Jim Davidson, who coached the Eagles for decades before retiring last year, owned all eight of the school’s state championships.

Until now.

The bright lights only served to further illuminate Hindman, junior goalkeeper Evan Kulstad and senior Marcus Von, who helped propel the Eagles to victory over the Angels. After a 1-1 score and two overtimes sent the contest into penalties, Broomfield made all four of the penalty kicks they were afforded after Kulstad stopped Denver East on two shots. The Eagles didn’t need to take a fifth.

“It’s just euphoric. I feel so happy for the boys,” Hindman said. “We stood on the shoulders of giants and I think the guys dug in and decided that they were going to embrace that. They did it, and they dug deep through adversity again.”

In a game with no shortage of excitement, Von struck first with a jaw-dropping bicycle kick in the 58th minute, stunning even his coach. The Angels immediately responded, only two minutes later, with a free kick to even the game back up and force what would eventually turn into two overtimes and PKs.

Von, once again, almost avoided that fate. Almost.

The officials awarded Broomfield a penalty kick in the 105th minute. That job belonged only to one man. Von teed the ball up, swung, and sent the ball flying into the crossbar before it clanked back out.

Hindman said he’d never seen Von miss a PK “in my life.” A higher power, however, still smiled kindly on the imminent player of the year candidate.

“Before every single game, I pray and I say, ‘God if it be your will, help us to win,’” Von said. “‘If it be your will, let me score.’ To let me score a goal like that, it’s incredible.”

Kulstad answered the rest of that prayer.

Denver East keeper Liam Sloan, who had been a brick wall in the goal all night, faltered every single time a Broomfield shooter stepped up to the line through four rounds of PKs. Kulstad stopped the first Denver East attempt, although the ball very nearly rolled past the goal line, before the post mercifully redirected it.

Kulstad’s denial on Denver East’s fifth attempt sent his teammates and coaches sprinting toward the goal box in pure ecstasy. It was the first time in his career that he’d ever had to defend against PKs. No bystander would have possibly known.

“It’s surreal, and I love it,” Kulstad said. “I’m going to love this every single moment. This is the thing that I’m going to tell everyone that I meet. I’m over the moon right now.”

With one legacy in the rearview mirror, a new era began in Colorado Springs on Saturday night. Hindman could hardly have asked for a better debut on the state championship stage.

“That’s one of the most magical moments I’ve ever had as a coach,” Davidson said. “Seeing my protégé, Zach — one of my best friends — win a state championship and get us back, it’s just phenomenal.”

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Leo Martinez and Cooper Skidmore scored goals in the first and second half, respectively, as Battle Mountain avenged a title-game loss to Northfield last fall with a 2-0 victory for its first state championship in 11 years.

Top-seeded Northfield (19-1) had lost just once — 4-0 at eventual 5A champion Denver East in 2022 — over the past three seasons entering Saturday’s championship match at Weidner Field in Colorado Springs. But the third-seeded Mustangs (18-1-1) shut them out for just the second time since 2021.

Congratulations to Battle Mountain for winning CHSAA’s 2023 4A Boys Soccer State Championship! It’s Battle Mountain’s second title in boys soccer, and their first since 2012!

Congratulations, also, to Northfield for finishing as 4A’s runner-up pic.twitter.com/ocK66oJdrb

— CHSAA (@CHSAA) November 12, 2023

3A final — Colorado Academy 3, Coal Ridge 1: Senior Simeon Woldeyohannes scored the go-ahead goal in the 60th minute, Christoff Zimmerman added a score after that, and Colorado Academy (17-1-2) claimed its third state title in four years.

Junior Caleb Mengistu scored the Mustangs’ first goal in the sixth minute. Isaac Thompson knotted the game at 1-all for Coal Ridge (12-5-3) early in the second half before Colorado Academy answered to win its seventh state crown.

2A final — Crested Butte 1, Bishop Machebeuf 0: Sawyer Barney buried a breakaway goal off a feed from Marin Gardner with 25:30 to go as the Titans (14-2-3) claimed their fourth state title. Fourth-seeded Machebeuf (16-3-0) reached the 2A final a year after getting eliminated in the semifinals.

Class 4A football

No. 3 Montrose beat No. 14 Pueblo West, 35-28: Gage Wareham scored one TD and found Austin Zimmer for another as part of a 28-0 first half to lift the Red Hawks (9-2) to their sixth straight quarterfinal trip. Blake Griffin’s rushing score put Montrose ahead 35-7 late in the third quarter before the Cyclones (7-5) mounted a desperation rally that fell short.

No. 4 Broomfield beat No. 13 Fruita Monument, 30-14: The defending 4A champion Eagles (9-2) beat Fruita Monument (8-4) for the second time this season to advance to the quarterfinals and a matchup with No. 5 Mesa Ridge. The Wildcats pulled within two at 16-14 in the third quarter, but that was as close as they would get.

No. 8 Heritage beat No. 9 Golden, 31-18: Heritage (7-4) punched its ticket to the quarterfinals for the second year in a row, answering a Demons TD in the first quarter with 17 unanswered points to close out the first half. A Luc Chevalier scoring run brought Golden (9-3) within a score in the third quarter, but Heritage answered with two straight TDs to put the game away.

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That’s what elite finishers do.

Bring out the sewing needle again. Grandview will stitch a sixth state title star into the team’s jersey for next year.

The Grandview junior scored two emphatic goals in 90 seconds, her 18th and 19th of the season, and scored her 20th in the closing minutes to notch a hat trick and push the Wolves to their sixth title in program history and fifth since 2015 with a 3-1 win over Broomfield on Wednesday night.

“Honestly I just knew I had to, or one of us had to score if we were to go home state champions,” said Clark, who estimated the real tally is over 30 goals if you include her club team in 2021-22.

“I just go out there, I calm down and the ball gets to my feet, and try to finish the best as I can … I’m dreaming right now. I never knew it would happen until it did.”

Grandview (17-1-2) came out firing to start the second half. The Wolves’ scoring started in the 45th minute as Clark received a pass from Meg Gonzalez. After taking a few touches, she slotted it low and past a diving keeper to tie the score at 1-1.

Just 90 seconds later, she sent Dick’s Sporting Goods Park into a frenzy. She scored a screamer from beyond the 18-yard box as she dribbled past two defenders and struck a shot that flew into the top right corner of the net to give the Wolves a 2-1 lead. She then put the closing touches on the game with 1:25 to go with a goal in the top right corner — a title-clinching hat trick.

Broomfield (16-2) was looking to repeat as 5A champions after taking the title in 2021, and got off to a good start in its return to DSGP. In the 32nd minute, the Eagles took the lead. Maddy Burke ran onto a ball and Grandview goalkeeper Jordan Nytes was caught off her line in no-man’s land. Burke quickly rounded the goalkeeper and slotted it home into an empty net for the opening goal.

At halftime, the Wolves had outshot the Eagles 3-2, but didn’t have much to show for it other than one half-chance early that went wide of the post. The Wolves outshot the Eagles 7-5 in the match.

For head coach Brian Wood, with 11 seniors on the team, all of whom will play collegiately, he knew leadership would find a way to influence the second half.

“We have assistant coaches who played in college, so we knew we could talk about the expectations you’re going to have, and how you’re going to have to step up,” said Wood, who also ran the boys program for several years. “How they responded to that… was really cool.”

After the Wolves took the lead, Broomfield tried to catch them on the counterattack, but Grandview’s defense held firm in the closing stages and was able to see out the win. The Wolves had 11 seniors and that experience paid off with a state title, and clutch finishing.

Class 2A final: Dawson 3, Crested Butte 0

Dawson School, located in Lafayette, won its second straight  2A girls title, and its third in the last four seasons in the early game.

The Mustangs (13-5-1) scored six minutes in, as Madison Shaw opened the scoring with a goal as she fired a shot from the left-hand side of the box. That would remain the score at halftime. While the No. 10 seed Titans (12-6) created a few opportunities, they weren’t ever able to truly threaten.

In the second half, the Mustangs added two more goals for good measure. In the 66th minute, Ella Stewart converted a penalty kick to make it 2-0. With just four minutes remaining, they added their third, as Kanoe Bihag put the exclamation point on the title.

The Mustangs, who were the fifth seed in the tournament, have also finished runner-up five other times in program history, but are poised for another deep run to the title game next year as they are only losing three seniors.

The Grandview High School senior has been doing that all season.

Lucero, a full back, netted the game’s second goal en route to a 3-1 win to secure the Wolves’ first boys soccer state title in school history after three previous runner-up finishes (2004, ‘07 and ‘18) and a final four appearance last year.

“That’s how we’ve played all season,” Lucero said. “Our outside backs really like to get up in the offense and support because not a lot of teams know how to defend that: our ability to create that extra threat outside and two-(versus)-one opportunities.”

Defenders acting like wingers, a move frequently used at the pro level, has become a powerful tactic in recent seasons. Now, high school teams like Grandview are using it to secure hardware.

“Over the years, I’ve had a lot of full backs that continue to (attack),” Grandview head coach Brian Wood said. “I give them free range. … Charlie Lucero has been doing that for three years now for us.”

After each team had a quality chance to open the game, the Wolves went to work, and kept playing primarily on Lucero’s left wing. Eventually, they capitalized.

Grandview opened the scoring in the 20th minute. The Wolves had a long free kick chance and loaded players into the box. Defender Ben Beckman served in a cross where Sabercats goalie Alexander Seguin tried to punch the ball away, but only did so partially. After a scramble which saw Xavier Citte’s shot cleared off the line, Luke Williams put it away to make it 1-0.

Five minutes before the half, the Wolves got their second of the game. Seguin tried to prevent a corner kick by diving for the ball on the end line, but he wasn’t able to secure it and it popped back out to Lucero. He fired from a difficult angle and the ball bounced off the inside post and in.

The Sabercats (13-7), this season’s Cinderella, were attempting to become the highest seed (17) to claim the 5A title. And after winning four straight OT games during its run through the tournament, Fossil Ridge wasn’t about to go away quietly.

True to form, the Sabercats got back in the game in the 70th minutes. Central midfielder Quinlan Ybara played a high pass to senior captain Will Boyle, who chipped it over the goalkeeper to reduce the deficit to one.

In the 73rd minute, the pendulum swung back to Grandview again, this time for good. Wolves’ senior captain Dylan Thompson locked up the win with a curling, long-range strike from 20 yards out to make it 3-1.

“I think it could have gone either way,” Boyle said. “We just didn’t come out strong enough, they did. … (Our run) shows them that it doesn’t matter what seed you are, you can make it here. You can win it, but we just couldn’t pull it off.”

CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES

Class 2A: Crested Butte 2, Lotus School for Excellence 0

Crested Butte defended its 2A crown, scoring two goals in two minutes in the second half. The Titans outscored their opponents 84-7 this season.

Class 3A:  Roaring Fork 2, Jefferson Academy 1

Chyler Ward scored the best goal of the weekend on a volley to put top-seed Jefferson Academy up. It didn’t last, as 11th-seeded Roaring Fork answered with two goals, the winner coming in the 66th minute from Josh Hernandez.

Class 4A: Northfield 1, Mullen 0

The Nighthawks completed a perfect 20-0 season, with the game-winning goal coming from Moises Inda in the 17th minute on a free kick that bounced down off the crossbar and in.

The forward scored 43 goals and adding 16 assists to lead her team to a Class 2A state championship this past season. She capped off the year with four goals and two assists in a 15-4 win over Telluride in the title game. The Mustangs finished the year with a 12-1 record.

“Degen is the whole package,” Front Range Christian head coach Eric Osberg said in a news release. “She is the leader of that team and has made everyone around her better. Her vision on the field is phenomenal and she sees everyone and everything. What sets Degen apart is she knows when to involve her teammates and when she needs to take a game over.”

Miller had a weighted 4.0 grade-point average and has signed a National Letter of Intent to play for the University of Virginia.

Giddings then buried the go-ahead goal with 11 minutes to go, her second of the game, and the Eagles never looked back to claim the state title with a 3-1 win over Rock Canyon.

“I hit the ball right every single time, but I looked left, and I think that keeper saw that, and she dove that way, and I kicked it the other,” Giddings said while eyeing her team’s trophy in front of the Eagles student section.

The win completed Broomfield’s undefeated (13-0-1) season and gave the Eagles their first title since 2006, finally breaking through after four runner-up finishes since 2013.

“She tucked that thing away with a plump,” head coach Jim Davidson said of Giddings’ penalty shot. “She is just tough as nails; she has one of the toughest mentalities of players I’ve coached over 24 years.”

Giddings’ got the scoring started. With six minutes left in the first half, as she was falling to her right, she right-booted a cross into the goal.

Minutes later, she was on the ground with cramps, forcing FIFA official and Colorado native Karen Abt — who last officiated a high school game in 2009 — to halt the match briefly.

“She was cramping in the first half, and we’re worried about what kind of minutes she was going to be able to give us in the second half,” Davidson said.

Just a few minutes into the second half, Cate Sheahan leveled the contest for the Jaguars on a volley off a corner kick.

The game went back and forth for most of the second half, but the Eagles started to win more balls, attacking the midfield. The forwards got aggressive, and the Rock Canyon defense eventually faltered, getting called for a handball in the box with 11 minutes left in the tied game.

That’s when Giddings put the title on her foot with the penalty score.

“It was the game of her career,” Davidson said proudly.

Four minutes later, Broomfield added some insurance from Michaela McGowan, who was trailing on a run as a ball crossed into the box. She pounded home the third goal, punctuating Broomfield’s championship.

“To get that third goal to have a little bit of cushion (and) know that we have players who understand how to kill the game felt pretty good,” Davidson said.

The Eagles hoisted the trophy, Giddings ran back to her phone on the bench and called Maddie Brady, a teammate who was at a club tournament in California. Joined by Brady on a little screen, they chanted “I believe we have just won” as the Broomfield student section celebrated.

After four seasons, one “pause” and two sets of football championships, the 2020-21 CHSAA sports year concludes with 29 team championships up for grabs across seven sports starting Monday.

And in the case of six sports, it will mark the first time in two years teams will compete for state titles in each. CHSAA will also hold its first boys volleyball state tournament.

A rundown of the madness that will be championship week:

Baseball

Championships will be decided in all five classifications, with the 3A and 4A semifinals and finals played at Runyon Baseball Complex in Pueblo on Friday and Saturday, and the 5A semifinals and finals set for Thursday and Friday at Keli MacGregor Field at All-Star Park in Lakewood.

4A semis (Friday): No. 2 Cheyenne Mountain (17-2) vs. No. 4 Holy Family (18-2), 10 a.m.; No. 3 Ponderosa (18-2) vs. No. 8 D’Evelyn (14-5), 12:30 p.m.

Cheyenne Mountain has the most hardware of the remaining programs with 4A titles in 2009 and ’11, and four other state championships between 1958-62. Holy Family is playing for its first 4A title after claiming the 3A crown three times between 2010 and ’14. Whoever comes out of Ponderosa-D’Evelyn will get a shot at its first state crown. Ponderosa scored 26 runs to go unbeaten through the double-elimination bracket last week.

5A semis (Thursday): No. 8 Fairview (16-4) vs. No. 4 Mountain Vista (16-4), 9:30 p.m.; No. 6 Valor Christian (16-4) vs. No. 2 Fort Collins (16-5), 1:30 p.m.

Valor claimed the 4A title in three of its last four seasons. Flamethrower Radek Birkholz (60 strikeouts in 29 innings) should give the Eagles a solid shot at their first 5A crown. Mountain Vista, which won 5A in 2018, went 3-0 last week, but may have to face one of the state’s top pitchers in Fairview right-hander Greyson Carter, a Vanderbilt commit. Fort Collins, which knocked out No. 1 Heritage 6-5 Saturday, is going for its first state title.

Girls soccer

The semifinals are set in Class 2A-5A, with the penultimate games scheduled for Wednesday throughout the state followed by all four championship games being played in succession Saturday at Weidner Field in Colorado Springs. The 2A championship is at 9 a.m.; 3A, 6 p.m.; 4A, noon; and 5A, 3 p.m.

4A semis (Wed. at Frederick High): No. 1 Northridge (12-0) vs. No. 12 Holy Family (9-2), TBA; No. 2 The Classical Academy (10-0-2) vs. No. 2 Evergreen (12-0), TBA

Out of the four teams in the semifinals, only The Classical Academy (2011-3A) has won a state title since the turn of the century. And only Evergreen (1990, ’97-4A) has a previous championship to its name. Top-ranked Northridge has been slowly building under coach Tom Beck the past seven years.

5A semis (Wed. at Englewood High): No. 1 Valor Christian (11-0-1) vs. No. 4 Rock Canyon (11-1), 7:30 p.m.; No. 3 Cherry Creek (11-1) vs. No. 2 Broomfield (11-0-1), 5 p.m.

For just the second time since 2015, someone other than Grandview will claim the 5A crown. The four remaining teams have just one loss between them, with top-seed Valor Christian led by Oregon commit Ajanae Respass (17 goals, five assists) and a pair of Texas Tech recruits in Kylie Bahr (six assists) and Peyton Parsons (nine assists).

Girls golf

Tournaments are set for Monday and Tuesday at three separate venues for 3A (Elmwood Golf Course, Pueblo), 4A (Common Ground Golf Course, Aurora) and 5A (City Park Golf Course, Denver). The two-day, 36-hole stroke play events will decide individual and team champions.

Lacrosse

The girls lacrosse semifinals are Monday night in 4A and 5A, while the boys championships are already set for Tuesday night at Englewood High. In 4A boys, No. 1 Cheyenne Mountain (11-1) faces No. 2 Evergreen (11-1) at 5 p.m., and the 5A final is between No. 4 Mountain Vista (9-2) and No. 2 Valor Christian (11-1) at 7:30 p.m. The girls conclude their tournaments at the same site and times Wednesday night.

Boys swimming and diving

The 4A and 5A meets are scheduled on successive days at the Veterans Memorial Aquatics Center in Thornton, with 5A swimmers and divers competing in a one-day meet Thursday followed by the 4A event Friday.

Track and field

All five classifications will compete over three days at Jeffco Stadium in Lakewood, starting at 8 a.m. Thursday. There will be state titles at stake all three days, with the meet culminating with a flurry of championship races and events Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:40 p.m.

Boys volleyball

The first CHSAA boys volleyball tournament will be played Friday and Saturday at Rock Canyon High in Highlands Ranch. The quarterfinal matchups for Friday: No. 1 Douglas County (15-0) vs. No. 8 Regis Jesuit (9-6), No. 4 James Irwin (14-1) vs. No. 5 Eaglecrest (12-3), No. 2 Legend (13-2) vs. No. 7 Cherokee Trail (8-7), No. 3 Valor Christian (13-2) vs. No. 6 Cherry Creek (10-5).

On Saturday afternoon at Weidner Field, the second-seeded Knights ended No. 16 Cherry Creek’s Cinderella story as Fairview went on to win its first 5A boys soccer title in a thrilling, 2-0 finish.

“It doesn’t get better than that. Our school has never won a championship before,” senior Sebastien Mazur said. “We’ve been grinding all season. My sophomore year, we won every game — I don’t want to say easily, but we had it in the bag. This year, we’ve had to grind out every win. We’ve come from behind twice. I think that really shows the grit this team has that previous Fairview teams haven’t had.”

Had Cherry Creek won, it would have been the Bruins’ seventh boys soccer title and first since 2010. Fairview (13-0-1) will now take home its first in program history after previously losing its only other title game appearance in 1984 to Northglenn, 2-1.

“It feels like they’re finally where they’re supposed to be,” head coach Eric Schuler said. “There’s a legacy to this program that exists far beyond this team. It’s our captains from the last few years, coaches like Jeff Frykholm, captains like Alex Mercier and Jake Ketchner and Sajji Singh and all these guys that came before us that set the standard for what these guys were able to finish off today. It feels like we got the job done for guys that have put in a lot of work for us.”

The match was anything but clean.

Sloppy play in a scoreless first half was followed by a heightened level of intensity in the second. In the last 40 minutes alone, the officials penalized both Fairview and Cherry Creek with a total of five yellow cards.

A scoreless first 40 also heated up on offensive opportunities after the break.

Fairview picked up a yellow card in the goal box in the 44th minute, which set Cherry Creek’s Carter Loui up for a penalty kick within close range. He could not convert, however, with his kick going up and over the crossbar.

Fairview keeper Shane Williams let out a “very big (sigh).”

“I’ve faced a lot of PKs,” he said, “and it’s not often that they miss, so it always feels good when they do. If they had scored that, they would have had the momentum but because they didn’t, they gave us all of it.”

The Knights, on the other hand, didn’t squander their chance.

Six minutes later, Sebastien Mazur squared up with Cherry Creek keeper Knox Quarles. This time, the shooter broke through as Mazur netted the first goal of the game from about 20 yards out.

Throughout the next 30 minutes, Cherry Creek pressured Williams time and again, including two quick shots on goal in a span of a few seconds in the 66th minute. Fairview’s impenetrable defense wouldn’t let the Bruins gain an inch.

Just as time was about to expire, Tristan Hird dotted the exclamation point on the Knights’ game-winning effort as he added his own name to the history books with a second score. On a cross from Mason Sunderland, Hird slid into Quarles as the ball squeaked by him and into the net.

The clock hit zeroes just two minutes later, and the Knights’ bench sprinted onto the field to celebrate with teammates. With that, this Fairview team forever enshrined itself in program history.

“We’re going to have a banner on the wall now. Our names are in Fairview history, which is awesome. I feel so proud of my school. Everyone else feels proud to be representing Fairview,” Mazur said. “They wanted it. They put up a fight and that’s why their banner says ‘bracket busters.’ They came in as a 16 seed and they put up a hell of a fight.”

The league that the former Arapahoe and DU star was playing in had just folded, and he signed a tentative contract with KuPS FC of the Veikkausliiga — Finland’s top circuit. But the diagnosis of a rare condition, myocarditis, derailed those plans. Beckie’s fight against that heart condition, and his journey back to the pitch, are profiled in a documentary called “Still Defending” that will be released this week.

“I was in Sweden (in December 2017) before I was supposed to go back to training in Finland, and I had a heart problem one morning,” Beckie said. “It was cardiac arrest due to a virus, which caused myocarditis. I was in the hospital in Sweden for about two weeks, and I was told I probably wouldn’t be allowed to play again because my heart wasn’t strong enough to sustain any sort of workload.”

The documentary, which can be accessed starting Thursday at stilldefendingdoc.com, dives into Beckie’s return. The 29-year-old defender, who is entering his second season playing for the El Paso Locomotive of the USL Championship, had to “do literally nothing” for about six months while undergoing treatment and recovery, first at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville and then in Denver.

When he finally did return to action in May 2018, it was for the same Jacksonville Armada team he had played for before — only now, the team was in a different, semi-pro league. Beckie made just $1,000 a month and, while staying at an apartment the team provided, contemplated the legitimacy of his comeback.

“When you’ve had a heart problem, clubs don’t want to take a chance on you and sign you to a good contract, because you might not be able to play again,” Beckie said. “It was a struggle in my mind of whether I really wanted to come back and if it financially was a smart decision.”

Beckie worked as a car salesman and valet to make ends meet and help pay off his medical bills in Sweden. By June of 2018, he signed with the Oklahoma City Energy. The brother of Janine Beckie, an ex-Valor Christian standout striker who currently plays for the Canadian Women’s National Team and Manchester City women, Drew played a year in Oklahoma City before getting traded to El Paso last year.

The Regina, Saskatchewan, native said his main motivation for participating in the documentary was to spread awareness and courage.

“I don’t want empathy or a pity party, but I wanted people to understand this sort of (scary adversity) can happen to anybody at any time,” Beckie said. “It was a struggle to come back. I lost 35 pounds and physically and mentally I wasn’t in a great state… But I’m back doing what I love now, and whether it’s a virus or someone has cancer, whatever it is, maybe my story can will someone to come back and get healthy again.”