LITTLETON — Taylor Hunter was a cheerleader for a fraction of a second Tuesday night. The remainder of the night, the Grandview junior was just a hero.
After watching all-state teammate Zac Portillos-Grant spin around a defender and fire a low shot at Heritage goalkeeper Justin Tomasetti, Hunter found himself in the 6-yard box with the deflected ball rolling right to his feet.
So he went all rah-rah — albeit to himself.
“I was jumping up and down before I even hit it,” he said.
Hunter’s goal with 10 minutes remaining gave the 12th-seeded Wolves a dramatic 2-1 victory over the No. 5 Eagles in the second round of the Class 5A state tournament at Littleton Public Schools Stadium.
It was the perfect flipside to Grandview’s opening goal, which came off a great pass from Hunter to Portillos-Grant in the 31st minute, which negated Isaac Witte’s 11th-minute opener.
With the victory, the Wolves (10-4-3) extended their unbeaten streak to five games and will play at No. 4 Abraham Lincoln on Friday for a chance to advance to Saturday’s semifinal round.
Both teams showed off their skill and speed, spraying balls across the field and stringing together dangerous passes in abundance. The open style of play in the first half tightened significantly in the second half as the game seemed to be building toward a dramatic moment.
Enter Portillos-Grant, who started both his goal and shot to set up Hunter with a skillful spin to fool his marker and burst into space.
“I just kept my head down and made sure I put it away because I knew we needed that one,” Portillos-Grant said of his goal.
For the Eagles (12-2-3), who saw their unbeaten streak snapped at nine games, circumstances provided plenty of sobering perspective.
Longtime coach Tony Hurt returned home from the hospital hours before the start of the game after suffering a stroke Sunday, forcing him to miss his first Heritage soccer game in 32 years. Wife and longtime assistant Shanna Hurt coached the team Tuesday.
“I think the kids played a great game against them, I really do,” she said, adding that Tony was doing well, all things considered.
Heritage forward Dan Goold helped swing the momentum toward the Continental League champions from the onset, and Witte grabbed the opener off a centering pass by Sam Serniak from deep in the left corner.
Grandview 1 1 — 2
Heritage 1 0 — 1
Goals — H: Witte (Serniak), 11th minute; G: Portillos-Grant (Tribbett), 31st; Hunter (unassisted), 70th.
Shots on goal — Grandview 5-4 — 9, Heritage 4-2 — 6. Saves — Grandview (Borth) 3-2 — 5, Heritage (Tomasetti) 4-3 — 7. Offside — Grandview 0-0 — 0, Heritage 1-2 — 3. Corner kicks — Grandview 4-0 — 4, Heritage 1-0 — 1. Fouls — Grandview 5-5 — 10, Heritage 3-6 — 9. Yellow card — Fisher, G, 65th minute; Peterson, H, 67th. Red card — Peterson, H, 78th minute.
