AURORA | Rangeview boys soccer coach Vic Strouse had concerns about stopping Chatfield’s Jamey McGrath and Ben Overholt in Wednesday’s Class 5A state playoff opener, especially with a depleted defense.
Those fears came to pass as McGrath scored all three goals — including the tiebreaker in the 57th minute — and Overholt assisted on one of them against a shorthanded backline as the 22nd-seeded Chargers posted a 3-2 upset of the No. 11 Raiders at Aurora Public Schools Stadium.
Juniors Michael Johnson and Juan Abundis scored first half goals for EMAC champion Rangeview, which finished the season 11-5 overall. The Raiders made an uncommon early exit from the playoffs, as they’d won at least one playoff game since at least 2007.
Chatfield (10-4-2) and Rangeview alternated in the lead in an explosive first 10 minutes that saw four goals scored.
McGrath — who had scored a team-high 19 goals coming into the game, followed by Overholt with 13 — opened the scoring in the fifth minute, but Johnson countered with his fifth goal of the season to tie it just two minutes later.
The Raiders took their only lead of the game when Abundis finished a penalty kick chance only to see the lead disappear on McGrath’s equalizer two minutes later.
The teams played the next 30 minutes scoreless and started the same way in the second half until the 57th minute when Chatfield found the go-ahead goal.
Shortly after Rangeview sophomore goalkeeper Jose Helguera Lopez dove to turn aside an Overholt shot that screamed toward the inside of the far post, the Raiders struggled to clear the ball and paid for it.
Rangeview failed to get the ball out of its own end twice and the ball eventually found its way to Overholt, who fed McGrath for his third goal of the game.
Abundis had some quality strikes down the stretch and seniors Jack Ramirez, Fernando Chavez and Marcos Wolde pressed the Chargers defense in the closing minutes, but couldn’t put another past goalkeeper Mike Karns.
Courtney Oakes is Sports Editor of the Aurora Sentinel. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. FB: Aurora Prep Sentinel
(22) CHATFIELD 3, (11) RANGEVIEW 2
Score by halves:
Chatfield 2 1 — 3
Rangeview 2 0 — 2
SCORING
First half
Chatfield — Jamey McGrath (Wyatt Solarte), 5th minute
Rangeview — Michael Johnson, 7th minute
Rangeview — Juan Abundis (penalty kick), 8th minute
Chatfield — McGrath, 9th minute
Second half
Chatfield — McGrath (Ben Overholt), 57th minute
