The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“Nolan was pretty much the soul of the team today”
There’s a saying in soccer coined by an elusive Dutch philosopher that says, “You can’t win a game without a yellow card.”
Well, it took four yellow cards and an incredible amount of heart as the Crested Butte Titans upset the first-place Telluride Miners 2-1 in Telluride on Tuesday, October 18.
The Miners are coming into their prime as a Southwest league powerhouse, racking up an undefeated 5-0-2 record heading into their final league game of the season.
Meanwhile, the Titans have been on a whirlwind tour, crushing some teams while dropping losses to others to put together a 3-2-1 record prior to the showdown with Telluride.
The two teams met earlier this season in Crested Butte, resulting in a stale 1-1 draw.
While the Miners are assured a spot in the post-season, the Titans’ chances were dashed two weeks ago when they lost to Alamosa 2-1.
Still, with the season Crested Butte has had this year, it was really anybody’s guess as to what would happen in Telluride.
“Our last game was such a downer, we pretty much gave it away,” says coach Mike Martin. “So, walking into Telluride we didn’t know what to expect from the players.”
Given all that, the mantra for their game against Telluride was simple: the Titans had nothing to lose and everything to gain.
The players took it to heart and opened the game letting their hustle dictate the play of the game. While both teams are well-skilled and well-coached, it became obvious in the first 10 minutes of play the end result would come down to which team wanted it more.
Both the Miners and the Titans stalled in the midfield as the ball bounced back and forth between the two squads.
Telluride got a golden opportunity in the 20th minute when senior Nolan Blunck slipped, giving the Miners’ leading scorer an open breakaway.
Sophomore goalkeeper Ian Dethloff charged off his line to cut the angle off, but the Miner striker slipped past him and passed the ball to an apparently open net.
But Blunck had recovered from his fall 20 yards back and slid in front of the shot to push it clear of the net and deny the goal.
Blunck’s play set the Titans into overdrive as they started to create opportunities on offense and push the Miners back into their defensive third.
The effort bore fruit in the 35th minute as senior Luis Aguirre received a pass, beat a Miner defender and struck a low shot to the near corner.
The ball hit off the post and spat across to the top of the six-yard box on the far post. Junior Jesse Reeves was there and passed the ball back into the six to senior Ben Reaman, who stuffed it home for a 1-0 lead.
The Titans held off one last surge from the Miners to take their slim lead into halftime, but celebration was subdued since the Titans had been there before.
In three games this year the Titans had dropped a 1-0 lead to end up losing or with a tie. So, the conundrum remained, “We didn’t know what to expect from the players.”
“Coach Than did most of the talking as usual and told them to keep up the hustle and intensity and then he handed it to Nolan to get the team fired up,” says Martin.
One thing was for sure—an adjustment was needed to handcuff Telluride’s leading scorer and junior Dylan Curtiss was pulled back to defense to shut him down.
The Titans suffered a seemingly, and all too familiar, devastating blow in the opening 30 seconds of the second half as Telluride scored off the opening kick-off to tie the game 1-1.
“That was painful,” says Martin. “We had to find out what team we had out there. Were they going to give up or find the fight inside of them?”
Fortunately, it was the latter. Senior Collin Dill led the fight in the midfield, Blunck in the back and Curtiss shut down the Miner striker as the Titans returned the game to its roots, smash-mouth soccer.
Telluride would get numerous set play chances and their deadly shooter played several potent strikes on net, but Dethloff had a number of saves and the Titans defense cleared the ball.
A break came in the 70th minute when sophomore midfielder Prawit Durgan carried a ball down the right flank and crossed it low and hard into the penalty area. A Miner defender took a swipe at it and tipped the ball but Dill was crashing hard and punched it through for a 2-1 Titans lead.
Telluride kept pressing through the final 10 minutes but the Titans were determined to take the win, holding off another series of set plays to take the 2-1 win.
While Blunck’s play stood out as one of the biggest of the game, Martin saw a total team effort as the difference.
“Nolan was pretty much the soul of the team today but I don’t know of one play. It was their continued intensity,” says Martin. “They were backed into their corner and they never gave up.”
The Titans close the regular season at home this Thursday, October 20 against Ridgway, a team that beat the Titans earlier this year.
“The kids want it — it’s their last home game,” says Martin. “I think the real turning point will be the fan turnout.”
Kick off is at 4 p.m. at Rainbow Field.
