Arvada West boys soccer beat Smoky Hill 2-0 on Thursday. (Andre Lyseight/CHSAANow.com)
AURORA — The Arvada West Wildcats and Smoky Hill Buffaloes both fell out of the CHSAANow Class 5A polls last week. In their search to climb back in, it was Arvada West who beat Smoky Hill 2-0 in a very physical match-up that led to a game full of yellow cards.
The Wildcats controlled the ball most of the beginning of the first half. After a missed indirect free kick from forward Kyler Fowkes, the momentum shifted to Smoky Hill. Even though the Buffaloes were able to control the ball the rest of the half they still weren’t able to capitalize on any of their attempted shots.
“We had a slow start,” Arvada West coach Troy Gette said. “We had a emotional win last game, so we had to fight through it.”
The second half of the game started just like the first half and Arvada West was in control of the ball from the beginning. Smoky Hill was able to gain control for a good period of the time about halfway through the half. As the game got more physical, yellow cards were given to multiple players on both teams.
The intensity of the game began to pick up leading to a Wildcat penalty kick from Fowkes that resulted in the first goal of the game with 19 minutes left on the clock.
Smoky Hill seemed to lose composure after the score and continued to receive yellow cards for over-aggressive plays. Stefano DelPiccolo of Arvada West was able to score a long goal from almost midfield with five minutes left in the game that put the game away.
“I think the physicality of high school boys soccer is very tough. I think one of the toughest situations is when some games it seems like the physicality is allowed and other games it’s not allowed. So I think that makes it tough for players and coaches,” Smoky Hill coach Kersten Mullan said.
The Buffaloes are a smaller a team and had to play more physical but it wasn’t good enough to transfer into goals. The team only had two starters from last season after 12 players graduated.
The Wildcats’ next game will be against Mountain Range on Sept. 12 at 1st Bank Field.
“I think we just need to relax and get into our style, rather than letting other teams dictate how we play,” Gette said.