Pine Creek threw the kitchen sink, and every other material it could think of at Cherry Creek.

The state’s top seed represented its top test, possibly in years of 5A football rosters, if you ask Eagles’ coaches. In the end, every misdirection and fake they could come up with wasn’t enough in a 4121 loss to Cherry Creek at the Stutler Bowl on Saturday.

Coach Todd Miller started the game with a pooch kick. It landed directly between Cherry Creek return lines and bounced off Pine Creek junior Jaylen Segars’ pads before the Eagles recovered right outside the host’s red zone.

Then, in the same opening quarter, the Eagles tried and succeeded on a fake punt, caught down the field by a sprinting up back.

The first was sent awry after a fumble from junior Mason Miller. The second was thwarted after an interception thrown by sophomore quarterback, Cam Cooper. Both of the “bullets” Todd chose to fire resulted in zero points — a no-no when playing as an underdog.

A possible lead quickly turned to a three-score deficit at halftime.

“Your bullets are all used up at that point,” Todd said. “We never gave up, or quit, but our guys knew we needed to take advantage of every opportunity we got. The wheels started to fall off.”

Once the Eagles began to find footing, as shown by two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, it was too late. Cooper’s pair of passes to junior Kai Goetze from 13 yards out, then from 11 yards out to senior Jake Graver was all for naught.

It was part of a three-touchdown day for Cooper, who also found Graver in the first quarter for an 85-yard strike.

The same defense that allowed just three points to Grandview allowed three touchdowns of over 40-plus yards to the Bruins.

When Pine Creek appeared at CHSAA’S Media Day before the year, they were alongside Cherry Creek. The Eagles were moving up to 5A for the first time, and the Bruins came in with three consecutive titles, looking to add a fourth.

The jump from 4A to 5A has been in the works for multiple years at Pine Creek. Matched with its top dog, the Eagles learned a lot — lessons that Cooper, Miller and others will take into next season.

Chief among them is how close Pine Creek already is.

“We’re not there yet, but we’re closer than we think,” Todd said.

“We exceeded expectations this year because our guys worked hard. We wanted to go further.

“Every loss is a learning experience and you grow from it. We’ll have an offseason to train up, heal up and get better. And I think we will.”

“Every loss is a learning experience and you grow from it.” Todd Miller, Pine Creek coach