COMMERCE CITY — As if Cole Wearner was preparing for one of those pro-style champagne celebration following his overtime winner in the Class 5A boys soccer final — well, maybe sparkling apple cider in his case — Cherry Creek’s latest sports hero took his post-championship interviews with a pair of ski goggles wrapped around his head.
The senior had already tossed aside his jersey after his 93rd-minute goal sent the Bruins past Broomfield, 2-1, on Saturday at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. And shortly after that, he was signing some autographs for some starry-eyed young kids. Ink for them and gold for Cherry Creek.
The moment wouldn’t have been possible if not for his twin brother Reed, who assisted his winner in the two’s final high school game.
“Any win would have been perfect but it’s great that it went from one brother to another,” said Reed as his brother Cole continued to be mobbed by adoring fans. “It’s even more perfect.”
A Wearner Brothers production: Reed had the ball around midfield when he saw his brother with an opening. Doing his best impersonation of a quarterback, he floated a pass so accurately into the box that it hit Cole in the numbers.
From the right, Cole took the pass off his chest, deked a defender before going over Broomfield keeper Evan Kulstad’s head with a picturesque shot into the top of the net.
“Since we’ve played together forever, I knew if he got the ball and I raised my hand he’d get me the ball,” Cole said. “And it was a perfect ball.”
The winning setup had been much longer.
Back to regulation, time was running out with the Bruins down a goal. They had their chances against the superb Kulstad, who jumped and dove, time and time again turning them away. They just needed to finish, and when Owen Lamphear drew a penalty in the box in the 73rd, they found their opening.
Austin Hall scored the ensuing penalty kick with 7:45 remaining. The senior went to his right and away from Kulstad, who guessed wrong, sprawling out the other way.
Hall’s goal put a halt on Broomfield’s quest to add to its revered collection of titles in the sport. The Eagles won their state-most ninth boys’ soccer title last year but couldn’t close for No. 10.
Instead, Cherry Creek won for the first time since 2010, its seventh in program history. That ties the Bruins with Colorado Academy for second-most in the state.
“Obviously right now, it’s incredibly disappointing I feel like the boys —,” Broomfield coach Zachary Hindman said before taking a pause. “It’s disappointing right now.”
Adding, “When we look back on the season as a whole, we’ll be proud of it. But in the moment, right now, it’s really hard.”
Not long before, the Eagles were in the driver’s seat to win their sixth 5A title in 11 years.
In the 44th, they went ahead as Hayes Baucom gave up a good look to feed Adam Thresher for a better one.
It was the kind of unselfish play Broomfield loves. Baucom caught up to a through ball and got a step on the defense, entering the box from the left. That forced Cherry Creek goalkeeper Sullivan Arledge to push up and contest, leaving Thresher, trailing a few steps behind, with an open net in front of him.
The cross in the box was pure and Thresher finished, giving him a goal in four of the Eagles’ five postseason games.
“We all play for each other. We’re a band of brothers,” Thresher said. “At the end of the day, we want to win for the person to our right and the person to our left. But sometimes that doesn’t happen. Like today.”
(Eric Brown)
