Mountain Vista beats Arvada West for inaugural 5A flag football title

Can a first championship game qualify as a classic?

Mountain Vista’s thrilling 32-21 victory over Arvada West on Saturday night in the Class 5A flag football title game sure is a contender.

The Golden Eagles finished their season with a perfect 18-0 record. A-West,  which won the pilot program title last season, finished 15-3.

“To see these girls come together like they did, and then to see all of our fans here, greeting us on the field, it’s unbelievable,” a jubilant coach Dana Sroc said.

The Golden Eagles took an early lead, but A-West stormed back to take a 21-20 lead in the third quarter, utilizing the potent combination of senior quarterback Saylor Swanson and senior receiver Sara Walker.

But then Ariana Akey, Mountain Vista’s junior Energizer Bunny, took over the game.

“She’s a great leader and a great person; I love her so much,” said senior center/receiver Braelynn Looney, who was Akey’s primary target all season. “She made such a difference tonight. She came through when we needed her. She carried us.”

Akey scrambled for a long TD to put the Golden Eagles back on top, 26-21. Next, Akey intercepted Swanson’s pass to end a promising A-West drive in Vista territory with 6:42 left in the game.

Then Akey engineered the game’s key drive, hitting senior Braelynn Looney with key passes en route. On a third-and-goal play, scrambled, stumbled and somehow found Isabel Vaillant for a 7-yard TD. Vista led 32-21.

And Key wasn’t finished. She picked off Swanson, again, this time in the end zone with 1:20 remaining to seal the Golden Eagles’ victory.

Akey, who didn’t play flag football last season, earned the quarterback job during the first week of practice. She had not played much in the secondary until Saturday night.

“I’m in disbelief that we did this,” she said. “It’s just crazy. It will probably kick in a little later for me.”

Vista came out of the gate sizzling and looked like it might put the game away early. Akey found Vaillant in the corner of the end zone for a first-quarter score and a 7-0 lead.

An interception by sophomore Lauren Culebro set up the Golden Eagles’ second TD.  The speedy Akey turned the corner for a 2-yard scoring run. Vista missed the extra point but still held a 13-0 lead with 3:16 left in the first quarter.

But the Swanson-to-Walker connection couldn’t be stopped for long. Walker leaped high to snare a 10-yard pass from Swanson and then added a catch for the one-point conversion, putting A-West on the board and cutting Vista’s lead to 13-7.

In the end, Vista proved too talented and too composed.

“When we got behind, our (offensive coordinator) Garrett Looney told us, ‘You just have to go back down and score and you can win this game,'” Akey said. “That’s what we did.”

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