completion. When Mead was down, he kept fighting till the last snap. He's a fighter and I was impressed with his grit down the stretch.     Baker was a lockdown corner all night for the Mavericks. The 6'2 180-pound defensive back used his lengthy arms to get himself a pair of interceptions. Baker has very good athletic ability due to very good jumping, speed, acceleration, and good change of direction. He has a very good back pedal, and looks back for the ball in coverage. Baker excels in man coverage. He is sticky like glue towards the receiver, not allowing separation. Kills it with contested catches. He jumped up and got his first interception on the contested grab. Baker got his 2nd interception in the 4th quarter, with his feet barely in bounds. Very good body control. Very good ball tracking skills and catching. He has very good reactionary timing in zone coverage. If you're looking for a prototypical lock down corner with good size, Baker is your man. Colleges look this man's way.     Urrutia was one of the focal points on offense. Leading the offense with a total of 84 yards. The 5'7 165 pound running back had 11 carries for 39 yards and 2 receptions for 45 yards. All night Urrutia was in a battle in the trenches against Mead's defense. The thing that impressed me the most was how he kept fighting, and never gave up. Urrutia has very good athletic ability due to elite change of direction, very good acceleration, and speed. He used his very good vision to identify which holes to run through. This game also showed his ability as a receiver. He made a big catch to end the half, ending up at the 1 yard line while time ran out. Urrutia has very good catching skills, plucking the ball out of the air making it look seamless. Great job by the senior running back, who I can see as a 3rd down back at the next level. Take another look at his film.     The 5'9 CB-ATH made his impact on both sides of the ball. He went 1/1 for 38 yards passing, 3 carries for 8 yards, 4 total tackles (1 solo, 3 assisted), 1 FF, 48 return yardage. Hendrickson has very good athletic ability due to very good speed, acceleration, jumping, and good change of direction. He killed it as a defensive back. On a 3rd down, he jumped and extend his arms to swat the ball away, leading to the incompletion. In the 4th quarter, he did his own impression of Peanut Tillman, with punching the ball out of the receiver's hands, while Triston Hill got the recovery. He made a Amari Cooper-Josh Allen-esque play on offensive. As the running back, he started to stumble. He pitched it back to his QB, [player_tooltip player_id='1578572' first='Finley' last='Lucas'] for the first down. Hendrickson is a scrappy player, who I believe would thrive in a slot corner role at the next level.     Gonsalves was a defensive demon for the Mavericks. Every time I looked up, I saw #15 running around making big plays for his defense or special teams. Gonsalves has very good athletic ability due to very good speed, acceleration, good change of direction, and jumping. He is a very good tackler. Any time a running back got in his grasp; they couldn't escape it. He kept identifying the correct gaps to rush. Gonsalves was getting through the offensive line and plugging up the gaps. He made it rough for the Thompson Valley running game to get going. On special teams, he fielded a punt on the 7-yard line, putting his defense in great position. He's only a junior, but his tape already shows the beginning of a budding star.

The 3A Championship pitted two teams looking for their first championship win in program history. The game showcased the #16 Thompson Valley Eagles against the #24 Mead Mavericks. The Eagles battled throughout the game, and fought comebacks from the Mavericks. Their defense kept making plays to keep the Eagles in it. As I predicted in my preview, I believed it would be a lower scoring affair with the defense showing out against a stout run game from both teams.