LAKEWOOD — There was more than just bragging rights on the line between old Jeffco rivals Golden and Wheat Ridge on the boys soccer pitch.
The winner of the Class 4A Jeffco League finale Thursday night would be taking home the conference title from Lakewood Memorial Field.
“It was ideal. We love playing against Golden,” Wheat Ridge coach Nate Flack said. “We knew it was going to be a great game. It’s a great rivalry game. As the league was playing out we wanted to stay in the moment and get here to compete for a league title. It all worked out great.”
The Farmers took a 4-2 victory over the Demons and celebrated in front of the largest crowd Lakewood Memorial Field has seen in several years. It was Wheat Ridge’s seventh straight victory and was the Farmers’ first conference boys soccer title since 2013.
“Oh my gosh, I’m speechless,” Wheat Ridge junior Bernard Jakab said. “This was a lot of fun. We knew what we needed to do and we came out and did it.”
Wheat Ridge (12-3, 7-1 in league) jumped out to a 2-0 first-half lead on goals by sophomore Jacob Tims (10th minute) and freshman Jacob Harrison (35th minute).
The Farmers lost their conference opener exactly a month to the day in a 1-0 loss to D’Evelyn, but Wheat Ridge finished conference play with seven straight victory over the last four weeks.
“We said we weren’t going to sit back,” Flack said of the game-plan against Golden — No. 6 in the CHSAANow.com 4A rankings — who were riding a 7-game winning streak. “We wanted to press them and play our game. We handled the emotions and the intangibles of the game. We kept the foot on the gas.”
Jakab put in a pair of goals in the second half to extend the Farmers’ lead to 4-0 midway through the second half.
“I couldn’t have done it without my teammates,” Jakab said of his two second-half goals. “Those were all team goals. That is what we always say on the pitch. It is never an individual goal. We all have to work together to make stuff happen.”
Golden (11-4, 7-1) made things a little interesting in the final minutes. Seniors Andres Garfias and Torin Chevalier scored goals in the 77th and 79th minutes, but the Demons ran out of time to make-up the 4-goal differential completely.
“I’m just really proud of the boys and proud of the teams from the last four years,” Flack said. “They laid the foundation of rebuilding this program. Those guys deserve this recognition and I’m just proud to be apart of it.”
Despite the loss, Golden will likely still grab a top-10 seed and host a first-round playoff game for the 32-team 4A state tournament that beings Thursday, Oct. 27. Golden had won three 4A Jeffco League titles over the past four seasons.
As of late Thursday night, Wheat Ridge was No. 18 in the RPI rankings. Despite winning the conference title with the head-to-head victory over Golden, the Farmers still might have a road game for their playoff opener.
“We know the season isn’t done,” Flack said looking forward to the 4A state tournament. “We are really excited that we can play a game like this against a top-10 team and going into the playoffs playing this kind of soccer. I think we are peaking at the right time.”
Wheat Ridge finished 4-4 in conference play last season, which included dropping its final three league games and not qualifying for the postseason. Jakab said he was just excited to have this group put the Farmers back on the map when it came to boys soccer in Jeffco.
“We definitely have to train hard for playoffs,” Jakab said. “We know what we are up against. We’ll be ready for anything.”