Horvath Mehlbach Classic honors Jeffco soccer coaching greats from Columbine & Chatfield

LAKEWOOD — The inaugural Horvath Mehlbach Classic was an instant classic and a huge success Tuesday night at Lakewood Memorial Field.

Longtime soccer coach in Jeffco and current Columbine coach Paul Moline wanted to put a new twist on the long standing boys soccer rivalry between Chatfield and Columbine. The Class 5A Jeffco League showdown between the South Jeffco rivals is now named the Horvath Mehlbach Classic.

“It was a win no matter what. It was a fun night,” Moline said after the 2-2 tie in front of an estimated 500 fans. “It was a way to honor two great people. I think they really appreciated it with their families and we had alumi come back. Hopefully it is double in crowd size next year. It was what we wanted.”

Peter Horvath was a longtime coach at Columbine and a member of the Jeffco Athletic Hall of Fame. Peter Mehlbach spent time at Chatfield, along with a few other Jeffco schools during his 30-plus years of coaching soccer.

“It has been Paul’s brain child for a while. Paul was my coach when I was at Chatfield,” said Chatfield coach Glen Goodner, who is a Chatfield graduate. “Him and I go way, way back. We know how special this rivalry is. We know how big it used to be and what it can be like. We wanted to recapture that.”

Chatfield (3-4-3, 0-2-1 in 5A Jeffco) was able to capture a 1-0 lead at halftime against Columbine (6-2-2, 0-0-2). Sophomore Conlan Preikschat headed in a corner kick in the final minute of the first half to give the Chargers the lead.

Columbine answered in the second half with goals from sophomore Jace Johnson (50 minute) and junior Connor Quintana (67th minute). It looked like the Rebels would be coming home with the Horvath Mehlbach Classic trophy, but Chatfield senior Noah Gallegos rifled a hard low shot into the back of the net in the 78th minute to tie the game at 2-2.

“The energy was amazing,” Chatfield senior captain Luke Tritsch said. “We had such a good turnout. Every single player was ready and it motivated us so much. We played so good with all the fans.”

While the game officially ended in a 2-2 tie. Moline and Goodner had agreed to have a shootout if the game ended in a tie so a team could stake claim to the trophy.

Junior Ryder Buhl, senior Braydon Decker and Tritsch all made their penalty kicks to give the Chargers the 3-1 win in penalty kicks.

“This will help us a lot,” Tritsch said of Chatfield ending a 3-game losing streak. “It is going to be a great rest of the season. I hope to make playoffs this season.”

Chatfield has a non-league game against Monarch back at Lakewood Memorial Field on Wednesday, Oct. 1. The Chargers close out league play against Arvada West and Valor Christian.

“Always proud to be apart of the team, the program and the rivalry,” Goodner said. “I think everything that we wanted to accomplish tonight in putting this game together showed. A tie was great for us against a very good team. To win in the penalty kicks was special. Those guys will remember that and that is what we wanted out of this game.”

Columbine will try to get its first win in conference play after back-to-back ties when the Rebels host A-West on Friday, Oct. 3, at Lakewood Memorial Field.

“This year in Jeffco it’s Ralston Valley and a bunch of teams chasing Ralston and trying to figure out how to beat that team,” said Moline, who’s Rebels will get their chance against the league-leading Mustangs on Oct. 14 at the North Area Athletic Complex.

Moline was glad to hear how much the renewed South Jeffco rivalry game met to his players after the tie and shootout loss.

“The first thing one of my captains said to me after the game was, ‘We are winning that trophy next year,’” Moline said. “I said, ‘That’s what this is about.’ That is so cool.”