16 Fort Lupton Press
LOCAL
November 10, 2022
SPORTS
Colorado Academy ends Fort Lupton’s season BY STEVE SMITH SSMITH@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Fort Lupton Aaron Guzman (15) makes an offensive play against Colorado Academy’s Simon Woldeyohannes (8) as he applies pressure during the teams’ class 3A PHOTOS BY HECTOR LOPEZ state playoff game in Lakewood Nov. 1.
LAKEWOOD – Fort Lupton’s Jonathan Gonzalez wrapped up his senior year of high-school soccer by scoring his team’s only goal in a 4-1 loss to Colorado Academy. The loss in the second round of the state 3A playoffs ended the Bluedevils’ season. Scoring goals was a new thing for him. “I used to be a passer. I never liked scoring,” he said. “I learned sometimes, you have to be a little selfish and get that ball in the back of the net. I don’t want to seem cocky or selfish. But it’s nice. As long as the team had the victory, that was all that mattered to me.” The homestanding Mustangs split their goals between halves. Lese Gastis scored twice. Phillip Gershovich and Nic Jeffries also scored goals. “What went right was bonding. We tried not to give up. We kept fighting until the last whistle,” Gonzalez said. “That’s really what mattered. It didn’t go in our favor. But we kept fighting. That’s all I can ask for. I’m a happy captain when my team doesn’t give up.” ”We outperformed them,” FLHS coach Kyle Reddy said. “But we got bit in the butt. We didn’t come right out of the gate like we should have, like we trained. We picked ourselves back up in the second half. But that wasn’t enough. We ultimately beat ourselves.
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Fort Lupton captain Brandon Ruiz (2) applies pressure as Colorado Academy Lee Gastis (12) receives the ball.
That’s the beauty and the beast of soccer. At the end of the day, it’s who wants it more.” FLHS turned things around in the second half. But by then, the Mustangs led 2-0 and increased the margin early in the half. “I was telling the boys, ‘We don’t want this to be our last game.’ We gave it to them,. It just wasn’t enough,” Reddy said. “our attitude wasn’t there. Our intensity wasn’t there. The boys hung in there. They were playing to play. They weren’t playing to win.” “The talk we had. We were saying yesterday (Oct. 31) shouldn’t be our last practice,” Gonzalez said. “We didn’t drive all the way over here to SEE SOCCER, P17
