On the way to Telluride on Friday

[ by Than Acuff ]

It was no surprise that the Crested Butte Titans boys’ soccer team took home a win over Colorado Rocky Mountain School (CRMS) on Saturday, September 18, when they returned home. They had just played CRMS a week earlier and won 8-0 when CRMS came to Crested Butte, they ran into the buzz saw which fell 9-0 again.

“We wanted them to use the game to focus on the big and small things that make us successful,” says coach Bob Piccaro. “Ball pressure, first touches, movement of the ball and shots on goal.”

The day was perfect for a homecoming game with a touch of fall in the air, a live performance of the national anthem with Joe Fitzpatrick holding the flag in his military uniform, and the Titan Booster Club in place and having some food for the fans cooked and a tractor stopped and lifted a couch in the air to give a handful of happy fans some seating over their heads.

Drawing on the energy of their home crowd, the Titans opened the game at Mach 1, led by their senior group of players who scored the goal in the second minute when Rowan Featherman pushed the ball in front of Thomas Nichols and Nichols pushed it past the opponent’s goalie .

Nine minutes later, Featherman did it again when he saw Trent Pulliam overlap the strikers to get a pass and score. Grayson White became the third straight senior to score when an Ace Gaither cross bounced off the far post and followed White to take a 3-0 lead 15 minutes into the game.

CRMS shrugged off the bus ride to step up their game and play a more compact defense that held up the Titans’ attack for the next 15 minutes, but the relentless pressure finally bore fruit again when Otto Billingsley hit Jacob Bernholtz on the next Crested Butte goal assisted. Bernholtz then turned and set up a goal from Blue Gardner two minutes later, and Brendan Hartigan and Ben Barney followed with one goal each to make the Titans 7-0 at halftime.

Davis McNeill then attended the seniors homecoming party in the second half. Ten minutes into the second half, McNeill’s attempt at set play was deflected, but Avi Narayana fell to help him score. McNeill then scored his own goal in the 75th minute by taking a flat, hard shot from 20 yards for the 9-0 win for the Crested Butte Titans.

“There were some good things and only some that were okay,” says Piccaro. “Some players are starting to find their first touch, others are still looking for it on Saturn. We have to maintain the competition between the players during training in order to maintain the necessary lead in intensity. “
The Titans head to the Lion’s Den on Friday, September 24th as they travel to Telluride for their first game of the season against the notoriously strong Telluride side.

“That will be the reality,” says Piccaro. “We better put our heads in focus mode and get hungry to keep growing in training this week.”

The Titans will then hold Salida on Tuesday, September 28th at 4pm at Rainbow Field

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