ENGLEWOOD — Mullen beat Cheyenne Mountain 1-0 in double overtime on Saturday in the Class 4A state semifinals at Englewood Stadium.
But in the immortal words of radio broadcaster Paul Harvey, “Now here’s the rest of the story:”
* Several fans were ejected for arguing, one of whom was led off in handcuffs.
* Cheyenne Mountain’s Keegan Stout was taken away by ambulance after a gruesome injury that left him with two broken bones in his right leg.
* Mullen’s Isaac Caughran, who scored both goals for the Mustangs in their upset of No. 2 Pueblo Centennial on Wednesday, had his penalty kick saved by Cheyenne goalie Hunter Huffman.
* Two Indians goals were disallowed, one for a handball and the other for an offsides call that neither team could explain.
* Finally, referees doled out 10 cards (nine yellows and one demoralizing red).
“This was hard, but we played well,” said Mullen junior Nick Brant, whose goal sealed the victory for the Mustangs in the 103rd minute.
Said an emotionally spent Cheyenne Mountain coach Scott Johnson: “I wish I could put that into words. But I will say that I could not be more proud of my guys and how we responded from a tougher challenge that we never could have expected.”
Twenty-third seeded Mullen (10-7-2), a 3-0 loser to Cheyenne Mountain on Sept. 1, played with a man advantage for the final 54 minutes after Scott Kocel was red-carded for arguing his disallowed goal.
The Mustangs were creative, and had a chance in the first overtime to end it. But a 3-on-1 opportunity saw Brant’s chance thwarted by Huffman.
Brant redeemed himself in the second overtime, with a little luck.
“I was just trying to shield the goalie and the ball just came in,” he said. “I really wanted to shoot the ball, because I hadn’t done anything the whole game.”
Mullen will play Broomfield on Wednesday night at Englewood.
Mullen 0 0 0 1 – 1
Cheyenne Mountain 0 0 0 0 – 0
Goal – Brant (unassisted), 103rd minute.
Shots on goals – Mullen 1-1-1-1 – 4; Cheyenne Mountain 2-3-0-0 – 5. Saves – Mullen (Rendall) 2-3-0-0 – 5; Cheyenne Mountain (Huffman) 1-1-1-0 – 3. Corner kicks – Mullen 1-1-0-0 – 2; Cheyenne Mountain 1-1-0-0 – 2. Offsides – Mullen 1-0-0-1 – 2; Cheyenne Mountain 2-5-0-0 – 7. Fouls – Mullen 5-7-2-2 – 16; Cheyenne Mountain 12-7-2-0 – 21. Yellow cards – Guy, M, 31st; Enger, CM, 38th; Cheyenne Mountain bench, 59th; Caughran, M, 70th; Napoli (2), CM, 73rd and 96th (soft red); O’Dea, CM, 75th; Roberts, M, 84th; Canham, M, 96th. Red card – Kocel, CM, 49th.
