Daniel Devora (9) and his Adams City teammates have had a lot to celebrate this season. The Eagles are the top seed in Class 5A as the state tournament starts Wednesday.
Photos courtesy of Anthony Arroyo
When Ramiro Loera took over the boys soccer program at
Adams City (Commerce City) three seasons ago, he took to his new job armed with a definitive vision regarding the direction he wanted to take with the Eagles program.
Talented athletes were not in short supply at Adams City, yet Loera realized some of the culture had to be reshaped among his young players. Much of his vision centered around sharpening the Eagles' collective focus. That approach has proven to be a resounding success.
Yet, even Loera admits to being a little stunned at just how successful the Eagles have become.
The state soccer tournaments in all three classifications kick off this week, and when the Class 5A playoffs begin Wednesday, Adams City will enter the fray as the top overall seed.
While work remains to be done, Loera believes the honor of being one of the leading contenders for the state title exemplifies the painstaking work Loera, his staff, and the Eagles' players have invested in building the Adams City program.
"We expected to be in this position because we took our time developing these kids," Loera said. "We knew we were going to have a good season, but I'm not sure we expected to be quite this good.
"From the get-go, our goal was to work with the young talent here. Our main focus has been the mental aspect, the psychological aspect, of the sport. You can have all the talent in the world, and we have a lot of talent, but it's usually the mental aspect of the game that separates good teams from great teams. That's been my focus here."
Although Adams City clearly has taken a step forward this season, it's not as if the Eagles have come out of nowhere. They recorded a 12-3 mark in Loera's first season in 2010, bowing out in the second round of the playoffs against eventual 5A runner-up Mountain Vista (Highlands Ranch).
As the No. 5 seed last year, Adams City made a stirring run into the 5A semifinals only to once again lose to the eventual state runner-up, this time suffering a disheartening 1-0 loss against Heritage (Littleton).
Denver East is the defending big-school champion and is seeded No. 2.
Loera lauded the leadership of his veteran core for the Eagles' 13-0-2 regular season. Senior goalkeeper
Daniel Ontiveros has provided a steady anchor for the Eagles' defense, and a number of other seasoned players have spearheaded Adams City's balanced offense.
Jonathan Roman has rebounded from a broken ankle that cost him most of the 2011 season to post 11 goals and nine assists, while
Daniel Devora has backed his conference player of the year campaign from last year with a 16-goal, 13-assist effort this year.
"The leadership our seniors have shown and the work ethic they have has really injected a good attitude into the younger ones," said Loera, whose club opens the state tournament against
Standley Lake (Westminster). "They've really helped get everyone to believe in the same system."
In Class 4A, Palmer Ridge (Monument) coach Nick Odil finally has achieved his long-stated goal of getting the Bears' boys program on par with the girls program, which has made consecutive appearances in the Class 4A Final Four.
Palmer Ridge received the No. 1 seed in the 4A tournament after going 13-1-1 overall while winning the 4A Pikes Peak league with a perfect 7-0-0 conference mark.
Mullen (Denver) is the defending champion and is seeded No. 4
In the 3A bracket, The Classical Academy (Colorado Springs) will be aiming to end years of frustration after losing heartbreakers in each of the past two state championship matches, last year to
Faith Christian (Arvada).
The top-seeded Titans (14-1-0) have allowed only eight goals all season, and five of those occurred during TCA's lone loss against Sand Creek (Colorado Springs), the eighth-seeded team in the 4A tournament.
"We've been playing good defense, but it hasn't been just the back line," TCA coach Blake Galvin said. "It's been an all-around team effort. We've been pressuring the ball and forcing turnovers in the midfield. We've been able to keep a lot of teams on their heels and use that to spark our offense."
MaxPreps Colorado boys state soccer brackets
