HS Soccer – CHSAA 4A 2nd Round

The question going into this game was not who would win.  It was instead, when will Denver North’s Danny Bautista score a goal.  Bautista, who stayed in Denver to complete his senior year at Denver North after his family moved out of state, is leading the Vikings in scoring.  Coming into this second round game, Bautista had netted 24 goals of the Vikings 56 goals this season, including a hat trick in Denver North’s first round win a week earlier.  The other questions going into the game was, would Golden be able to hold Bautista down, and find the back of the net themselves.

The winner of this game would have a decent chance of making it to the final four and a potential championship game spot.  In the first half, Golden was able to hold down Bautista and the rest of the Vikings, but were unable to find the back of the net.  Going into halftime both teams were knotted at 0-0.  In the second half, it happened.  Bautista broke down the center of the field and was able to get past a defender and was one on one with the Golden goalkeeper.  Seconds later, he sailed the ball into the net for a Vikings goal.  For Golden, this deflated the team and they were not able to bounce back.  They had a nice chance to score, but a fantastic save by the Vikings senior goalkeeper Jorge Vega kept the Demons scoreless.  With a couple minutes left in the game, the Demons started playing for their lives, but every time they got the ball down field, Denver North was able to take control of the ball or clear it back down field.

The final whistle blew and Golden’s season was over.  Denver North moves on to face Ponderosa in the quarter finals.

Here is my 10 Shot from the game.

Photos are available to view and purchase at MaxPreps.