Titans’ soccer carries undefeated momentum on the road

Take three big wins last week

This past week of games presented the Titans with their biggest test to date in league play.
After battling through the first half of the season to end up 6-0 in their league, the Titans would now have to face all of their league opponents again, on the road.
They headed to Telluride on Tuesday, October 1 for their second showdown with the Miners. The two teams met just 10 days earlier with the Titans edging out a 3-2 double overtime win.
But the target was on their chest as they rolled into Telluride. The Miners are notoriously tough on their home field and the fan base was out in force on Tuesday as the Miners took the field looking to exact revenge against Crested Butte.
The initial plan was to hold off the Miner attack for the first 10 and then once things calmed down, start to push back. But, as is often the case in high school sports, you never know what’s going to happen when the whistle blows.
As it turned out, the Titans were more than ready for the Miners with the defense tight on Telluride’s potent strikers and midfielders Prawit Durgan and Issac Evans battling to set possession throughout the field.
The efforts of the midfielders paid off as Prawit Durgan found Sam Reaman open just outside the Telluride penalty area and Reaman turned to fire a shot through traffic picking the far corner for a 1-0 lead.
Reaman struck again 10 minutes later settling a high ball off his chest and striking a volley that squeaked past the Telluride keeper.
Cognizant of the tenuous 2-0 lead against such a strong opponent, the Titans knew they needed one more to gain adequate breathing room. They got that from Kaleb Schultz 30 minutes into the game when Schultz took a pass and turned to drill a shot top shelf from 25 yards out giving the Titans a 3-0 lead at halftime.
“The Titans came out to a good start,” says coach Drew Canale. “Coming right off the bus and onto a visiting field. I think they stunned the Telluride team.”
Telluride came out in the second half determined to climb back into the game with some classic Miner style soccer. The Miners defense stepped up their game to own the ball out of the air and continued to feed it into the Titans defensive zone. The Titans defense held off the initial 15-minute attack as Josh Melnick orchestrated the defense to maintain their shape and Nate Hoskin, Danny Stoneberg and Thomas Taaca pushed to hold off attacks from Telluride’s strikers.
“Telluride pushed one of their best players into their defense and he owned everything out of the air,” says Canale.
The pressure proved too much too handle as Telluride converted on a corner kick and maintained pressure to swing the momentum their way completely. But the Titans defense refused to fold and keeper Ian Dethloff turned away a handful of shots.
The Titans broke the seal on the Miners goal once again and even though the goal was called back following an officials discussion, the effort proved symbolic as the Titans gained some momentum back.
The Miners kept pressing but the Titans got their final break with five minutes left in regulation when a corner kick from Cameron Curtiss slipped inside the near post to seal the 4-1 win.
“Hustle, key subs and pride got us through that second half,” says Canale. “The win was humungous. Year in and year out Telluride fields the most competitive team in our league.”
Once the dust and euphoria settled from the big win, the Titans focused their attention on their next test, the Pagosa Springs Pirates in Pagosa on Friday, October 4.
Crested Butte held off a late game run from the Pirates in their first meeting of the season to win 4-3 so, once again, the Titans were sitting in the hot seat.
Pagosa went for broke on the coin toss choosing to play with a strong wind at their backs in the first half. The wind matched with Pagosa’s pure hustle had the Titans scrambling on defense. Crested Butte found seams in the Pirate defense by attacking the flanks but crosses into the 18 were either blown off their mark by the wind or cleared away by Pagosa’s stifling defense leaving the teams locked in a 0-0 tie at halftime.
Having survived the opening half, the Titans returned to their style of play using short passing, the flanks and their speed to open options in the offensive third.
The Titans struck early as a series of passes put the ball on Durgan’s foot and he slipped a pass through Pagosa’s line of defense to Schultz for the finish.
Schultz struck again 10 minutes later as Reaman turned on an outlet pass at midfield and clipped the ball through to Schultz for a 2-0 lead.
The Pirates, as they always do, continued to pressure and their efforts paid off with a handball in the penalty area setting up a penalty kick. Dethloff saved the initial attempt but the officials called him on an infraction giving the Pirates another shot. Dethloff turned away the shot again but the Pagosa shooter followed to push the rebound through.
While circumstances like this have rattled the Titans in the past, this years’ team remained calm in the face of adversity led by their defense. Melnick and Stoneberg were lights out in the air and on the ground turning away everything down the middle and clearing the ball of trouble. One clear fell to the feet of Schultz at midfield and Schultz pushed the ball through for a breakaway. As the keeper came out, Schultz turned to his right foot and floated his shot over the keeper and into the upper corner icing the 3-1 Titans’ win.
“We weathered the initial onslaught,” says Canale. “If anything it motivated the team. Credit to Sam and Prawit for setting up Kaleb for those goals and it’s invaluable to have a scorer like him. Someone who can put the ball in the back of the net.”
With two big games out of the way, the Titans were able to relax on Saturday, October 5 as they faced the Bayfield Wolverines in Bayfield. Bayfield is in the midst of rebuilding their program and were depleted by a series of injuries. The Titans used the game to work on their team shape and passing attack and scored 15 minutes in when Dakota Wiggins fed a pass to Schultz who turned and fired his shot inside the near post. Solon Gray and Taaca added a goal each to put the Titans on top 3-0 at halftime.
Gray went on to assist Durgan on the next two goals, Schultz poked a pas to Ashton Mabry for another Titans’ goal and then Mabry netted his second of the game to cap the 7-0 win.
Sitting on top of the league with a record of 9-0, the Titans enter the final week of league play with a couple big games still ahead. They hosted the Ridgway Demons on Tuesday, October 8, a team that has crushed the spirit of the Titans numerous times in the past. Crested Butte will close out the regular season on Saturday, October 12 with a double header on the road lining up against Center Saturday morning and then heading to Alamosa to play that afternoon.
“They’re not gimme games,” says Canale. “They’re going to have to work hard and play a high level of soccer to beat those teams.”