A weather-shortened home opener for the Roaring Fork High School boys soccer team on Friday, Aug. 23, ended in a 1-0 loss to the defending 2A state champion Crested Butte Titans.
The visitors kept the Rams out of the net despite several chances, and scored late in the first half as a large thunderstorm started to blow into Carbondale.
“We dominated possession but couldn’t finish our chances, and they were dangerous on the counterattack,” veteran Roaring Fork coach Nick Forbes said Monday in reflecting on the game.
Play was called for lightning by the officials about 10 minutes into the second half, saddling the Rams with the loss.
“I think we would have got a goal with the chances we were creating if we had been able to play the last 30 minutes,” a confident Forbes said.
As it stands, the game will serve as a tune-up for the 3A Western Slope League opener at Basalt High School on Sept. 5.
The Rams have two games on the road, including a Sept. 12 date at Rifle, before returning to the home field Sept. 19 versus new league opponent Steamboat Springs, which dropped down from the 4A ranks to 3A this year.
Volleyball
The Roaring Fork girls volleyball team started its season at the Glenwood Springs Demon Invite on Aug. 23-24. The Rams dropped a pair of games on Friday to Meeker and Pagosa Springs, both by a score of 2 sets to 1 in the short-game tournament format.
The Saturday slate started with a 2-1 win over 3A Western Slope League opponent Rifle, before the Rams fell to the host Glenwood Demons 2-0.
“We had a productive weekend,” longtime coach Karen Crownhart said. “We have a lot of potential and a lot of amazing moments; just working on putting all the pieces together.”
The Rams were at Vail Mountain on Wednesday and are slated for their home opener at 6pm Friday against Steamboat Springs.
Football preview
Roaring Fork’s renewed varsity football program has yet to play a game, but opens on the road Friday at Ellicott. The Rams have their home opener against Yuma on Sept. 6. Kickoff is set for 6pm.
Longhorn Invitational XC
Carbondale was represented by several runners, including two middle school teams, at the Basalt Longhorn Cross Country Invitational on Aug. 24 at Crown Mountain Park in El Jebel.
Basalt High School junior Towler Scott won the boys 5-kilometer race with a time of 16 minutes, 54.46 seconds, well ahead of Soroco’s Nick Clark (17:38.93). The Coal Ridge boys won the team competition, placing four runners in the top six to outpace Glenwood Springs with a low score (based on runner placement) of 31 to Glenwood’s 54.
The host Basalt girls won the team title with 38 points, with senior Izzy Moon of Marble placing sixth overall in 21:34.45, and Carbondale’s Caroline Cole, a Roaring Fork junior, right behind in seventh (21:36.83).
Basalt junior Addison Raymond was 10th (22:22.99) and senior Ana Cabrera was 11th (22:23.04) for the Longhorns, and Roaring Fork senior Morgan Fink was 14th (22:41.05).
In the 2500-meter combined middle school race, Ross Montessori and Carbondale Middle School (CMS) had a strong showing.
Ross runners Henry Sanders and Finnegan Buckley went 1-2 among the boys with times of 10:35.97 and 10:47.09, respectively. Joey Steele was 16th at 12:10.24. CMS runners Cooper Hunt (10:52.96), Frankie Sanzaro (10:56.76) and Henry Bailey (10:57.73) finished 3-4-5. Ross’s Tillie Vickers was the top girl, taking sixth overall in 11:09.49. Maggie Cole took eighth (11:30.91), Rae Vickers, 12th (11:57.85), Camellia Lynch, 17th (12:11.31) and Camille Moore, 20th (12:37.48), rounded out the top 20 finishers for Ross. CMS runner Fiona Gaddis was 18th (12:29.21), and Elora Canchola was 23rd (12:54.21).