3A Boys Soccer: Colorado Academy Solidifies Dynasty With Third Title In Four Years

COLORADO SPRINGS — Colorado Academy might have entered Saturday’s 3A Boys Soccer State Championship as the defending champs, but they still found themselves starving for another ring in the pursuit of a dynastic status as they faced Coal Ridge.

Ever since August, the goal for the season was clear for the Mustangs — defend the championship and secure the third title in the past four seasons.

“This means everything to us. We’ve been waiting since August to defend our title. ” senior Simeon Woldeyohannes shared, soon after hoisting the trophy and celebrating with a crowded student section. “At the end of the day, we got a couple of goals that we needed and I’m just glad we won the game.”

Woldeyohannes scored the game’s most critical goal for the Mustangs and was instrumental to the team’s title defense.

With the match knotted up at 1-1 and less than 20 minutes left on the clock, Woldeyohannes slithered through the Coal Ridge defense to and launched a laser with his left leg to put Colorado Academy ahead 2-1. That score would ultimately prove to be the deciding goal, and Woldeyohannes was quick to celebrate the moment and silence the Titans fans in attendance. He ran over to bleachers, posed, and was tackled by his teammates.

“I just have to give credit to my teammates,” Woldeyohannes said. “They laid the ball off to me [and] I’ve been grinding my whole life to get to this point, so that move just came naturally to me.”

Seven minutes after Woldeyohannes had put them ahead, Christoff Zimmerman put the game away, extending the lead to 3-1 in the 68th minute.

From that point, the Mustangs drained the clock and survived a few shots on goal from the Titans to hold onto the victory.

Although they weren’t able to emerge with the win, Coal Ridge played an excellent game and forced Colorado Academy to earn the win.

“It was a pretty tough game,” Woldeyohannes said. “I give all the respect to Coal Ridge. They’re not a 15 seed, they’re a top-three seed. They’re an awesome team.”

With the win, Colorado Academy secured their seventh state title in boys soccer, their third in the past four seasons, and their second in a row.