The thrill of victory to open the season just a week prior quickly gave way to the agony of defeat at home for the Roaring Fork High School football team.
After winning their first varsity game in two years at Ellicott on Aug. 30, the Roaring Fork boys were outsized against a well-prepared Yuma team on Friday, Sept. 6 at Rams Field.
The Outlaws shut down the Rams’ top players early on, and scored off several turnovers by the home team to take a 28-0 lead late in the first half.
Roaring Fork’s big highlight came when junior quarterback Kenny Riley connected with senior Hunter Noll for a 41-yard completion to the right sideline, and then found his leading receiver again from 10 yards out to earn the Rams’ only touchdown. Junior Elli Norris was good on the extra point to make it 28-7 going into the locker room.
But more turnovers (Riley threw five interceptions on the night), led to three more touchdowns by Yuma in the third quarter, as the Outlaws rolled to a 50-7 win.
Noll reeled in seven catches for 157 yards for the Rams, and junior Donny Read rushed for 62 yards, including a long of 15 yards.
“Yuma clearly game-planned to take our top players out of the game as much as possible,” Rams head coach Scott Noll said. “They were a tough team and outplayed us on both sides of the ball.”
Roaring Fork (1-1) now prepares to host Del Norte (0-1) from the Class 1A South Central League for a home game at 1pm Saturday, Sept. 14.
“Our boys will need to do better,” Noll said of the upcoming slate of games that includes a road game at Prospect Ridge Academy on Sept. 21, and the Rams Homecoming game on Oct. 4 (7pm) versus Grand Valley to open 1A Western Slope League play.
Volleyball
In their only action this past week, the Roaring Fork girls volleyball team dropped a four-set decision to Basalt at home on Thursday, Sept. 5.
After a convincing 25-12 first set win, the Rams kept it close but ended up on the losing end of the next three sets, 23-25, 21-25 and 22-25, to take the loss. Junior Yakelin Nunez Hernandez had 15 kills on the night and freshman Clover Hansen had 11, while seniors Erica and Carley Crownhart had 19 digs and 25 assists, respectively.
Next up, the Rams (2-5) host Grand Junction at 6:30pm this Thursday, Sept. 12, and play Coal Ridge at home to open the 3A Western Slope League season at 6:30pm Sept. 19.
Soccer
Roaring Fork’s boys picked up a 7-0 non-league win at Basalt on Thursday, Sept. 5, scoring three goals in the first half and four in the second, to improve to 1-1 on the season.
Goals came from junior Delano Crooks (3), senior Fernando Rodrigues-Candela (2), and one each from seniors Emiliano Galindo and Phillipe Huang.
Next up, the Rams are on the road at Rifle this Thursday, Sept. 12, and are back home against Steamboat Springs on Sept. 17.
Cross Country
Competing at the Eagle Valley XC Invitational, several local runners scored top-25 finishes in their respective races.
Basalt junior Towler Scott of the combined Basalt/Roaring Fork high school team was fifth overall and the top 3A finisher, covering the 5-kilometer grass course in 17 minutes, 1.3 seconds.
In the varsity girls race, senior Izzy Moon from Marble was the top finisher for Basalt in 18th place (21:54.4).
And, in the middle school division, Carbondale’s Ross Montessori School was well-represented. Top-25 finishers were Henry Sanders in the boys 2K race (22nd, 12:40), and in the girls race, Ayla Klein (13th, 13:58.5), Maggie Cole (15th, 14:10), Rae Vickers (19th, 14:30.3), Camille Moore (24th, 14:57.5), and Camellia Lynch (25th, 14:58.4).