TELLURIDE - Coming in owning a 5-0 record at Judy Long Memorial Field, there wasn't too much worry for Telluride last Friday afternoon, even after visiting Bayfield not only held a one-goal lead at halftime, but a 2-0 advantage after Dylan Doskocil's successful penalty kick in the 50th minute.
"We were like, 'That's their actual goal; the other one was ours (a mistake),'" said THS junior Ian Enkema. "Mostly, on our field whenever someone scores we come back right away. That was kind of a trend from the beginning of the year, for teams to score on us and then we'd come back to win the game."
But after Enkema's 74th-minute goal through BHS goalie Chad Winkler tied the contest at 2-2, that trend would be bucked in the first overtime period. Alertly clearing a ball from just outside the Wolverines' 18, senior Shea Marx's defensive play immediately turned offensive on the shortened pitch.
Meeting the ball about 25 yards from the Miners' net, senior Armando Lerma quickly spun his potent left foot into the still-bouncing sphere and rifled a volley past Tommy Wells in the 87th minute for the victory.
"Well the field is short, and we have a lot of players who can kick it super far so we figured we'd take advantage," said Bayfield junior Berman Abdallah-Boehm. "Had a little rough spot when they scored, but we came out with the win. So we're happy."
Finishing the regular season with an incredible 12-3-0 overall record and a second-place 9-3-0 mark in the Intermountain, the Wolverines became an even happier bunch when two days later it was announced BHS would be the 21-seed in the Class 3A State Tournament's initial Round-of-32.
"I am not concerned with the seeding," head coach Chris Zoltowski said Sunday evening. "It's about playing in form at the right time. Right now we are riding a seven-game winning streak, with two of the last three being against the former league champions (Crested Butte) and a team undefeated at home the entire season."
Up first for BHS is a trip to #12 Delta on Thursday afternoon. The Western Slope League's runner-up crew has a record of 12-2-1, and 6-1-1 in league.
"We have a few edges to polish in our game that I plan to focus on this week," said Zoltowski. "I don't want the boys to worry too much about their opponent; when they have fun and play their game it is difficult for any opponent to keep up."
And even on their made-for-speed artificial surface, Telluride struggled to do so in the early goings.
"We came out with high intensity, played our ball, and at the end we were really connecting passes," observed Winkler, who made the match's first true highlight with a diving denial of THS senior Vilius Zydelis only 10 minutes in. "They couldn't stop us."
BHS senior Colton Fine then thwarted another Miner threat in the 15th by heading a dangerous crossing pass out and away from Winkler, and the Wolverines decided enough was enough.
Not slowing down upon seeing a THS defender put his boot in front of a Lerma pass before he did, senior Tilden Berriman intercepted the Miner's failed clearance and, with Wells in the vicinity but well out of position, rolled in a 24th-minute icebreaker for his 20th goal this fall.
Fine, who would nearly put in a 65th-minute own-goal with a wrong-way clearance try, narrowly missed beating Wells top-drawer in the 39th with a long free kick-serving notice that distance was no problem. Bayfield's pressure was only intensifying as intermission began.
"It's a short field, and we had to learn to play a bit different. It's a faster field because it's turf, but we handled our own," Abdallah-Boehm said. "We wanted to end the season on good terms."
Berriman stepped to the penalty spot in the 48th for a free shot at Wells, but missed wide to Wells' left. However, with players entering the area before the ball was kicked, the Wolverine received another chance, which clanged off the post at Wells' right in the 49th.
However, the same infraction was called and BHS' new shooter, Doskocil, zinged his attempt low and to the goalie's left for the aforementioned two-goal advantage.
After junior Charlie Miller and senior Samson Galbo received yellow cards in the 53rd and 59th minutes, respectively, Telluride at last achieved an offensive breakthrough when Zydelis volleyed home a 68th-minute pass and halved the visitors' lead.
The third or fourth man rushing towards Winkler's goal box, Enkema's goal came after Winkler dropped low to stop an initial shot, leaving the net's upper reaches open for an equalizer.
"The idea there was, if we crash the net, it's just going to be too hectic to keep track of where the ball is," Enkema said. "So if the momentum's going towards the goal then we're going to have the upper hand."
"Part of being a keeper," said Winkler. "You get scored on almost every game - except shutouts - and it's just part of the job, so you have to train yourself every practice, every game just to deal with that and keep going on. And the team's always.building me up: 'You're good, Chad,' 'Keep it up!'"
"(Telluride's) always been super-aggressive, super-rough-so it wasn't too much different, really."
Unofficially, Bayfield outshot THS (6-7-1, 5-6-1 IML) by a 23-10 margin, and put 14 tries on frame compared to the Miners' seven. Showing off his hops regularly, but out of necessity, Wells made nine total stops while Winkler, prone to sacrifice his body to smother shots before they went airborne, matched that count.
BHS will join circuit champs Ridgway (13-2-0, 11-1-0) in battling the rest of the classification for the ultimate prize.
The Demons received the 6-seed and were to host #27 Salida in first-round play Thursday afternoon. The winner of that contest will advance to face either #11 Colorado Springs St. Mary's or #22 Brighton Eagle Ridge Academy, while the Wolverines-Panthers victor will then meet either #28 Vail Mountain or #5 Denver Science & Tech-Stapleton.
"It'll be exciting. I can't wait!" said Abdallah-Boehm.
"Delta has a stubborn defense," Zoltowski said. "The strategy is finding the right tactic to penetrate."
"I'm so pumped," he continued. "We are doing this with 18 kids. Imagine if we had 30...like all the other schools in our league! Cortez now has more soccer players than football players! I know that will never happen in Bayfield, but 18? Come on, man!"
