As rain clouds moved in, Mitchell boys soccer handled business with a 10-0 shutout over Sierra. 

Tuesday’s contest at the Stallions’ home field ended just 10 minutes into the second half per Colorado High School Activities Association’s mercy rule. It was the Marauders’ third shutout and put them at 4-0, their best start in program history.

Last season, under then-first-year head coach Alex Dowdy, Mitchell advanced to the playoffs for the first time since 2017. With most of the team returning, the Marauders have grown stronger with a “family mentality” driving their success. 

“These guys have been working so incredibly hard,” Dowdy said. “I’m so grateful for them. They have been breaking all the limits that we’ve had in the past that felt like there were things that were holding us back. 
And so this year, we’re able to really do some good things.”

Some of the factors previously holding them back were a selfish mentality and cliques forming among the team. However, this year’s team couldn’t be more different. 

In fact, this year’s motto is “sin limites” or “without limits.”

“We just became a family,” senior Juan David Villegas Salazar said. “Everything is literally done as a family. We have not always been like that. We gotta stick together the whole season. Support everybody, the managers and everybody that helps us.” 

Salvador Hernandez Santaella, Mitchell’s top scorer this season with eight goals, says his favorite part of playing for the Marauders is his teammates. The senior moved from Venezuela two years ago and quickly found community with the close-knit team.  

“We’re family more than a soccer team,” Hernandez Santaella said. “Seeing each other every day, at school and out of school. That is friendship for me.”

The vision for Mitchell’s team formed years ago between assistant coach Dowdy and then-head coach Adam Palmer. They put the current seniors on the freshman team where they formed close friendships and eventually became the core of the varsity group. 

That chemistry was vital for Dowdy, who took on the challenge of rebuilding a team that lost several starters. In his first year as head coach, Mitchell recorded 68 goals last season and fell to Jefferson County in the first round of the 3A playoffs.  

“My first year was a completely brand-new group that came in, but they bought in together really fast and now we’re able to do incredible things as a group,” Dowdy said. “It’s nice to see good results and things coming from that hard work.”

“It just took a lot of vision, long years of planning to get to this point, but I think that just having the system put in place allowed us to be able to run with it this year.”

Since Dowdy stepped into the role as head coach, the team has emphasized showing up in the classroom as well as the soccer field and creating a culture of consistency. That culture has improved players’ grades. 

“Everybody helps each other do their work, stay on task,” junior Jose Canalles Portillo said. “During practice, everybody shows up, stays focused and works hard. If you’re not here, you get a text to come to practice.”

The Marauders’ success has increased support in the Mitchell community. Dowdy remembers the year when the team had no fans. Now, the team looks forward to excited fans at games and congratulatory comments in the hallways. 

The team has also worked on building relationships with the community by hosting summer camps for younger players. 

Despite the team’s success, Dowdy reminds the team that it hasn’t accomplished anything yet. The players are more connected than ever; now they need to continue winning together. 

“We may be scoring goals and winning games, but we have to be consistent across the entire season, not just in the beginning,” Dowdy said. “We have to think about what the next game is going to be, the next training session is, the next touches and then we’re just trying to get better across the board to ride this train of a season all the way to the very end.”