Roaring Fork High School’s homecoming week got off on the right foot — football, that is.
Playing only at the junior varsity level this season while in rebuilding mode, the Rams JV players got the Monday night spotlight, hosting Delta on the gridiron ahead of a student game of capture the flag that was part of Spirit Week.
It was a good one, as the Rams shut out the visiting Panthers 12-0, to move to 4-1 on the season.
After a scoreless first half, sophomore Blake Tardif busted through the Delta defense from inside the 5-yard line for a touchdown midway through the third quarter.
Late in the game, with only 18 seconds left to play, it was sophomore Tobin Vinciguerra who ran it in from inside the 20 for the Rams’ second touchdown. Both 2-point conversion attempts came up short.
What’s not coming up short, though, is perseverance for the young Rams team, head coach John Nielsen said.
“All we want to do is just maintain this season,” Nielsen said of a short-handed squad that only had two reserve players suited up on the sidelines on Monday.
“We could use a little bit more on the supporting roles, but these guys have proven themselves,” he said. “I couldn’t be more proud of these guys. They play their hearts out every single game, and they’ve come a long way from when we first started.”
The road back to becoming a varsity program is on the coaches, along with strong middle school and youth feeder programs.
“We’ve had kind of a coaching carousel for a while here, and we really need some consistency and stability in that,” Nielsen said. “The coaches have to prove themselves, and they also have to buy into the program, same as the players.”
Boys soccer
The state-ranked Rams boys soccer team stumbled on Tuesday night just up the road against 3A Western Slope League rival Basalt, 2-1.
Roaring Fork had come into the week with the No. 6 ranking in the state among 3A teams, but the loss drops them to 5-2-1 overall, and 2-1 in the 3A Western Slope League.
Games stats were not immediately available.
On Sept. 24, the Rams won 8-1 at home over Grand Junction, scoring three goals in the first half and five in the second. Goals were scored by juniors Oliver Shook and Cal Stone, who had two each, with one each coming from sophomore Alan Rodriguez, juniors Wesley Serrano, Cristian Turcios and senior Jason Clemente.
The Rams host their homecoming game at 6pm Thursday, Oct. 2, against Delta. Homecoming royalty will be honored at halftime.
Girls volleyball
After winning 3-1 at Olathe on Sept. 23 (22-25, 25-20, 25-19, 25-19), the Rams lost one at home Sept. 25 against Aspen, 3-1 (25-20, 16-25, 23-25, 15-25). The Skiers are now ranked among the top 10 3A teams in the state.
Roaring Fork stands at 4-10 overall, and 2-2 in the 3A Western Slope League, heading into their homecoming game Friday, Oct. 3 versus Gunnison, 6pm.
Cross country
Running at the Moffat County Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 20
Basalt senior Towler Scott was the overall winner with a time of 16:05.39. Roaring Fork sophomore Levi Friday, running for the combined Basalt-Roaring Fork team, was the second finisher for the Longhorns in 12th (18:05.68) and Roaring Fork sophomore Kaiden Werth was 34th (19:10.02).
For the girls, freshman Scarlett Jones was eighth in 20:48.38 and senior Addison Raymond was 12th (21:20.85). They were followed by a slew of Roaring Fork student-athletes, including junior Caroline Cole finishing 21st (22:32), freshman Maggie Cole in 32nd (23:12.17), sophomore Kinley Richmond in 35th (23:32.11) and junior Miley Stuart in 38th (23:49.7).