Jeff Gillis and the Buffaloes have made soccer king again at Smoky Hill.
The Buffaloes struggled to a 5-9-1 record last season and finished dead last in the Centennial League standings, but the second season under coach Kersten Mullan has been nothing short of a revelation.
Smoky Hill won the program’s first league championship since 2003 and enter the Class 5A state playoffs with the No. 4 overall seed, a satisfying reward for the work Gillis and his teammates did since the end of last season.
“We worked our butts off this summer, we were sick and tired of losing,” Gillis said ahead of the Buffaloes’ playoff opener, an Oct. 24 home game against No. 29 Doherty.
“We lost so many games last year and the year before that, and we just got tired of it. Smoky Hill has been known for soccer and we had to bring it back. We were going to be the team that brought it back, and we told ourselves in order to do that we had to work hard. That’s what we’ve done and now we’re on our way.”
On an 11-game unbeaten streak that stretches back to a 3-2 double overtime loss to Aurora Central on Sept. 8, the Buffaloes (11-1-3) have aspirations of winning a state championship for the first time since 2007, when the program took the last of three 5A titles in a four-year span under former coach Danny Winsor.
Smoky Hill has returned to playing games on its home field — nicknamed ‘The Swamp,’ though it is in much better condition due to a lot of work and care — and have the chemistry, depth and work ethic that characterized the school’s past championship teams.
It’s sparked a renaissance of sorts at the school in terms of boys soccer.
“The whole environment has changed; I’ve been asked 50 times by people in the halls when our playoff game is,” said Gillis, part of a senior class that is in the playoffs for the first time.
Well in the rearview mirror is the tough period for the program, which won just five total games in the 2008 and 2009 seasons in the wake of Winsor’s departure to Legend.
Mullan — one of less than a handful of female coaches of boys soccer teams in Colorado — has helped engineer a turnaround nothing short of miraculous, guiding Smoky Hill from last in the Centennial League to first, including a victory over nemesis Cherry Creek.
“I’ve had some pretty good teams as a coach, but I’ve never had that feeling that I could actually have a state championship team on my hands,” Mullan said.
“As a coach, I’m crazy superstitious, but it’s interesting to just sit back and think that this team is the real deal.”
Mullan’s moves with her personnel — one in particular — have helped make that possible.
The Buffaloes scored just 19 goals all of last season, but have 44 in the same number of games in 2012. That total is boosted by a position switch in the final game of last season.
Gillis was a first team All-Centennial League performer as a right back last season, but convinced Mullan to put him in at striker as Smoky Hill finished a playoff-less season with Pomona.
He vowed to score a goal and was true to his word, netting a pair in the Buffs’ 4-3 loss.
“I told coach Mullan if she put me in, ‘I guarantee I will score,’” said Gillis, who grew up as an offensive player before high school.
“Over the summer, I worked a lot on scoring and foot skills,” he added. “I think last year we didn’t have that goal scoring person. That’s what we really needed this year: goals, goals, goals.”
Gillis put up a hat trick in a 3-2 win over ThunderRidge, then netted four goals in a 6-4 victory over Mullen.
With three other multiple-goal games, Gillis has 18 goals, the top total in the Centennial League and just one off the 5A lead.
“Jeff is unbelieveable; he’s the real deal,” Mullan said of Gillis, who scored half of his goals in league play.
“I laugh because I don’t know how much of a sacrifice it is to ask a defender to go play forward — I know it’s huge the other way — but I’ve never seen a kid take to it like this,” she added. “He’s played so well and he’s hands down all about the team.
“Everything he does is about what he can do to get better and be a better leader.”
Dynamic sophomore midfielder Walter Prince and relentless sophomore wing player Kevin Del Mazo have made Gillis’ job easy.
The duo has combined for 15 assists this far, eight for Prince and seven for Del Mazo, who is second on the squad with eight goals.
Defense has also been a plus for Mullan’s club, despite a rash of injuries. Sophomore Colton Ladyga has been cleared to return for the playoffs after suffering a broken collarbone, which should be a big boost for the Buffs.
Mullan still understands how difficult the playoffs will be, especially in a wide open year.
“Soccer is a cruel sport sometimes, so we have to show up and concentrate on what we can do,” Mullan said.
Reach Sports Editor Courtney Oakes at sports@aurorasentinel.com or 303-750-7555
