Crested Butte Titans soccer wins 2025 state title

“This past season was purely three-and-a-half months of lifelong friends playing with joy and love for each other …” 

By Than Acuff 

After winning their quarterfinal match in overtime, and then winning their semifinal match in overtime again, it took until the sixth shooter of the penalty kick shootout for the Crested Butte Titans boys’ soccer team to win the 2025 2A state soccer title last weekend.

The semifinal match would prove to be the toughest opponent the Titans faced all season when they took the field to play the Salida Spartans at Katy O. Rady Field on the Western campus on Wednesday, November 12. Salida came into the game with a record of 15-1 and were peaking.

That showed right at the opening kickoff as a couple of passes and a long service wide sent Salida’s flank on the run and he crossed the ball for the opening goal, but offsides overruled the Spartans’ early strike. Crested Butte had a couple of chances early as well but with the Spartans keyed on the Titans’ top scorer, senior captain Shawn Moran, they left little for the Titans to work with on attack.

“It felt like a real championship match right from the start,” says coach Matt Wilson. “Both sides were creating looks, and the game had a ton of intensity, physicality and pace.”

Fortunately, Crested Butte midfielders Will Harpel and Tor Jennison were equally stifling in the midfield to disrupt Salida’s midfield possession play and the back four of AJ Hegeman, Beckett Kidd, Archer Bernholtz and Isaac Jennings were up to the task as well with goalie Wyatt Anders coming up big when needed leaving the two teams locked scoreless at halftime and coaches left to discuss adjustments.

“The message was to stay patient and trust the buildup,” says Wilson. “At times we were getting into the right areas, but we just needed that final touch of quality in the attacking third.”

Adjustments made by both teams continued to be met with stubborn defenses at both ends of the field and while Salida spent much of the second half on the front foot, the Titans remained diligent in defending. So much so that Anders punched away a couple of chances by Salida and both Kidd and Jennison cleared the ball off the goal line to keep the game scoreless.

The two teams headed into overtime with the first goal determining the winner, aka Golden Goal. And just like three days before, the Titans came up with the game winner. Moran was involved again as he chased down a loose ball and slipped a pass to Max Naughton who tucked it away for the 1-0 win sending the Titans to the championship game.

“The biggest difference was our resilience and an unwavering belief in something bigger than ourselves,” says Wilson. “Salida is a top-level 2A program, and they pushed us to the edge, but our boys refused to buckle under the pressure. That was the difference that gave us the result in the end.”

Two days later the Titans loaded the school bus bound for Colorado Springs where they would meet the Forge Christian Fury in the title game on Saturday, November 15 at Weidner Field. Crested Butte fell to the Fury in the semifinals last year but were determined to avenge that painful loss with a plan for the second showdown between the two teams.

“We knew Forge was organized, well-coached and dangerous on the counter with their fast, direct attack,” says Wilson. “They had quality all over the field and had earned their way to that final. We expected a physical, high intensity match.”

Early Saturday morning the Titans took the field backed by a large and raucous fan base filling the stands behind the bench and 15 minutes into the game, it was obvious it was going to be a slugfest.

Then the Titans were hit with a blow when Bernholtz was forced to leave the game with a concussion. The Titans adjusted, players slipped almost seamlessly into new spots and the battle continued with neither team giving an inch.

“It was a gut punch and a massive loss to our back line,” says Wilson. “Archer has been huge for us all year, but the boys rallied around him immediately and players stepped into new roles without hesitation. That moment showed the true heart and resiliency of this group, no panic, just commitment to finding a way.”

Anders came through again with a couple of big time saves and the Titan shots were smothered by the compact Fury defense and, for the third time in a row, the Titans were headed into overtime.

“It was a grind from start to finish,” says Wilson. “Both teams had flashes of momentum, but nobody could put a stamp on the match. It was two high-level teams trading punches and trying to find a breakthrough.”

The Titans’ extra time magic seemed to have been used up in the previous two matches and after 30 minutes of overtime play, the game came down to penalty kicks to decide the champions. And this is where things got interesting.

Anders had been top shelf throughout the entire post season run but the coaches looked to Jakob Klemme to stand between the pipes for the shootout.

“It was a planned decision,” explains Wilson. “Jakob has a knack for penalties with his timing, his presence and his instincts. Wyatt was fantastic all game and kept us alive, but penalty kicks are a different challenge. Jakob earned that role, and our confidence in him was absolute.”

Then things got even more interesting and about as desperate as they possibly could for Crested Butte. While Jennison buried the first Titans’ penalty kick, both Harpel and Moran were denied while the first three Forge Christian shooters all scored. Down 3-1 in the shootout, odds are less than 5% for success.

Then things suddenly changed as both Wyatt Cook and Max Naughton stepped up in must score situations on their turns and did just that. Conversely, the fourth Fury shooter missed high and Klemme stuffed the fifth Fury shooter to then send both teams to their sixth shooter in a sudden death format. If one scores and the other doesn’t, game over. Crested Butte’s chances were now up from 5% to 50%, and that’s all they needed.

The sixth shooter for Crested Butte was Matias Bonnaterre. A Rotary exchange student from Suarez, Argentina, Bonnaterre had become a starter for the Titans and he cooly stepped up to the challenge to drill a low shot past the Fury netminder. It was now up to Klemme, and he came through once again as he picked the right direction to smother the Fury player’s shot sealing the 2A title for the Crested Butte Titans.

“All three times when we went on to that field for overtime, I shared the same words, ‘trust in yourself, but more importantly trust in your teammate next to you’,” says Moran. “This elevated the team from 11 players on the field to a unit that was going to fight for each other over anything else. This attitude simply outworked the other 11 players on the field, resulting in three consecutive overtime wins.”

Three-and-a-half months ago, when the season started, there was hope, there always is. But, as the saying goes, it’s the hope that kills you. Somehow the Titans took hope and turned it into opportunity and then took opportunity and turned it into reality.

“It was heart,” says Wilson. “This group never quit, never turned on each other and never stopped believing. Championship teams find ways to survive the toughest moments, and this group did it over and over again.”

“We began the season with the words ‘win everything’,” adds Moran. “At first it was a joke, simply a small motivator to get the team going. However, as the season progressed, it became truer and truer. From winning the league, to winning every home game, and to finally winning the state title. We did in fact win everything. Reflecting on the variety of goals scored and saves, we won as a team. This past season was purely three-and-a-half months of lifelong friends playing with joy and love for each other, and our success came as a result.”