Titans soccer closes regular season with two wins

Enter state tournament the #3 seed

By Than Acuff

The Crested Butte Titans boys’ soccer team outscored their final regular season opponents 13-0 on Friday and Saturday, October 24-25 to earn the league title and enter the state tournament ranked third with their first game on Wednesday, November 5 at the Crested Butte Community School.

The team was in a bit of disarray heading into their home match against the Telluride Miners on Friday with their two starting center defenders out with injury and a need to shuffle players into new spots. In addition, the Titans had lost to the Miners earlier this year 1-0 and Telluride was on a heater coming into the game with a record of 12-2, 5-0 in league play. But the message was clear for the Titans.

“We knew the stakes were going to be high for the Telluride game,” says coach Matt Wilson. “The league title and a top four bid at state were on the line, so our mindset was to be fearless and disciplined, and take control of the game from the first whistle.”

Both teams traded off threats in the opening 10 minutes as the Miners looked to find room over and through Crested Butte’s back line but the two new centerbacks Tanner Harpel and AJ Hegeman shut down a lot of their attempts, Wyatt Cook was called on to play outside defense and he shut down his side as did Isaac Jennings, the only defender playing in his actual position and goalie Wyatt Anders swallowed up everything else that got through.

Crested Butte broke the seal on Telluride’s net 12 minutes into the first half when Matias Bonnaterre slipped a pass through to Max Naughton and Naughton buried his shot near post for a 1-0 lead. Twenty minutes later the Titans struck again when Magnus Sandusky carried the ball wide and fed Shawn Moran at the top of the 18-yard box for Moran to fire a shot in to build a 2-0 lead. 

“The energy was exactly where we wanted it,” says Wilson. “The boys came out sharp, moved the ball well, and played with confidence. We created good chances early and kept the pressure on, and you could tell our boys were enjoying the game and feeding off the home crowd.”

But the Miners being the Miners, they are always capable of bouncing back. Fortunately, the Titans midfield was on point, the defense in place and Crested Butte carried their 2-0 lead into halftime.

“The message at halftime was simply to stay locked in and don’t let up,” says Wilson. “Telluride is a quality team, and you can’t give them any openings, so we challenged the boys to continue their style of play and put them away early in the second half.”

The Titans answered the call in the opening minute of the second half when Moran then set up Naughton for his second goal of the game and Crested Butte’s third goal. Twenty minutes later pressure from Kyle Moran set up his brother Shawn to slice past three Miner defenders and tally his second goal of the game and then Cook headed in a set piece from Tanner Harpel in the final five minutes to cap the 5-0 win.

“It was a dream start for us to score so early on,” says Wilson. “It set the tone of the half and gave us the momentum we needed to break the game wide open, and from that moment on, we were in full control.”

While offense scores goals, it’s defense that wins games and Wilson touts the effort of the players in new positions as the main ingredient for the win.

“It was massive,” says Wilson. “Changing up a back line so late in the season is never easy, but the boys who stepped into new roles played better than we could have ever imagined. The communication, discipline and toughness in the back were first class and it gave us the foundation to dominate at both ends of the pitch.”

The Titans then carried that momentum into Saturday as they rolled to an 8-0 win over Ridgway with Shawn scoring four goals, Bonnaterre two and Naughton and Cook each netting one in that effort.

Crested Butte now heads into the 2A state tournament earning a bye past the first round and will host their first state game on Wednesday, November 5 at the CBCS community field, time TBD. If the Titans win that, they head to the quarterfinals match, also at the CBCS field on Saturday, November 8.

“We’re in a great spot, but we’re not at all satisfied,” says Wilson. “The boys have earned their position in playoffs, but our standard doesn’t change. We want to keep building, stay humble and make sure our best football is still ahead of us.”