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Huskies rout Demons

Battle Mountain soccer dumps a Gatorade bucket of water on David Cope, center, to celebrate his 200th win as the boys head coach at the school after the Huskies beat Glenwood Springs, 6-0, Thursday in Edwards.
Dominique Taylor | dtaylor@vaildaily.com |

EDWARDS — Battle Mountain soccer produced a lot of big numbers in its 6-0 win over Glenwood Springs on Thursday evening in Edwards, but the biggest one was 200.

Thursday’s victory was the 200th for Battle Mountain’s David Cope as the head of the school’s boys’ soccer program. As the final seconds ticked off, Cope instructed his players to run out to greet the fans who had stuck out a very rainy second half.

The coach dutifully led the charge toward the grandstands as time expired and the players followed him with a Gatorade bucket of water and tossed it on him in celebration.



“It means you’re old,” Cope, 47, joked, as he was trying to dry out in the locker room. “It means someone has seen fit to keep you around. And it means you live in a great place for the culture of the sport. … There’s a great culture of soccer coming through here from the Vail Valley Soccer Club and the Youth Foundation, in particular. And we feel like we do a good job of developing the players.”

The final element of that list was on display Thursday as Battle Mountain senior Alexis Robles netted a hat trick in the first 24 minutes of the game. He is the latest in the Huskies’ program to come from the JV ranks and fit like a glove with the big club.

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Battle Mountain’s Roberto Diaz, one of the holdovers from last year’s state-title team, assisted on the first two to Robles and finished the evening with one goal and four assists.

“It’s amazing. We work as a team every time,” Diaz said. “I just want to win. Since I was like 10, I’ve been playing with Alexis.”

The Huskies’ Brandon Osorio chipped one over Glenwood keeper Shane Pittenger and Battle Mountain’s Pedro Hernandez scored by the 29th minute, and this one was over.

“The first half was as well as we played all year,” Cope said. “It was superb. We were scoring goals exactly the way we try to score goals and the way Battle Mountain plays. Robles, the shot from outside the box, we were working on that skill yesterday. The balls that we cut back (along the line), Diaz was on fire. And Brandon Osorio dominated the middle of the field.”

Battle Mountain did work the width of the field nicely and used the end line for four of their six tallies. The Huskies also implemented work from training on scoring from outside the box on strikes by Robles and Diaz.

The Huskies moved to 4-0 overall and 3-0 in the 4A Western Slope with the win. Glenwood Springs is 1-2 on both counts.

“I think we’re in the top-five (in the league),” Demons coach Steve White said. “I don’t think that this score line is an indication of how we can play. I really congratulate Dave on his number of wins. (Battle Mountain) is a good team. I’m glad to see them come off a state championship and have such a strong performance with their younger kids. Our team has been playing in 6-inch grass. It’s a whole different world out here on this turf. I’m not upset with our boys. I just want them to understand that they’re a better team than they allowed themselves to be tonight, and they got beat by a good team.”

The Demons are at Grand Junction at 1 p.m. on Saturday, while the Huskies are at Delta at 11 a.m.

Sports Editor Chris Freud can be reached at 970-748-2934 and cfreud@vaildaily.com.


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