The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Overcome weather, injuries and a tough opponent
By Than Acuff
After a week of snowing, shoveling and shuffling inside and outside and up and down the Gunnison Valley, the Crested Butte Titans boy’s soccer team edged out a 2-1 win on a late game goal over Middle Park on Sunday, November 10 to advance to the 2A state semifinals.
It’s nothing new for high school athletics in the Gunnison Valley as fall sports often dodge storms in the latter stages of their seasons to prepare for contests. But this year was remarkable in that the weather mayhem wasn’t just confined to the Gunnison Valley as high school programs across the state were scrambling to find places to practice and play games. Here at home, the game was meant to be played at the CBCS field to start, then moved to the Gunnison High School field, then moved to Salida, ultimately landing back at the Katy O. Rady Field at Western Colorado University (WCU) on Sunday.
In the end, the Titans got exactly one hour of practice on an outdoor surface clear of snow as WCU cleared their turf field Saturday morning and opened it for the Titans to train.
“The week was extremely difficult to navigate because of the weather and the fact that we never knew where we were going to practice, but the boys didn’t seem phased at all,” says coach Matt Wilson. “They showed up to every practice eager to listen and ready to compete, even in blizzard-like conditions at times, and that really set the tone for the week.”
Still, the lack of outdoor training showed as both the Titans and Middle Park muddled their way through an erratic opening 10 minutes of the game. The Titans were hit with another blow three minutes in when senior captain and striker Sawyer Barney went down with an injury. Nevertheless, the Titans did seize on an opportunity as Shawn Moran drove a corner kick into the six-yard box and the ball glanced off a Middle Park player and into the net for a 1-0 lead.
“We worked on corner kicks and set pieces a lot in our build-up to Middle Park,” says Wilson. “We were confident we could inflict some serious damage in those types of situations, and that’s exactly what the boys did with the opening goal.”
As the game continued, Middle Park started to find their run and gun game relying on their midfield three to create chances for their three strikers but the Titans back four proved impenetrable and keeper Jakob Klemme denied the one chance Middle Park had up the middle.
Crested Butte was hit with yet another blow when starting outside defender Cy Buckel went down with an injury in the final five minutes of the first half and the coaches shifted personnel to get through to halftime and managed to hold onto their one-goal lead.
Crested Butte’s team shape was much improved in the second half as they looked to pick off passes into the midfield. Their adjustment played out well, but the Titans were unable to connect anything in the attacking third against Middle Park’s equally stout defense.
With pressure mounting on the Titans, they did their best to hold off Middle Park but with pressure comes opportunities and with opportunities comes goals. Middle Park set up for another corner kick with five minutes left in the game and this time connected as a frenzy ensued in front of the Titans’ goal and a Middle Park player punched it through to tie the game 1-1.
“Even though we conceded a soft goal in the second half, it still felt a lot more composed and controlled than the first half,” says Wilson. “There definitely were some nerves in the first 40 minutes, but we threw out a lot of tactical changes in the week leading up so that was totally expected.”
While a seemingly soul-crushing event, the Titans gathered for a quick team meeting and finally found their groove. With three minutes left in regulation, Will Harpel battled for the ball to find a pass back to Rocco Billingsley who then played it wide to Eli Hulm. Hulm slipped the ball through Middle Park’s back four and Max Naughton chased it down to find Marin Gardner open at the top of the six-yard box with a pass and Gardner smashed it in for the eventual game winner.
“The response from the boys after Middle Park tied it up was first class,” says Wilson. “Their goal lit a fire in the boys and galvanized the team so much that our go-ahead goal happened only two minutes afterward. Losing two starters to injury was a very hard pill to swallow, but our bench is extremely deep and came up huge against Middle Park. The coaching staff and I have always felt our bench can compete against most varsity squads, so we knew that depth would pay dividends for us in the playoffs, and that’s exactly what happened against Middle Park.”
The Titans face the second-seeded Forge Christian Fury in the semifinal match of the 2A state tournament. A win there will send Crested Butte to the state finals at Weidner Field in Colorado Springs on Friday, November 15 at 4 p.m.
