Titans boys’ soccer opens season with back-to-back wins

First home game Friday at 4 p.m. at the school field

[  by Than Acuff  ]

The Crested Butte Titans boys’ soccer team kicked off the season with non-league play last weekend and came out of it with two hard fought road wins Friday and Saturday, August 23-24.

For the past three years they’ve had 3A opponent Roaring Fork on their schedule early in the season to provide a tough challenge right out of the gate and, once again, the Roaring Fork Rams did not disappoint. But with the memory of a loss to the Rams last year and a quality two weeks of preseason practice, the Titans looked to step it up for the game.

“The boys have been working extremely hard these past few weeks, and you could tell they were dialed in just by watching their pre-game warm up,” says coach Matt Wilson. “We only lost two games last season and Roaring Fork was one of them, so I think the lads were looking to dish out a bit of payback.”

The Rams always have something up their sleeves and this time they threw a new tactical twist at the Titans leaving Crested Butte reeling through the first 10 minutes of the game Friday night.

“They played a formation we’ve never seen before, so we challenged the boys to find alternative ways to get in behind since working the ball through the middle wasn’t an option,” says Wilson. 

Goalie Jakob Klemme came up with a couple of big saves and the back four remained compact and composed to deny what could have been a nightmarish start to the game.

Once the Titans settled in, they adjusted and found some breathing room by playing longer balls over the top and wide. The effort eventually paid off in the final five minutes of the first half when Archer Bernholtz played a long diagonal to the corner for Wyatt Cook to chase down. Cook came out of the battle with the ball and fed Shawn Moran at the top of the 18-yard box and Moran drove the ball to the low corner for a 1-0 lead that held into halftime.

Then Mother Nature intervened as a storm started building at the start of the second half. With the storm settling in and the lights on, the game turned into chaos for the first 10 minutes of the second half before lightning forced an initial weather delay and eventually the refs called the game. With one half completed, it resulted in a 1-0 win for the Titans.

“The boys responded to this puzzle better than we could have anticipated,” says Wilson. “It was a true testament to the character and resiliency of this team for responding the way they did.”

Crested Butte then recovered and rebooted for their game Saturday morning to face the Basalt Longhorns, another 3A non-league opponent, with starting defender Jordan Silva too injured to play and starting striker Sawyer Barney taking the SAT.

New personnel were called on to step into varsity roles as AJ Hegeman took Silva’s place on the back line and Max Naughton and Kyle Moran shared the job at the striker spot. Fortunately, the midfield three of Shawn, Marin Gardner and Will Harpel were hungry and healthy and while the Longhorn midfield did make life difficult, the Titans managed to find a way through it all.

“A super rare strength we have this year is depth at each position, so from an adjustment perspective other Titans stepped up super well,” says coach Bradley Davies.

A return to long balls wide were scooped up by Basalt’s center back and while the Titans struggled to get numbers forward to set up for shots, the midfielders and defense left nothing for Basalt to work with.

Crested Butte ended up converting on a corner kick 20 minutes into the game when Shawn jumped on a loose ball to smash it in from inside the six-yard box for a 1-0 lead.

Eight minutes later the Titans struck again when Harpel threaded a ball behind the Basalt defense to Cook. Cook carried it to the endline, cutback against the lone defender and drove a head high cross into the box for Kyle to head it home for a 2-0 lead at halftime.

“We are finding success in evolving our game beyond possession for possession’s sake to possession with a purpose,” explains Davies. “The boys are beginning to discern in game situations what our opponents are giving us and then exploiting those spaces.”

Down 2-0 heading into the second half, the Longhorns brought a new attack to the field and while the defense and second half goalkeeper Wyatt Anders managed to hold it off for a while, the Basalt change led to a Longhorn goal 20 minutes into the second half to cut the Titans’ lead down to one.

Crested Butte remained on task and came close to responding almost immediately but attempts on goal were either saved by the Basalt keeper or missed the frame all together. Barney then showed up from the SAT to provide the needed spark up top as he collected a throw in down the line, got past Basalt’s top defender and then hit a low cross into the six-yard box for Gardner to stuff home for a 3-1 lead with five minutes left that would hold until the final whistle.

“At 2-1 our Titans stayed composed and supported each other, and I didn’t witness any finger pointing or negativity,” says Davies. “We have strong leadership across the board and veterans with significant game experience, so my sense was that they rallied well and moved forward to finish strongly. That said, had we committed more fully to that third goal by doubling down on winning first and second balls, I sense the game would have had more goals in it for us and maybe even a clean sheet too.”

With positive results in the opening weekend, the coaching staff sees much to work with heading into what will prove to be a long season of playing with a target on their backs. 

“They gobble up whatever new content we throw at them, work super hard, support each other, and just seem to enjoy being with one another,” says Davies. “If we can maintain and even build on this level of positive team culture when the season’s low moments come, and they always come, then it will be super interesting to see what this group can achieve together.”

“It was a massive accomplishment for the boys to pocket two wins on the road to start the season and will hopefully set the tone for the season going forward,” says Wilson. “We still have a lot to work on, but the coaches and players couldn’t have asked for a better start to the season.”

Crested Butte has their first home game of the season on Friday, August 30 when they host Caprock Academy at 4 p.m. on the school field.