East Kicks It To The Win
Ha-Lo-Lo: In A Thrilling Victory, Boys Soccer Lands Its Fourth State Title
Story and photos by Reid Neureiter
For the GPHN
There’s an old saying: If the third time’s a charm, the fourth is routine.
Try convincing the Denver East boys soccer team or its fans that old chestnut would even begin to apply to their thrilling Nov. 12 victory over the Fairview Knights. Amid the familiar “Ha-Lo-Lo” chants from the crowd reverberating across the stadium, the East Angels cruised to a 1-0 win, securing the Colorado State 5A championship. The 80 minutes of action were as spirited as any title match that came before.
The title match against Fairview was played at Weidner Field in downtown Colorado Springs. East senior forward Tayler Secrest scored East’s only goal 17 minutes into the second half with a short-range poke-in of a crossed ball from freshman forward Prishad Mitchell.
But throughout the game, the Angels thoroughly dominated possession with precise midfield passing, guided masterfully by senior co-captain midfielder Ezekiel Lubin — who was also named the Colorado 5A player of the year by the Colorado High School Soccer Coaches Association. East’s towering defenders, including standout brothers Charlie and Theo Scott (both of whom received All-State honors), squelched any chance that the 12th seeded Knights would equalize.
The championship win was the fourth state soccer title for the East boys, having last taken the crown 11 years ago. It was also East Head Coach Kirk Bast’s first championship win during his nine years at East. He previously guided the Angels to the state semi-finals in 2016 and a finals loss to Broomfield in 2017.
Before joining East, Bast had been the head boys and girls soccer coach at Arapahoe High, where his boys teams had won three Colorado state championships and his girls squads captured five.
On Nov. 12, given East’s control of midfield, strong wing play, and numerous scoring chances, the game easily could have ended 3-0 for the Angels. Coach Bast was especially laudatory of his defense, saying that while the offensive players get lots of glory for scoring goals, “it all starts in the back.”
Of the five starting defenders Bast said, “Their ability to communicate and play off each other was phenomenal. You have five guys who read each other so well—that is ninety percent of the game.”
Second-seeded East’s domination of the championship final contrasted with the Angels’ nail-biting, come-from-behind, 2-1 semi-final win over third-seeded and undefeated Valor Christian three days earlier. The match against Valor was evenly matched, with East senior goalkeeper Liam Sloan being forced into a series of heroic saves.
By contrast, in the Nov. 12 final against Fairview, Sloan was called into action only once for a single save. East was fortified by its massive fan support, with hundreds of East supporters at Weidner Field easily tripling the number of Knight fans. And when the final whistle blew, the East student section began yelling in unison “Just Like Hockey!” — a reference to East’s state ice hockey title win this Spring.
A nervous East Principal Terita Walker paced the sidelines throughout the contest, proudly posing with the championship trophy at the game’s conclusion. Bast gave huge credit to the East student section. “East soccer fans are by far the best Twelfth Man in the state,” he said. “Nobody can touch East fans in terms of support.”
East finishes the season with a 18-1-1 record, with the only blemishes being an early season 2-1 loss against then top-ranked Legacy and a tie against DPS rival George Washington.
East’s 5A title win was preceded earlier in the evening by fellow Denver Public Schools soccer power Northfield High’s successful defense of its 4A title with a dominating 3-0 win over Battle Mountain. Northfield concluded its second championship season with a 17-1-1 record, its only loss being a 4-0 defeat to East on Oct. 20. With both the 5A and 4A 2022 state titles, DPS can be justifiably proud of their boys’ soccer teams.
