D’Evelyn boys soccer upsets No. 1 Cheyenne Mountain in 2nd round
COLORADO SPRINGS — D’Evelyn senior Trey Martinez pick a heck of a time to pick up his second goal of the season.
Martinez, who hadn’t found the back of the net since the Jaguars’ season opener, volleyed in a centering pass from fellow senior Nico Denton in the 78th minute Tuesday night in the second round of the Class 4A boys soccer state tournament.
“We still have a bunch of work to do, but it just shows the talent that we have on this team,” Martinez said. “The ability we have when we work together to knock off the No. 1 team in the state.”
The No. 17 seed D’Evelyn upset top-seeded Cheyenne Mountain 3-2 on the Indians’ home field.
“I just saw the opportunity going up the field,” Martinez said on the eventual game-winning goal. “I know Nico has the skill and pace to get off a pass. I knew I had to get in the box to even have a chance to make something happen.”
While the goal was the highlight for D’Evelyn (12-4-1) moving into the 4A state quarterfinals, the final 15 minutes were wild. Three goals — along with Cheyenne Mountain receiving three red cards — in the final 15 minutes in what D’Evelyn coach Paul Moline said was one of the crazies playoff games he has been apart of.
“Cheyenne Mountain is a very physical team and you have to match that,” said Moline, who will take his team on the road again to face No. 9 Battle Mountain in the state quarterfinals Saturday. “You’ve got to keep your heads in the game. I think we were able do that and that was the difference.”
Cheyenne Mountain (14-2-1) had plenty of reason not to overlook the Jaguars. The Indians suffered their lone loss of the regular season against D’Evelyn on Sept. 13 at Lakewood Memorial Field. Senior Wesley Tedstrom had a career game against Cheyenne Mountain in D’Evelyn’s 4-1 victory. Tedstrom had three goals and an assist.
Since the loss, Cheyenne Mountain has a 9-0-1 record heading into Tuesday’s playoff game.
Clearly the Indians wanted to shutdown the Jaguars’ leading scorer, but D’Evelyn senior Denizhan Yigitbas was able to step up late in the first half to even the game at 1-1 going into halftime. With two players and the goalie coming out on Tedstrom during a run, Yigitbas was able to get open and have an empty net to shoot at when the ball came to him.
“We kind of knew they would have a lot of attention on Wesley,” Moline said. “We talked about him drawing that attention and our players had to play off of him.”
D’Evelyn took its first lead in the 65th minute when Denton streaked down center of the field after a 50-50 ball and put a shot into the back of the net for a 2-1 lead.
“Josh (Schlicht) did a great job drawing two defenders,” Denton said of his goal. “It just popped out to me and I had the one-on-one.”
Cheyenne Mountain was able to tie the game up at 2-2 despite being down a man. A long ball toward D’Evelyn goal was headed in by Sam Alvares in the 75th minute. Senior and leading scorer Luke White was issued his second yellow card to receive a red card in the 73rd minute.
“We thought had it won after the first red card,” Denton said. “We always gather round adversity. We knew we were going to win.”
Denton’s laser pass to Martinez for the game-winning goal prevented overtime and gave the second straight playoff victory on the road for the 4A Jeffco League champions. The Jaguars shut out No. 16 Denver North 3-0 in the opening round last week to earn a date again the top-seeded Indians.
“We figured we would get a better seed winning our league, but (Moline) has told us from Day 1 he would take us on any field again any team,” Denton said. “We believe that.”
It was a successful night in Colorado Springs for three of the four Jeffco League teams that traveled south for second round games. No. 15 Valor Christian upset No. 2 Lewis-Palmer 1-0 in double overtime and No. 20 and defending 4A state champion Evergreen upended No. 4 Air Academy 3-1.
Standley Lake was the only Jeffco team to have its bid for the quarterfinals come up short. The No. 14 Gators lost to No. 3 The Classical Academy 3-2.
“I don’t know what it is this year. It’s kind of a magical team this year,” said Moline, who took the Jaguars to the 4A state semifinals in 2014. “We’ll see what happens.”
