No matter if you call it the 3A Intermountain League, as the Colorado High School Activities Association did in its preseason boys' soccer information bulletin, or still refer to it as the 3A Southwestern as many in the loop still do, you couldn't always call it the friendliest environment for a program trying to find itself.
And given the perennial level of play dictated by powers like Crested Butte Community School, Telluride, Ridgway - each dedicated every fall to the sport, rather than the prevailing gridiron game not offered at the schools - it's still anything but a cakewalk.
Chris Zoltowski knew this, and yet achieved something more than what showed in the circuit's standings:
He convinced a long-underestimated team to embrace that toughness, and become part of it.
Blessed with a roster returning several veterans from some of the most trying seasons in Bayfield Soccer annals, but minus a few others, the first-year head coach - along with first-year assistant Zac Keeler - motivated the Wolverines to a 3-6-3 league mark and a 4-7-4 overall record in 2016, and was voted Coach-of-the-Year.
"You know, it's special, especially in my first year," Zoltowski said. "My main goal for the program was for them just to get recognized and respected. You have some guys who put four years in - like Finlay - that struggle all three years and then finally get a reward, and to me that means more than the award itself."
One of BHS' co-captains and probably Zoltowski's most prominent on-pitch extension, senior Finlay Marshall scored 11 goals, notched six assists and was an easy First Team All-League selection, along with CBCS seniors Merlin Mapes, Patrick Seifert and Josh Pruett, RHS senior Johnathan Zaugg and freshman Robert Beserra, THS seniors Connor Hazen and Gus Zemke, Alamosa sophomores Jose Mateo Andres and Darrin Rodriguez, and Pagosa Springs senior Maverick Miller.
Player-of-the-Year went to Telluride senior forward Fabio Oliveira, who netted 24 goals and aided on another 11 for the Miners.
Goalkeeper of the year was bestowed upon Bayfield's Austin Bushnell.
"Austin deserved that without a doubt," Zoltowski stated of the senior, who posted a 1.8 goals-against average this season and was definitely one of the league's most acrobatic netminders.
"He's got that leadership presence about him, that commanding presence, that when he's on the field he can control the back line. And he did really good this year with his motivation, his body language - he's improved so much over the course of the year, and I think he really deserved this."
Finally, credited with two goals and four helpers in '16, junior Colton Fine was steady in the midfield, always around to bolster the Wolverines' defense, and received Second Team All-League distinction.
"I like to consider Colton the quiet professional," Zoltowski said. "He's the one that gets the job done, you can count on him every time to get the job done, and he doesn't talk about it. On the field, if you look his way, no matter where the ball is he's focused, locked in on the game, and he's always running!"
