Saturday featured three thrilling championship games as Kent Denver, Ridgway and Skyview all claimed boys soccer championships.
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By Derek Lee & Tim Bourke
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By Tim Bourke
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By Tim Bourke
COMMERCE CITY – No matter what the outcome was of Saturday night’s Class 4A state championship game, Skyview’s boys soccer team had already made history.
The 2019 Wolverines were the first program in school history, in any sport, just to make a state championship game. But Skyview wasn’t content to simply let that be their story.
Instead, the Wolverines started and finished strong in the championship game at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. Skyview struck first and then held on for a hard-fought 2-1 victory over two-time defending champion Air Academy to win the school’s first title.
“It’s huge for our community. We’re just a little tiny school district up in Thornton,” Skyview coach Justin Thomas said. “It’s so big for community and our kids to know that no matter what size school you come from or what model district you’re in, you can do it. You can go out there and win a state championship against a huge high school like Air Academy.”
Luis Reyes and Jared Ramos scored first-half goals for the Wolverines (18-0-2). The Kadets got within one goal in the 51s minute and kept the pressure on late, but even after Skyview went down a man with 38 seconds remaining, it managed to find a way.
The team was also able to put a disappointing finish behind it from 2018, when an unbeaten season came to an end in a shootout in the state quarterfinals.
“We’ve been working for this since last November,” Ramos said. “This is our first state championship. The excitement I’m feeling right now, I don’t know, I can’t even explain it. We wanted this, we wanted everybody to know who we were.”
Skyview was coming off a one-win season when Thomas took over the program in 2012. The team won only three games in his first season, but came back in 2013 to win 11 games and a league title.
Thomas said despite the trials and tribulations of that first year, the process was a testament to the character of the players he has coached over the years.
There was a little uncertainty as to how this year’s team would bounce back from last year’s finish, but a strong senior class put those worries to rest early.
“We were a little worried about the senior class that we lost last year. A lot of guys went on to go play at the collegiate level,” Thomas said. “But this senior class, they stepped up so much. They’ve been such great role models and leaders for the younger kids on the team.”
Air Academy (15-5) has won five state titles overall and was making its fifth championship-game appearance in seven seasons Saturday. The Kadets featured the reigning Gatorade Boys Soccer Player of the Year for Colorado in Thaddaeus Dewing, who scored the Kadets’ goal Saturday night.
Thomas said they spent hours planning how to slow down Dewing, adding that it was crucial to strike first. That’s exactly what happened, as Reyes scored in the 38th minute with a ball that somehow squeezed between Air Academy keeper Travis Tygart Jr. and the right post.
Three minutes later it was Ramos’ turn off an assist from Gustavo Flores.
“When we talked about our gameplan coming into tonight, it was all about strike early,” Thomas said. “We knew we were going to have to get on the scoreboard before them because they are a powerhouse of 4A soccer.”
Dewing cut the lead to one a little more than 10 minutes into the second half, just getting the ball past Skyview keeper Brian Fierro.
“Thaddaeus is good. He can turn at any time, he’s a dangerous player,” Ramos said. “He made it tough for our defenders, and we tried our best to defend it. We just kept pushing until the end.”
Air Academy kept the pressure on from there. The team’s best chance came in the 72nd minute, when Dewing’s direct kick from just outside the top of the box was deflected by a wall of defenders.
A brief scuffle in the final minute resulted in yellow cards for both sides. But the Wolverines didn’t allow any scoring chances in the closing seconds, and as the final whistle blew, they piled onto each other on the near sideline.
It was sweet vindication for a program that felt as though no one was paying attention to its success throughout the year.
“They were overlooking us the whole season. No one talked about us,” Ramos said. “That put a chip on our shoulders to prove everybody wrong tonight.”
COMMERCE CITY — The Class 5A boys soccer championship game between Broomfield and Regis Jesuit is on Friday night.
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COMMERCE CITY — Broomfield coach Jim Davidson has a lot things to remember about various teams. What he’s going to remember about the 2019 version of the Eagles is that youth didn’t deter greatness.
He acknowledged that this was a team that needed to learn how to grow. How to persevere. In a way, that’s what made the 1-0 win over Regis Jesuit Friday night so fitting. It gave his team not just the Class 5A boys soccer state title – the eighth in program history, a state record – but it gave them validation in their process.
The Eagles (17-2-1 overall) had to grow and learn from their misses. They had to persevere when it felt like the ball wasn’t rolling their way on the grass at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
Gustavo Gutierrez was a perfect example of that perseverance. Early on he had a shot that carried over the crossbar. Shortly after, Evan Stearns played a perfect ball his way and he tried to head the ball into the net, but Raiders keeper Trey Tomlin made the save. He had look after look, but the ball just wasn’t getting into the net.
“There are times in games like this when you want to try and put the ball in the back of the net and get one as quick as possible,” Gutierrez said. “You have to take your opportunities.”
He had no problem there, they just weren’t getting converted.
Even the penalty kick opportunity in the 56th minute didn’t go as planned. It was Gutierrez taking the shot adn Tomlin made a great move and got his body on it.
But he couldn’t save the rebound. Gutierrez followed his attempt right up and converted the games only goal in that instant.
“The thing about Goose is that he’s put us on his back all season long,” Davidson said. “He is absolutely exceptional. He’s our best player and your best players have to be awesome in these kinds of games.”
That can be said for the back line as well as keep Jack Stoecker. Early in the first half, the Raiders (16-2-2) had more than their share of solid looks. Casey McCloskey made every corner kick and adventure for the spectators as he placed the ball in perfect spots. At one point, a teammate got his head on it and it looked as though Regis was about to take the lead.
Until Stoecker knocked it away. When the Eagles shifted into a defensive mentality, he was able to come up big when he needed to and became a big reason why state championship hardware is traveling west on Highway 36.
“I have to be a leader and I have to be accountable for my defense and for the team,” Stoecker said. “I put a lot of pressure on myself but I think that makes me better and it helps the team.”
But it was far from an individual effort.
“Everyone has to play their role,” he added.
The forwards such as Gutierrez. The defenders such as Stearns.
He didn’t stop there. Coaches. Managers. Trainers.
Everyone has a role to play and if played up to expectations, a state championship can can certainly be won.
Gustavo Gutierrez’s goal was enough for Broomfield to get a 1-0 win over Regis Jesuit and claim the Class 5A boys soccer title.
COMMERCE CITY — The Class 2A, 3A and 4A boys soccer championship games are on Saturday at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
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COMMERCE CITY — There is something about Dick’s Sporting Goods Park that just brings out the best in Pace Billings and his teammates.
For the fifth time in six seasons, Kent Denver’s boys soccer team left Commerce City with the Class 3A state trophy in their hands. For the second year in a row, it was Billings who provided the spark. One year after scoring a pair of goals in the title game, the senior gave his team a big lift Saturday afternoon with three consecutive goals in the second half.
The surge sent Kent Denver to a 5-0 victory over Roaring Fork, capping off a perfect 20-0 season.
“We’ve got a tremendous senior class, and they have led us through thick and thin,” Sun Devils coach Arty Smith said. “It was one of those seasons where I, as the head coach, was able to defer a lot of the leadership to this senior class.
“This season, the 20-0 record, it is the senior class that owns that. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Kent Denver won championships in 2014-16 and again in 2018, but the team had never finished unbeaten in that stretch. The team is 112-3-4 since 2014, and the senior class goes out with three titles in four years.
“We’ve had a core bunch of seniors on the team since freshman year when we won the state title,” Billings said. “We’ve been working and working and got to be the best we’ve ever been.”
Fifth-seeded Roaring Fork (15-3-1) played Kent Denver as tough as anyone had this season through the first 50 minutes of play. It wasn’t until 10 minutes had gone by in the second half that Kent Denver finally broke through, as Rawson Welch sent a perfect cross to the left side of the field. Billings was there to finish it off, putting the team on top to stay.
“We practice crossing all the time. We put it in the mix, as our coach likes to say,” Billings said. “It was a great ball. He made it easy for me.”
Midway through the second half Billings again took a cross, this time from Max Hewitt, and punched it home to make it 2-0. That ignited a three-goal outburst in less than three minutes, with Billings and Hewitt adding goals.
“Before the game we talked about being patient. We figured Roaring Fork would try to stay very organized defensively, and they did,” Smith said. “I thought in the first half we had the better possession and probably wore them out a little bit. We got that first one, and I think Roaring Fork probably had to come out of their shell a little bit. It gave us a little bit more space, and then kind of the floodgates opened.”
Layton Purchase added a goal with a little more than seven minutes remaining to cap the scoring.
For Pace, scoring five goals at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in two years is a good feeling, but the senior was quick to point out that he doesn’t get those without his teammates.
“It’s lucky that comes at this time, but it’s not just me. I credit all of my teammates and everybody for helping me get there,” Billings said. “They’re team goals, but it’s good that it comes here.”
Roaring Fork keeper Noah Wheeless faced a steady attack throughout the game, finishing with 10 saves. The Sun Devils backline didn’t allow much pressure though on the other end for senior keeper Joey Waldbaum, who had to make only one first-half save.
Smith said next fall will be much different, given how many players will graduate. He said the junior class will pick up the mantle, and much of that legacy will be because of this year’s seniors.
“It will be the turning of the page next year,” Smith said. “I think we have 14 seniors, and we’re going to miss every single one of them. But certainly their legacy will live on.”
COMMERCE CITY — Pick your Cinderella storyline, and Ridgway’s boys soccer team probably fit the criteria this postseason.
A small school of 99 students, and one that had not won a state championship in any sport since 1995. A No. 10 seed that struggled late in the season and was overlooked coming into the state tournament.
None of that mattered Saturday afternoon, as the Demons completed their historic run through the Class 2A state bracket with a 2-1 victory over Dawson School at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
The victory gave Ridgway its first state title in the sport and first overall since winning a boys basketball crown 24 years ago.
“We come from a school with 99 kids. The team we just played has an enrollment of like 250,” Demons coach Jon Kornbluh said. “That’s the story almost every time we step on the field. It’s really just a story about these boys, and me, starting years and years and years ago.
“We’ve been punching above our weight all our lives.”
Robert Beserra scored both of Ridgway’s goals, the game-winner coming with only 37 seconds remaining in regulation. Beserra, who finished his senior season with 41 goals, went up and headed the ball over a defender and a charging goalkeeper into the back of the net. It slowly rolled into the back of the net, setting off a wild celebration.
“My keeper (Kaden Forrest) punted it like three-quarters of the way down the field,” Beserra said. “I was like ‘this is my chance.’ I went up for it and I capitalized. It was a proud moment.”
Kornbluh said it was nothing new from his senior midfielder, but added that it doesn’t happen without the work of the entire squad. In his words, the Demons are a “beautiful possessing team with a phenom up top.”
“It was a courageous play. He’s looking to get hammered by that goalie,” Kornbluh added. “Robert is the total package. He’s got courage, intensity, skill and a huge heart. He’s our workhorse.”
Ridgway (12-3-3) dropped three of its final five regular season games, but opened the 2A playoffs with a 5-1 victory over No. 7 Lotus School For Excellence. From there the team upset defending state champion Crested Butte 3-1, and then upended No. 3 Fountain Valley 5-1 in the semifinals.
“It’s insane,” Beserra said. “I saw this is like the lowest seed that’s made it to the finals since like 2007 or something, so that’s really special.”
Dawson School (12-4-2) defeated Telluride and Denver Christian to reach its first 2A championship game. The Mustangs fell behind in the 12th minute after Beserra scored his first goal, but Jesse Isenhart knotted it up at 1-1 not quite 11 minutes later, sending a direct kick from just outside the top of box past Forrest.
The senior had two more chances on set pieces in the first half, but one went a little high and the second was deflected away by Forrest.
He had another direct kick hit the crossbar in the second half, and Forrest finished with four saves on the afternoon.
“Kaden came up really big,” Beserra said. “Our defense has been playing good all playoffs. They’re playing good when we needed it.”
Ridgway managed only one other shot on goal, and Christian Lindler had a chance go just wide right in the closing minutes. With the game looking as though it would go to overtime, Beserra made the most of his biggest chance of the season.
“Everyone talks about how big the moment is – at the end, I just kept talking about ‘no, this is about your first touch. This is about defensive intensity. This is about playing clinical soccer,’” Kornbluh said. “Take the moment out of it. It helped to watch the game before us and be in the space and place.
“It wasn’t too big for us. They really seized the moment.”
DENVER — With less than four minutes left in the first overtime period, Roaring Fork coach Nicholas Forbes couldn’t watch. His Rams had just been awarded a penalty kick and as he had all season, Ross Barlow strode to the top of the goal box.
If there were any nerves surrounding the situation, they were all rattling around in the head coach. The shooter was calm as could be. And it showed when he ripped his shot to the left side to give Roaring Fork a 2-1 win and a spot in the Class 3A boys soccer state championship game on Saturday. The Rams also beat the Spartans in last year’s state tournament.
He may not have look scared of the moment, but when he looks at his celebrating teammates and reflecting on the situation, he admits that’s a tough spot to be in.
“I’m pretty nervous,” Barlow said. “But I’ve learned to control myself and take a deep breath.”
It wasn’t too long into the contest when before the Spartans (17-1-1 overall) made a play on the net. As the ball bounced around in front of the Roaring Fork net, Quinn Bosanko was in a perfect spot to put his head on it. The only problem is that Rams keeper Noah Wheeless was in a perfect spot to make the save.
Just four minutes later the Rams (15-2-1) found an open look of their own as Dylan Webster navigated his way to the center of the field with no Salida defender between him and the net. His shot jumped off his foot and over the net, leaving the Roaring Fork fans – and Webster himself – in disbelief.
After using the bulk of the first half to feel each other out, the two teams dialed up pressure on their respective offensive ends. Two corner kicks in a span of three minutes for Salida nearly led to the game’s first goal, but again it was Wheeless punching the ball again to preserve the tie.
Another scrum in front of the Rams net again almost put the Spartans up before Wheeless was able to dive on it. With about 20 minutes remaining in regulation, it was beginning to look as though one goal on either side would get the job done.
That goal finally came in the 74th minute as the ball was played in front of the Roaring Fork net where Wheeless moved up to make a play on it.
But Brown was too quick. He corralled the ball and pushed it just off to the side to give himself a wide-open look at the net. After all the chances that hadn’t converted, there was no way Brown was missing that one.
“We’ve been working on him owning the goal box, so kind of being more assertive in there,” Forbes said. “I think the ball just kind of bounced a little off for him.”
A one-goal lead in this game felt like it was going to be enough, but Barlow had other ideas. He scored the equalizer with one minute, 20 seconds left on the clock. The game went into overtime and it was the Rams consistently on the attack. A foul called in the box gave Roaring Fork a penalty kick with 3:32 left in the first 15 minute session.
Forbes may not have been able to look, but there was no mistaking the sound of a good goal when Barlow connected and kept the Rams’ state title hopes alive.
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Pace Billings didn’t wait long to show Atlas Prep just why Kent Denver is the defending 3A boys soccer champion. The senior was in the right spot to bury the rebound from Max Hewitt’s shot to put the Sun Devils up early.
Max Hewitt added a goal 13 minutes later to push the Sun Devils’ (19-0) lead to 2-0. Suddenly with their backs against the wall, the Gryphons (17-1-1) pressed offensively and Luis Vega connected on a rush to cut the Kent lead in half.
But Billings added another and Spencer Thomas added another to quickly make it a 4-1 game just over a half hour into play.
The Gryphons scored the first goal of the second half thanks to a penalty kick opportunity. Lamario Nisbeth put his kick in the right side of the net to make it a 4-2 game.
But it wouldn’t be enough. No one else scored for the remainder of the game and Kent Denver is set to defend its 3A state championship when it faces Roaring Fork on Saturday at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
AURORA — Experience played a big part in Air Academy’s 2-1 victory over Lewis-Palmer in the boys Class 4A soccer semifinals Wednesday night.
A fortunate bounce with just over two minutes left in regulation didn’t hurt the Kadets, either.
Mason Shandy’s pinball goal at 77:58 broke a 1-1 tie and sent Air Academy, winners of the last two state championships, to the finals for the third-straight season.
A direct kick by Thaddeus Dewing of the Kadets was rejected by a Lewis-Palmer wall late in the contest.
Dewing managed to regain possession and sent the ball back into the box. Adin Schwenke put a shot on goal that bounced in Shandy’s vicinity, and he banged home the game-winner.
“I was just kind of right place, right time,” Shandy confessed. “I was really thankful that Thad put that second ball in after hitting the wall with his first (kick). Adin went up for a nice challenge and it just bounced right in my way. I felt like it was a team goal.”
Shandy, a junior, is now three-for-three in semifinal wins with Air Academy.
“It never gets old,” he revealed. “Just the entire playoff run is so much fun. I am just so thankful we can go all the way again and experience all five games every year.
“I’m really excited for Saturday,” Shandy added. “It should be a lot of fun.
The Kadets tied the game 13:47 into the second half on powerful strike by Schwenke after a pretty pass from Dewing.
“There was a nice lay-off by Thad to Adin … two of our seniors,” said Air Academy head coach Espen Hosoien. “It was a really nice goal.”
Lewis-Palmer scored first at 5:59 of the first half when Tyler Prichard launched a long ball towards the net from more than 40 yards away. The ball eluded Kadet goalkeeper Travis Tygart, and the Rangers had an early 1-0 lead.
But Air Academy continued to play tough and created several chances throughout the rest of the game.
“Everybody just fought their hardest,” said Schwenke. “We were down 1-0 last year, too. We don’t panic. We keep playing the way coach has taught us to play every year. Just get the ball where we need it to go, get goals and go do what we need to do. Everybody just works their hardest; that’s the biggest thing for us.”
“There was no panic,” Hosoien added. “These guys have been through it before. We played three tough games to get here (to the semifinals). It’s not like we haven’t been tested.
“We always talk about playing the full game, regardless,” he added. A goal scored in the 78th minute is just as good as a goal scored in the fifth minute. It’s even better if it’s the winning goal.”
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Skyview goalkeeper Brian Fierro was the big hero Wednesday night at Legacy Stadium.
Fierro made a diving stop of a penalty kick by Golden’s Joaquin Garfias with one minute left in the game, and the Wolverines escaped with a 1-0 win in the 4A boys soccer semifinals.
Skyview will now play two-time defending champion Air Academy in the title game at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
After the game, Fierro gave an assist to someone special in his life.
“I’ve got to give credit to my Dad,” said a smiling Fierro. “He has been teaching me how to guess (correctly) on the penalties. He always tells me to go to my left, so I did.”
Luis Reyes put the Wolverines on the board first when he took a pass from teammate Roger Ibarra and sent the ball into the lower corner of the goal 5:37 into the second half.
“I had the ball out wide, and played it into Roger, one of our better players on our team,” said Reyes of his game-winning tally. “I made a run (towards the front of the goal), and I just knew he was going to find me. We have such a good connection. Once I hit it I knew I was going to score because I have been practicing that shot for a long time. It’s the best feeling.”
It’s a scene that’s all-too familiar to Skyview head coach Justin Thomas.
“Luis got the ball in the box and made a great turn,” he said. “I have so much confidence when he has the ball on his feet in the box. That goal was just pure Luis: turn, shoot … and he always finds the back of the net. He’s a very skilled player, he’s very smart and I’m just really proud that he was able to score for us. We needed it.”
Golden had several chances to equalize as the half went on, but their shots were either just wide, off the post or crossbar or saved by Fierro.
“After we scored the goal we had so much momentum but I give a lot of props to their team because they didn’t stop fighting,” Reyes added. “But we have a team that never stops fighting as well. And we also have a great goalkeeper. I have so much confidence in Brian. Before the penalty, I knew he was going to block it.”
Thomas wasn’t surprised, either.
“Brian has just gotten better and better for us each year,” he added. “Last year we got knocked out in the quarterfinals in the ninth round of PKs. I knew going into this year that practicing penalties would be a big thing for us to do. So we have been taking penalties at the end of every practice since we got our seed in the playoffs. Brian has seen hundreds of shots in the last two weeks.
“I had confidence that if he picked right, he would make the save.”