A return to the glory days.
That’s the objective of any sports program that’s been in rebuilding mode, and none more so in Carbondale than the Roaring Fork High School football program.
Several things are coming together for Roaring Fork to have a varsity football program this coming season, after a series of on-again, off-again restarts in recent years.
“It’s been 20 years, 2006, since Roaring Fork had a winning [varsity] record, and a playoff game,” said former Rams head coach and current assistant Tory Jensen.
That capped off a successful run of seasons under Jensen’s tutelage dating back to another rebuilding phase in the late 1990s, when the three Roaring Fork District high schools — Roaring Fork, Glenwood Springs and Basalt — had to combine for a single multi-school varsity team due to dwindling numbers.
Jensen ultimately went on to lead a talented group of Roaring Fork athletes to the Class 2A semifinals in 2003, with quarterfinals appearances in 2004 and 2005.
You’d have to go back to 1985, 1977 and 1973 for the last Roaring Fork football state championships.
But the history is there, and there’s good reason to believe the Rams can make a comeback, Jensen said.
For one thing, last year’s junior varsity squad was successful, and many of those players are expected to provide a solid nucleus to build upon for this year’s varsity program, he said.
Roaring Fork was required to play a junior varsity schedule last season in order to be eligible under Colorado High School Activities Association rules to field a varsity team this year.
“We have a core group of guys who are really good at football, and so our goal is to build some more players around them,” Jensen said.
Carbondale Middle School’s eighth grade team last season rostered more than 20 players and bodes well on the developmental side of things. But what Jensen and the Rams coaching staff would really like to see are some of the older high school students come back to a game they maybe played in elementary or middle school, but dropped in high school for whatever reason.
One important thing to note, Jensen said, is that high school football is safer now than it’s ever been.
“The perception of football is that it’s a dangerous sport,” he said. “You do have collisions, you do hit people, but you’re wearing equipment and it’s really no different than lacrosse, or hockey, or soccer, or mountain biking, or skiing, where you’re putting yourself at risk for an injury. We’ve all done it.”
The difference now with football is in the routine safeguards and training methods, including the use of Guardian caps on helmets during practices and when a player is on concussion protocol.
“We didn’t have one concussion last year, and we only had 15 guys so they were getting a ton of playing time and it’s not like they weren’t exposed,” Jensen said. “The players today know how to tackle, they know how to keep their heads out of the game, and the game is way safer now than it was when I coached before.”
It could be now or never to revive high school football in Carbondale, and Jensen believes a combination of recent football success at neighboring Basalt High School, and a large number of people in Carbondale who remember Roaring Fork’s glory days, is the catalyst.
“The place was packed for our home JV game last year against Delta,” Jensen said. “People were curious, and we won!”
Some of the players Jensen coached years ago are now parents of Roaring Fork students, as are non-football parents who remember when football was successful at the Fork, Jensen said.
“There’s a huge support system within the youth football structure up through middle school, but the problem is the tip of the spear hasn’t been there,” he said.
Another difference is that the Rams coaching staff, including head coach and former Rams player John Nielsen, aren’t parents of current players, so their motivation is different.
“We just want to see Roaring Fork and Carbondale have football back, and for these kids to have a meaningful experience that they can carry with them for life,” Jensen said.
Roaring Fork plays at the Class 1A level, rather than 2A, which the school’s enrollment would otherwise dictate.
“That gives us a group of teams in our league that we feel like we can be competitive with, and we’ve built our non-conference schedule to make sure we have teams on our same level,” Jensen said.
Roaring Fork is scheduled to open the varsity season at home on Friday, Aug. 21, against Gunnison, with a 7pm kickoff at Rams Field.
In the meantime, prospective players are invited to check out the summer conditioning sessions, including Monday throwing drills, Monday-Thursday weight room workouts at the high school, and seven-on-seven scrimmages every Wednesday evening at the district field behind Bridges High School.
Regular practices for football and all fall sports begin Monday, Aug. 3. For information, contact coach Nielsen at 970-309-9539.