Rex Keep/Courtesy photo
The last time Cheyenne Mountain came to town on Sept. 30, 2011, Battle Mountain had to rally from an 0-2 deficit. As the Huskies nursed a one-goal lead late in the second half, Christian Nichols — whose main sport was lacrosse — sat at the end of the bench with his shoes off, sharing Takis with a teammate. Suddenly, the student section started chanting his name.
Head coach Dave Cope strolled down the sideline and told the senior to check in.
“He subbed on and wouldn’t you know it, the ball falls to him in the box and he scores,” Cope said. “I think he ran straight over to the crowd and never came back.”
After a two-week layoff, Battle Mountain returns to its home pitch Friday night at 6 p.m. to host the No. 10-ranked Red-Tailed Hawks. The Huskies’ Sept. 10 rivalry game at Eagle Valley was canceled after a swatting incident at the school. Wednesday’s scheduled game against Summit was called off because of a bomb threat at Battle Mountain. Contemplating the nature of the cancellations has Cope hoping high school memories like Nichols’ aren’t becoming a thing of the past.
“You just want to see those same processes that have been going on in American communities for decades. Whether it’s the high school musical or a football or soccer game,” he said. “Evil is a strong word, but when you’re disrupting kids’ education and their ability to be together — that’s evil.”
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The Eagle Valley match — which has been rescheduled for Oct. 22 — was canceled because several players did not attend school for safety reasons and thus were ineligible to play later that evening.
“I think the feeling was just that we wouldn’t have the integrity of the game,” said Cope said, who didn’t find out about Wednesday’s bomb threat until students were walking out of school. He said the decision was made early on to cancel all activities to keep people out of the buildings as they were cleared. The property was deemed safe at 3 p.m.
“Away teams would have already had to leave,” Cope explained. “There was a lot of moving parts, so the decision was made to leave it as a cancellation.”
Cope said his athletes have been “resilient” in rolling with the sudden scheduling changes. The team’s internal communications have stressed the importance of community. Cope, a longtime Battle Mountain social studies teacher, has encouraged players to make efforts to connect with isolated classmates. On the pitch, the coach has been pleasantly surprised to see his athletes buck the commonly held principle that high school athletes love games while only coaches love practices.
“I have to give them a lot of credit because over the last couple of weeks they’ve focused,” he said. “They’ve kept themselves engaged and worked hard. I think we’re a better team today than we were a week ago Monday.”
The Huskies are 2-3 so far this year, with a pair of losses coming to 5A teams in No. 2 Northfield and Denver East. They also fell to 4A No. 2 Centaurus 2-0 in their last game on Sept. 7. Even in the losses, Cope sees players absorbing the Front Range teams’ “speed of play, competitiveness and physical nature.”
“That’s the reason we schedule these games,” Cope said. “The one thing we’ve taken from all these games is that we can compete with these teams. We haven’t gotten blown out in any games, but yet, we’re still looking for that signature victory. … Friday’s a huge game.”
Its importance, however, isn’t tied solely to RPI ranking ramifications.
“What makes us powerful is when we come together, and it’s sad to me when things happen that disrupt that,” Cope said. “That’s why we invite everyone to come over. We have to not let the evil forces win. Hopefully, we can all rally together and rise above it.”
