The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Home game Friday, April 10 at 4 p.m.
By Than Acuff
The Crested Butte Titans rolled to an 11-2 win at home last week before hitting the road and falling to the top 4A program in the state, Air Academy. The Titans are now 6-4 on the season, a vast improvement from last year when they were 3-7 at the same juncture.
The Titans handed the Montrose Red Hawks an 11-5 loss earlier in the season, but this win on Thursday, April 2 seemed different for a couple of reasons.
“Having the home crowd was nice,” says head coach Carter Brock. “And it was the first time since our first game of the season where we had a full roster. It was a good chance to put everything together and talk about everything on both sides of the ball.”
It took a little while for the Titans to start rolling on offense but with Mason Colucci in goal and defensemen of Jacob Frey, Merrick Jeffery and Vinny Sciortino in front of him, Montrose found little to work with on attack.
The Titans eventually cracked the seal on the Red Hawks’ net nine minutes into the first quarter as Luke Walton dished the ball to Wyatt Cook and Cook’s rocket of a shot beat the Montrose goalie. Crested Butte then closed the first quarter with another goal as AJ Hegeman slipped into a gap in front of the Montrose cage to score for a 2-0 Titans’ lead.
Cook tallied his second goal of the game two minutes into the second quarter beating a man one-on-one and while the Red Hawks scored during a man-up situation a minute later, a save by Colucci denied Montrose a second goal and 45 seconds later the Titans scored a fourth goal when Cook scooped the ball off the turf and shoveled in a no look backhand.
Dawson Eastep got the green light to drive from behind the goal to beat his man and score for a 5-1 lead before Montrose scored but the Titans had the last say of the first half when Eastep fed Walton cutting to goal and Walton scored for a 6-2 lead at halftime.
“We didn’t really care what was going on with Montrose, we were just working on ourselves,” says Brock.
The first goal of the third quarter would be a big one as Walton drove past his defender from behind the goal to score 18 seconds into the third quarter for his 100th goal of his high school career and further igniting the Titans bench. The Titans then fended off two man-down situations, scoring on one, as Hegeman set up Donovan Gagen for a goal and Cook assisted Walton for another strike closing the third quarter with a 9-2 lead.
“They were just building off each other, and it started with the seniors,” says Brock.
The Titans continued to handcuff Montrose leaving them scoreless in the fourth quarter while Hegeman assisted Bennett Crabtree for a strike and Walton netted one last goal in the final minute of the game for the 11-2 win. The Titans had six different scorers in the game as Walton finished the day with four goals and two assists, Cook had three goals and an assist. Hegeman had a goal and two assists, Eastep scored once with one assist and Crabtree and Gagen had one each. Colucci finished the game with 18 saves.
“Mason took charge of our clears, and we were just executing in the defensive zone handily,” says Brock.
The Titans then hit the road on Saturday, April 4 missing two senior midfielders to face the number one ranked team in the state Air Academy and fell 18-1 with Gagen getting the lone goal of the game for Crested Butte.
“We battled in the first quarter but a team like that keeps finding opportunities,” says Brock. “We just didn’t have the gas.”
The Titans have one more game before spring break and it’s a tough one as they host the third ranked Grand Junction Tigers on Friday, April 10 at 4 p.m. Making matters even tougher, several players are leaving for the school break early.
“It’s a divisional game at home so that should help us get a little more pumped up,” says Brock. “We’re trying some new things on defense and made quite a few midseason adjustments, so it’ll be good to see them in action.”
Following the break the Titans have five more games as they look to reach the post season.
“We’ve won the games we were hoping to win so we’ll just keep fighting to stay in playoff contention,” says Brock.
