(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
US AIR FORCE ACADEMY — Cheyenne Mountain and Air Academy took the field in the secon half deadlocked with two goals apiece. But a costly penalty at the halftime buzzer left the Kadets two men down.
And August Johnson wasted no time taking advantage.
The junior scored 10 seconds into the half, sparking a five-goal run that led to the CHSAANow.com No. 4-ranked Indians coming away with a 10-6 win and a Southern League title to go along with it.
“You always want to take every advantage that you can,” Johnson said. “Obviously (Air Academy) is very good, they have a very balanced defense and one (heck) of a keep. We’ll take the two-man advantage. It makes everything a little easier.”
But they didn’t need any advantage over the remainder of the third quarter. The Indians (11-3 overall, 6-0 Class 4A Southern) scored four more, three off the stick of Jack Egan.
Not bad for a team that came out nervous and was in a 2-0 hole less than two minutes into the second quarter.
“We knew (we’d be okay) once we could compose ourself,” Cheyenne Mountain coach Mike Paige said. “That first quarter, we were a little bit jittery. Once we got our shooters dialed, it was going to come to us.”
Noah Thornally put the No. 9 Kadets (9-6, 4-1) on the board with 4:55 left in the first. J.D. Walton pushed the lead to 2-0 in the second, with Thornally getting the assist.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
The Indians finally got on the board with a goal from Mark Reynolds. From that point on, Air Academy had no answer for Cheyenne Mountain’s defense.
“We didn’t figure out how to break the zone,” Kadets coach John Mandico said. “Their zone is very good. We had spurts when the offense was clicking and there times that we just couldn’t penetrate the zone.”
That became a serious problem when Johnson got the Indians rolling in the second half. Once they had seized momentum, it was going to be tough for Air Academy to find any kind of answer.
“We were lacking a little bit of confidence – that spark – because they were shutting us down in the first quarter and the first half,” Egan said. “In the second half, August was able to put up a goal and we were able to rally around that and gain some confidence.”
The Kadets ended the Cheyenne Mountain scoring streak with 1:09 remaining in the third when Braiden Schweitzer scored with Thornally once again on the assist.
But by that time, the damage had been done. The Indians were not going to let a league title slip through their fingers, especially when it was a cross-town rival on the other side of the field. The overall stakes gave the game a sense of a playoff atmosphere, something the Indians happily accepted.
“Our loss to Valor was really hard and we’ve been making changes and building after that,” Johnson said. “It’s good to see a physical team like this. These guys know how to fight.”
While Friday was the regular season finale for Air Academy, Cheyenne Mountain has one game remaining at No. 1 Dawson.