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Mullen nabs 5A state champion football title over Regis Jesuit

Colorado’s longest Catholic football rivalry face off before record crowd

By Anna Maria Basquez

The The 2010 face-off of a Catholic private high school football rivalry dating back decades in Colorado culminated Dec. 4 in a 37-6 win by J.K. Mullen High School over Regis Jesuit to clinch the 5A state football championship victory at Invesco Field at Mile High.

It was the third 5A state football championship for the Mustangs in as many years.

Both teams knelt in prayer together after the game and before celebrations erupted for the gold helmet team.

Excitement for the Mustangs began to build after senior wide receiver Rayshon Williams scored the first touchdown with about four minutes left in the first quarter, said Williams, crediting Mullen coach David Logan.

“We played our ‘A’ game,” Williams said. “I didn’t think I’d get to the end zone. The last two years (at championships) I hadn’t touched the ball. This time, coach Logan gave it to me and I ran with it.”

The rivals went into the championship game before the crowd of 15,257 with undefeated seasons (13-0).

Regis Jesuit senior wide receiver Connor McKay was on the ground in the first quarter after two airborne Mullen players collided into him at once. At least one Mullen player said he noticed some tension heating up between players toward the end of the game.

Mullen junior quarterback Cyler Miles said, overall, healthy interaction between the teams looked steady.

“This championship being two Catholic teams, they both showed poise and maturity throughout the season and throughout the game,” Miles said. “I have a lot of respect toward Regis Jesuit.”

Miles displayed clean, perfected passing between teammates and the Raiders missed a few shots to steal some of the clumsier passes the Mustangs made.

“We didn’t play a necessarily clean game,” said Raiders coach Mark Nolan. “We made some mistakes, missed some opportunities.”

Mullen had pulled ahead to a 37-0 near-blowout by the end of the third quarter. At a time when spirits could have been all but gone for Regis Jesuit, the team made a stride anyway with Regis senior running back Andrew Faggelia scoring the team’s only touchdown with barely more than two minutes left in the game.

“The thing that kept our spirits up through a game like that one was the love we have for one another,” said Raiders senior receiver Casey Young, who will be attending University of North Dakota on a full football scholarship next year. “We are not just a football team but we are brothers and would never quit or give up on each other. We fought until that last whistle blew. We are a team that cares so much about the guys around us that we will fight until the end no matter the outcome because we are taught to never stop (trying).”

Other seniors were looking back on their season.

 “These three championships and working hard with these guys will be my memorabilia of high school,” said Mullen senior running back Adonis Ameen-Moore, who crawled over a manscramble to get inside the team’s third touchdown during the second quarter. “These guys taught me to treat everybody with respect, to treat them like family, and to love each other.”

Coach Logan complimented Raiders coach Mark Nolan, saying his team did a great job in many of his strategies.

“I was glad to see us all pray together at the end of the game. … We salute Regis Jesuit,” Logan said.

For the Raiders, it will still be an “amazing season that will never be forgotten,” Young said. He credited his coaches for teaching him what it is to be a man.

“Our coaches have made it their goal to not only mold us into football players, but into men as well,” Young said. “They have taught us valuable lessons of how we can become good husbands, workers and people of faith. From my fellow teammates (my lessons) will be the lessons that hard work and commitment to each other leads to great things. … This can easily be translated into life.”

Nolan said his team philosophy is to work in a way “that’s reflective of a champion manner whether that’s spiritually mentally or physically.”

“Our kids took a huge step this year toward that kind of mindset,” he said. “We believe our kids and staff are working in a manner that is producing men of character—men who 15 years from now we’re confident are going to be involved in their churches, involved in their communities, as well as great husbands and fathers.

“For us to have the successful season we had is a reflection of that type of development more so than just X’s and O’s football.”