The O. Zone

Congrats to Cope and his 4A state champion Huskies

Congratulations to Battle Mountain coach David Cope and his 4A state champion Huskies soccer team, which beat top-ranked Palmer Ridge 4-2 in a snowy shootout in Commerce City on Saturday.

Cope’s team went 20-0 in his 20th season at the helm. What a great victory for a great coach and a great bunch of kids.

The Huskies were getting some statewide love Sunday morning in the Denver Post and on 9News, including Roberto Diaz being named the Student Athlete of the Week for his 3.14 GPA. That’s key, because state titles are hard to come by at Battle Mountain, but a quality education carries on throughout life.

David Cope

According to the Vail Daily’s Chris Freud, Saturday’s state title was just the sixth non-skiing championship for the Huskies and the first since a cross-country track title in 2007.

Heivan Garcia netted the title-clinching penalty kick, and Christian Espinoza once again was solid in goal, according to Freud, who did good job covering the action for those of us who couldn’t be there.

When I first came to the Vail Valley in 1991 it was as the Vail Daily’s sports editors. Cope made covering the Huskies fun in the early 1990s, and he has remained a rock of coaching integrity the past two decades, teaching his kids to give back by volunteering for the Vail Recreation District’s micro-soccer program.

All three of my boys have enjoyed that program, and although my oldest never really caught the soccer bug (he plays football and basketball for the 7th-grade teams at Homestake Peak and is truly obsessed with baseball), I’m hoping my youngest takes his love for the beautiful game next level and winds up one day being coached by Cope. He’s truly a Vail Valley institution.

So congrats again to the Huskies, even greater admiration for all of our veterans on this snowy Veterans Day, and way to go Snow Gods. Looks like Vail will at least look somewhat white on opening day next week.