ENGLEWOOD — Jack Henderson won a state championship with tap shoes.
After nearly 105 minutes of scoreless soccer, the junior midfielder from East found himself standing in front of an empty net Wednesday with nothing but the ball and his thoughts.
“I was just there and hit it in,” Henderson said. “There were two people right there, and we kind of just collided. It fell right there, and I just tapped it in.”
Henderson’s double-overtime goal came five minutes before the game would have gone to penalty kicks and sent the No. 8 Angels (18-2-0) into rapture. The stunning finish at Pirates Stadium completed the Angels’ longshot run and earned them their second championship — first since 1994.
Angels goalkeeper Grant Simon made seven saves and Regis goalkeeper Alex Goetz made eight as both teams enjoyed long stretches of sustained possession and scoring opportunities.
Simon, The Denver Post’s most valuable player, made all his saves after halftime and bailed out an Angels defense that was showing cracks against the Raiders’ long passes.
“He played brilliantly and our goalie played brilliantly,” Raiders coach Chris Walsweer said of Simon. “A game like this, you know it’s going to come down to one goal, and they got theirs. . . . It was a beautiful game. I just wish we won.”
While East had the run of play in the first half, the second half and much of the added time belonged to the No. 11 Raiders (15-5-0). Dirk Macdonald and Matt Nier had breakaways and near-misses before the Angels pounced on a fluky sequence outside the Regis goal.
Goetz appeared to have a long ball in his hands but dropped it at the feet of Angels striker Zach Bolden. The chaos that ensued saw bodies and limbs trying to find the ball, only for it to find Henderson as Goetz was prone on the ground.
The Angels’ pressure and speed that lifted them through the tournament was on display in the first half as Henderson and defender Adam Schrieber both came close. The Raiders adjusted and began to eat up the possession behind Levi Rossi and Ian Hines-Ike.
“Because they play with so much pressure, it really took us out of how we play,” East coach Beth Hinz said.
Hinz joins Hotchkiss coach Elaine Wood, who won the 3A title Tuesday, as title-winning female coaches of boys teams.
MVP
East senior goalkeeper Grant Simon made seven saves, including a few stunners, to keep Regis off the board and give East a chance to win its first state soccer title since 1994.
Regis 0 0 0 0 — 0
East 0 0 0 1 — 1
Goal — Henderson (unassisted), 105th minute. Shots on goal — Regis 0-5-1-1 – 7; East 4-1-2-2 – 9. Saves — Regis (Goetz) 4-1-2-1 – 8; East (Simon) 0-5-1-1 – 7. Offside — Regis 1-0-1-0 – 2; East 0-0-0-0 – 0. Corner kicks — Regis 2-2-1-0 – 5; East 3-4-0-1 – 8. Fouls — Regis 1-2-2-1 – 6; East 5-7-2-0 – 14. Yellow cards — None.
