When everything is falling apart around him, Greg Borchers appears to be a portrait of serenity.

Underneath that calm demeanor, though, Borchers admits he is a bundle of nerves.

Don't tell that to Peter Chandler, his soccer coach at Peak to Peak. Chandler believes Borchers is at his best when the stakes are at their highest.

"He's a very poised player when he's under pressure," said Chandler, whose Pumas enter the season ranked No. 1 in Class 3A. "Some players falter when you put pressure on them. Not Greg. He rises to the occasion."

Chandler thinks so much of Borchers' composure that he put him in goal during the final 10 minutes of the 3A state championship game two seasons ago after Peak to Peak's regular keeper, Tyler Webber, suffered a concussion and had to be taken out of the game. Chandler did this despite the fact that Borchers, who was a sophomore at the time, never had played goalie in his high school career.

"I thought he was kidding when he told me to go into goal," said Borchers, the Pumas sweeper. "I didn't even put on gloves. I thought I'd be moving back to the field and that our goalie would be back."

Webber didn't return, and Borchers played the rest of the way in net and made some key stops to preserve a 1-0 win against Faith Christian.

"People tell me I made five saves, but I don't believe them," Borchers said. "I think I only had to make two or three."

Whatever the number, it proved that Borchers can come through in the clutch. He did it again during the winter season that school year, helping the Pumas to the state hockey championship. Borchers once again was in goal, but this time it was his regular position.

"I tell people the best 15 minutes of your life is right after winning a state championship," Borchers said. "I was fortunate to experience it twice as a sophomore."

Borchers, now a senior, returns, along with fellow all-state selection Tyler Corley, to give the Pumas one of the strongest defenses in 3A.

While some people tell Borchers hockey and soccer are an odd combination for an athlete, he believes the two sports complement each other.

"I think they're similar in a lot of ways," Borchers said. "Hockey moves so fast that when I get on the soccer field, everything slows down. I'm able to see the game better because I play hockey."

Soccer remains Borchers' No. 1 sport and he plays club ball during the summer. He said he hopes to be able to play in college, but right now he is focused on helping get the Pumas back to the 3A championship game. He said that failing to repeat in soccer and hockey last season has Peak to Peak hungry to experience championship glory once again.

"We fell short last year, so that makes us desire it so much more," Borchers said.

NOTEBOOK

• The Metro League unquestionably is the best in the classification, having produced eight of the past 10 champions. In the past four years, 75 percent of the teams to reach the semifinals, and a good portion of the quarterfinalists, have come from the Metro.

It will be harder for Metro teams to reach the postseason in 2007, though, as the league is allowed only four playoff teams. Last year, five teams from the league qualified. The South division picks up the extra qualifier, going from three to four.

What that means is, there will be several really good teams, squads usually capable of making a deep run in the playoff, sitting at home.

"It's always been a battle to make it out of the Metro. Now it's more brutal than ever," Kent Denver coach Arty Smith said.

Smith believes his Sun Devils will be one of the teams battling for that fourth playoff spot, and he knows they probably will have to knock off some highly ranked teams to get to the postseason.

"Scheduling plays a factor more than ever now," Smith said. "We have Colorado Academy and Denver Christian on the road this year, and we'll have to win one or both of those games to make it to the playoffs."

• No team might have been hit as hard by graduation than defending state champion Faith Christian. The Eagles bring back only two starters (defenders Isaac Cowles and Kyle Carstens) and three letter winners overall.

Faith Christian also welcomes a new coach, Chad Lynch, after Will Lind stepped down after the completion of the girls season in the spring.

Lind, the head coach for four seasons, led the Faith Christian boys to state titles in 2003 and 2006 and to the championship match two other times. His girls team won the championship in 2005.

• Peak to Peak enters the season ranked No. 1, but the Pumas have some question marks. Coach Peter Chandler expected to have three all-state players to build around in keeper Tyler Webber and defenders Greg Borchers and Tyler Corley, but Webber transferred to Fairview.

The job of keeping balls out of the back of the net now falls to sophomore Trevor Shepard. So far, Chandler likes what he has seen.

"He has good fundamentals," Chandler said of Shepard. "In our intrasquad scrimmage, Tyler Corley came up and took a shot from 25 yards out that was headed right inside the post. Shepard was able to go horizontal to stop. It was very impressive."

• After putting together an impressive run to get to the 2006 semifinals, Aspen is reloading after 12 players graduated. Still, Skiers coach Grant Sutherland expects his team to remain competitive.

"We're going to be a pretty young team," Sutherland said. "We obviously won't be as strong as we were last year, but we should still be able to compete in our conference."

• It could get pretty crowded in the Pagosa Springs goal, as Pirates coach Lindsey Kurt-Mason said he has five viable keepers this season. One of them, senior Mike Schmidt, also will see action at forward.

Kurt-Mason is excited about the prospects this season, although the Pirates will have their hands full in league play with Telluride and Crested Butte.

"We should be pretty stout on defense," Kurt-Mason said. "We have high hopes. We think we can win league and then be a factor in the playoffs."

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