The pitch has heated up around Aurora early in the boys soccer season.
Several area squads have opened the campaign in undefeated fashion and shown promise for potential in the coming weeks of the campaign.
Five Aurora teams have qualified for the postseason in each of the past two seasons — the same five in Aurora Central, Cherokee Trail, Grandview, Regis Jesuit and Vista PEAK Prep — while company could be coming to that group in 2025.
Smoky Hill’s last trip to the playoffs came back in 2019, but coach O’Neil Brown’s team is off to a strong start in an attempt to end the drought. The Buffaloes have jumped out to a 4-1 mark (which includes a 4-0 victory over Mountain Range Sept. 8), which puts them just two wins shy of their entire total from a year ago.
Leading goal scorer Elliott Kaganer graduated, but Smoky Hill has made up for it with five different players registering at least one goal (senior John Nino has two to lead the way) and three have picked up assists, including two from junior Andreas Karpouzos, who was second on the team in points scored a year ago. Also returning for the Buffaloes is key senior defender Kevin Torres along with senior goalie John Villamizar.
The only team to defeat Smoky Hill so far in the early going is Vista PEAK Prep, which prevailed 1-0 in an Aug. 28 matchup. That is part of a 3-0 beginning for coach Federico Gomez’s team, which has earned its way into the No. 8 spot in the Colorado High School Activities Association’s most recent rankings.
That puts Vista PEAK Prep just one spot behind last season’s area leader — Regis Jesuit — which has reloaded in the wake of the loss of a key senior class. Coach Rick Wolf’s team rolled through the majority of last season and suffered its only loss in Colorado to Broomfield in the 5A quarterfinals.
This season’s group hasn’t skipped a beat so far, as it is off to a 3-0-1 start that includes a tie with Ralston Valley (which is 4-0-1 out of the gate and ranked No. 4) at the Arapahoe Warrior Invitational. Junior Jackson Schneller has picked up some of the scoring slack left by the graduation of regular double-digit goal scorer Jack De Simone, as he has tallied three times in the first four games. Regis Jesuit has 14 goals in all and 10 different players have at least one to their credit. The Raiders also had to replace a stalwart in goal in Thayer White, while junior Marcus Hugulet has been up to the task so far.
Cherokee Trail has been slow to ease into the season with just three games in the first two-plus weeks and coach Mark Hill’s group is 2-0-1. The Cougars have plenty of firepower back, including seniors Isaac Wells, Caleb Burgess and Vincent Tchoumba, the team’s three leading scorers who combined for 20 goals and 13 assists in 2024, in addition other veteran contributors.
Grandview has a five-season streak of postseason qualification, but has entered a new era with the retirement of original coach Brian Wood. The Wolves (2-1-1) are in familiar hands, however, as former assistant and former Eaglecrest head coach Greg Watts has taken over. Grandview has back dynamic senior midfielder Alex Kedzierski, while senior Kason Ottinger already has three goals after he had just one last season.
Overland won its first two games of the season in impressive fashion, which was good enough to get coach Mazen Kayali’s program into the CHSAA rankings at No. 10. The Trailblazers (2-0-1) seek the program’s first postseason berth since 2022.
Rangeview had the most eyebrow-raising result of the season thus far as it rolled to an 11-1 win over Douglas County, giving a glimpse of what veteran coach Vic Strouse believes will be an “interesting” group. The Raiders (who have the area’s two most prolific goal scorers so far in senior Luis Castro Morales and sophomore Julian Cortez, who have four apiece). sit 2-1 with only a loss to Smoky Hill.
Aurora Central rallied in the second half to beat Gateway Sept. 9 and both teams hold 1-3 records, while Hinkley sits 0-1-2.
