(Lance Wendt/LanceWendt.com)
As incredible as last year was for Max Mehlman, there was something still missing from his life.
The 2014 Class 3A player of the year, one year removed from helping Kent Denver’s boys soccer team lock up a state title, spent his junior season with the Colorado Rapids U18 Development Academy. It was an opportunity Mehlman could not pass up, but it meant having to watch his friends and Sun Devil teammates secure a second consecutive 3A championship without him last November.
“Coach (Arty) Smith was very good with me … he let me stay around the program and let me hang out with the team and train with them occasionally,” Mehlman said. “But I can’t express how hard it was watching those guys win that state championship.
“I was so happy for them, but it was so hard not to be out there with them.”
So it is little surprise that Mehlman finds himself back out on the field with Kent Denver this fall. Even as the Sun Devils move on without reigning 3A player of the year Max Gottesfeld, who transferred, they welcome back another POY in their pursuit of a three-peat.
“That’s ultimately what led me to want to come back this year. It’s a pretty special thing,” Mehlman said. “Not many guys get to win their last high school game they play, and that’s going to be in the back of the minds of all the seniors this year.”
Kent Denver opens the season as the preseason favorite and top-ranked team in the CHSAANow.com poll. Vail Mountain and Fountain Valley — the 2015 runner-up — are ranked behind the Sun Devils, who have competed in three of the past four 3A title games.
Max Mehlman. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)
“They’re very excited. The guys who have come before them have set a great tradition, and they’re kind of the next group trying to live up to that,” Smith said of this year’s club. “They’re working hard but I think they’re also grounded. They know there is a lot of hard work ahead of them.
“It’s really looking forward, trying to look more forward than backward.”
That’s why while the loss of Gottesfeld is a big one, Kent Denver is embracing its current roster. Striker David Felman scored 15 goals as a junior, and central midfielder Rory Buck added seven goals.
Senior goalkeeper Ross Rainaldi also returns to a defense that didn’t allowed a postseason goal in each of the previous two postseasons.
“Something we pride ourselves on at Kent is playing great defense. We talk about that from Day 1,” Smith said. “We’ve had some success with that, and hopefully we can establish that defensive mentality. If you do that, you can sometimes weather the storms with scoring, which can be fickle.”
Along with Felman and Buck, Max Sanson returns at central midfielder, and fullback Nick Paine is also back.
Smith said there are plenty of positions still to be earned in the lineup, but added that there is a strong returning core to build around. That will be crucial because the rest of 3A will be eager to dethrone a Sun Devils team that has not lost a game since Aug. 29, 2014.
“We know we definitely have a target on our back because we won state the last two years. I think we can definitely handle the pressure,” Buck said. “We have a lot of experienced players who really helped in winning last year, but also kids like Max who helped win it the first year.”
Broomfield has won the previous two 5A state championships, but graduated 2015 player of the year Porter Milner. Mountain Vista, which stormed through the bracket to get into last year’s title game, returns a pair of first-team all-state players and won’t be overlooked this fall.
Fairview, Arapahoe and Boulder round out the top-five in the 5A preseason poll.
In 4A, Evergreen upended The Classical Academy 1-0 a year ago and brings back Casey Grieve and Patrick O’Neil. TCA has been the runner-up three years in a row, but once again has a bevy of talent at its disposal — including Player of the Year Titus Grant — in its bid for a championship.
Cheyenne Mountain, Air Academy and Standley Lake are each hoping to make their own runs as well.
KIPP Denver Collegiate has high-scoring Jhovani Gonzalez leading a team that reached the 3A quarterfinals a year ago.
Class 5A
Defending Champion: Broomfield
Season Begins: Aug. 25
Playoffs Begin: Oct. 27
Championship: Nov. 12, Dick’s Sporting Goods Park
Returning all-state players: Davis Auth, Sr., Mountain Vista (1st team); Evan Bunch, Sr., Arapahoe (2nd team); Cray Cordero, Jr., Mountain Vista (1st team); Chris Hood, Jr., ThunderRidge (honorable mention); Ryan Lee, Sr., Douglas County (2nd team); Erik Lundeen, Sr., Grandview (2nd team); Owen Merritt, Jr., Poudre (honorable mention); Jack Schulze, Sr., Heritage (2nd team); Andrew Turk, Sr., Pine Creek (2nd team).
Class 4A
Defending Champion: Evergreen
Season Begins: Aug. 25
Playoffs Begin: Oct. 26
Championship: Nov. 12, Dick’s Sporting Goods Park
Returning all-state players: Jaden Borja, Sr., The Classical Academy (1st team); Anders Carlson, Sr., The Classical Academy (2nd team); Titus Grant, Sr., The Classical Academy (1st team); Casey Grieve, Sr., Evergreen (1st team); Robert Lanz, Sr., Valor Christian (2nd team); Patrick O’Neil, Sr., Evergreen (1st team); Luke White, Jr., Cheyenne Mountain (honorable mention).
Class 3A
Defending Champion: Kent Denver
Season Begins: Aug. 25
Playoffs Begin: Oct. 28
Championship: Nov. 12, Dick’s Sporting Goods Park
Returning all-state players: Evan Coit, Sr., Salida (1st team); Kevin Garcia, Sr., Vail Mountain (2nd team); Jhovani Gonzalez, Sr., KIPP Denver Collegiate (1st team); Max Gottesfeld, Sr., Kent Denver (1st team); Liam Hurley, Sr., Vail Mountain (1st team); Galen Kelly, Jr., Fountain Valley (2nd team); Zion Lander, Sr., DSST-Green Valley Ranch (2nd team); Ian Strine, Jr., Fountain Valley (2nd team).