FARMER'S KORNER - For the record, the Huskies' Alex Trujillo had the

goal that clinched Battle Mountain soccer's third-straight 4A Western

Slope title. But it was Roberto Diaz's goal late that made the hoodies

official in the Huskies' 2-0 win over Summit County at Climax

Molybdenum Field at Tiger Stadium Monday night.

"When Heivan passed it to me, it was like, 'Oh, my God,'" Diaz said.

"'That is mine.'"

The junior had been sprung by Heivan Garcia and buried it past Summit

keeper Noah Glasco in the 66th minute to put the Huskies in the

winner's circle again.

Battle Mountain is 12-0, and, more importantly, 10-0 in league and owns

the season sweep of the Tigers, and the accompanying tiebreaker, which

made Monday the clincher. (The Huskies downed Summit, 3-1, last month

in Edwards.)

"It feel great winning the league," Trujillo said. "... It feels great.

(Summit's) a competitive team. They stuck together the whole time. They

kept their composure and it's a good victory. I hope they go far in the

playoffs."

This is Battle Mountain's seventh title in nine years, dating back to

2004. It also continues the squad's streak of 15 consecutive postseason

appearances, which goes back into ancient days when Battle Mountain was

a 3A school and there was no such thing as texting on things called

cell phones.

"This season didn't begin in August. It began a long time ago," said

Huskies coach David Cope, who has led the program since 1993.

"Tonight's game didn't begin at six 'o clock. It began a long time ago.

These guys are a product of an environment that they come into as

freshmen that has high expectations. This senior class enjoys playing

for each other. They play a lot together. They come through a blizzard

and play in gym at nine 'o clock in January."

And, it's added up to a lot of success. Battle Mountain holds the No. 2

spot in The Denver Post poll, behind Broomfield and ahead of Evergreen,

a team that has eliminated the Huskies three consecutive years in the

state playoffs.

Battle Mountain's job, with the Slope done, is to run the table in the

next three games.

"Now, you're playing for seed," Cope said. "Every Monday, that list

comes out (on The Denver Post), and you want to be in the discussion.

We want to be in the conversation for the top four. We have to hold

serve."

That starts at Rifle Thursday and at Basalt Saturday. Both are tight

fields, which was something the Huskies had to contend with Monday

night up in Summit. Tiger Stadium's pitch is just 63 yards wide, as

compared to the Huskies' roomy 80-yard-wide home field in Edwards.

And though Battle Mountain controlled the game from start to finish,

the tight quarters were still an issue.

Trujillo gave the Huskies a 1-0 lead in the eighth minute.

"I tried cross it," Trujillo said. "I hit the (Summit) guy and it got

in the net. I assist a lot, so it's nice, once in a while to score a

goal."

And well deserved for Trujillo, who had six goals and 13 assists coming

into Monday night's game.

The Huskies peppered the net from there, but could not find the goal

which would put away Summit.

"I think what we needed was a game like this," Cope said. "We needed a

test, a physical battle. We needed a game that went late and we reacted

well to all the situations."

A different situation was certainly midway through the second half when

Cope, not normally a coach to sit on a lead, pulled Diaz back on

defense, abandoning the Huskies' traditional 3-5-2 for a 4-4-2.

Ironically, it was Diaz who went forward on a free kick and ended up

with the insurance goal.

"Never gets old," Cope said.