When longtime Rangeview Raiders coach Vic Strouse looks at his boys soccer team, he sees a microcosm of America.
He sees white, Hispanic, black and Asian teenagers playing with a common goal and a work ethic hearty enough to stain the collar on their red-and-black Raiders shirts a sweaty shade of blue.
That makes Rangeview’s pursuit of a Class 5A state championship this season a microcosm of the American dream.
“It’s just a bunch of different races, and they’re all everyday people,” all-Colorado junior forward Davy Armstrong said of the Raiders. “I love it. We just work together.”
Fresh off Tuesday’s 8-0 thumping of winless ThunderRidge, the Raiders are 6-0 and have done nothing to cast doubt on their position as the preseason No. 1 team. With essentially 10 starters returning and consecutive overtime losses in the state quarterfinals on the resume, the Raiders have all the pieces to win a title — except maybe the tradition.
“We haven’t been in the conversation in the last 10 years,” said Strouse, who is in his 21st season coaching the Raiders and lived in soccer- mad England until he was 16.
Resigned to the second tier of Class 5A soccer behind traditional powers, the Raiders have long gotten by with a few standouts and “smoke and mirrors for the rest,” Strouse said.
Somewhat out of the clear blue, the defending Continental League champions have the depth to support returning all-state players such as Armstrong (who bagged five goals Tuesday), goalkeeper Josh Euell and Adrian Lockett — both four-year starters.
There’s the complementary midfield duo of senior Jorge Sanchez and junior Martin Perez. Sanchez is the playmaker blessed with creative feet, while Perez is the engine who is powerful enough to carry the ball directly into the attacking end. There’s forward Kyle Kreutzer, midfielder Nick Leidy and junior midfielder James Rucker, who has three goals this season off the bench. Emerging as a force in the back is Matthew Taphorn, a tough-tackling sophomore defender who saw copious minutes last season.
“It’s the chemistry of our team,” said Euell, who hasn’t allowed a goal in the past four games.
The Raiders have seen proof they can go 14 or 15 deep — such as their season-opening victory over Palmer, when three of their four goals came from bench players.
“We don’t lose anything when we bring players off the bench,” Taphorn said.
With this kind of talent and effort, the Raiders only sharpen under the direction of Strouse, who guided Rangeview to a 15-2-1 record last season without talking about winning.
“It’s really where I believe it fits my personality,” Strouse said of coaching high school. “I find it more rewarding because it’s not just about soccer, it’s about character development. It’s about the process and not the ends. We develop the process and the ends take care of themselves.”
