With the start of the new school year comes the beginning of the high school fall sports season, and the Rams of Carbondale’s Roaring Fork High are raring to go.
Two RFHS teams had away games on the slate this week to open things up, with the girls volleyball team overcoming Grand Junction on Tuesday (3-1), and the boys soccer team at Crested Butte on Wednesday (score not available by press time).
Here’s a brief season preview and update for the primary fall sports teams at Roaring Fork:
FOOTBALL
Coach: Eric Bollock, 4th season
Last year’s varsity record: 2-7 (6th 1A League 1 at 1-5)
Home and season opener: Sept. 11 vs. Basalt, 4pm
JV League games: Parachute (away Sept. 18), Hotchkiss (home Sept. 25), Meeker (away Oct. 9)
Roaring Fork High School football made the difficult decision this week to drop its varsity program this fall, due to low roster numbers, and to play a junior varsity slate of games only.
“Numbers, and safety,” Athletic Director Crista Barlow said of the decision. “You can’t throw freshmen on the line against a bunch of seniors on the other side. There just wasn’t enough depth.”
The decision comes after fourth-year coach Eric Bollock had worked hard to build the program back up over the past three seasons at the varsity level, but playing at the smaller-school 1A classification.
The Rams had dropped to the junior varsity level during the 2018 and 2019 seasons, after a strikeout season in the 2A classification in 2017. They returned to the varsity level in the shortened, one-off 2021 spring season that was played during the COVID-19 pandemic. They had some success that fall, winning one game and then upping the notches in the “W” column to two games during the 2022 season, going 2-7 overall and 1-5 in the 1A League 1.
Earlier this week, Bollock was hopeful that things would work out for a core group of upperclassmen to play their final season in a Rams uniform.
Instead, those players, including his son and three-year starting quarterback, Max, will be given the choice to play football for one of the other district high schools — either Basalt, which has become a powerhouse in the 2A ranks in recent years, or Glenwood Springs, which plays in the 3A classification.
Some other Western Slope teams have also dropped their varsity programs this season, including Olathe, which had played with Roaring Fork in the 1A classification, and 3A Battle Mountain High School in Edwards, which had to suspend its varsity schedule mid-season last year due to injuries and low numbers.
SOCCER
Coach: Nick Forbes, 13th season; assistants, Rod Woelfie and Jeff Mohsenin
Last year’s record: 15-3 (2nd, 3A/2A Western Slope League at 7-1)
Outcome: lost in the Class 3A state semifinals to Liberty Common, 3-0
Key returning players: seniors: Foster Hayes, Jacob Barlow, Eli Cohen, Josh Hernandez, Bennett Jardine, Gabriel Salas; juniors: Fernando Rodrigues, Sam Brennan
Home opener: Sept. 7 vs. Gunnison, 4pm
League games: Rifle (away Aug. 29), Gunnison (home Sept. 7), Coal Ridge (home Sept. 14), Vail Mountain (away Sept. 21), Basalt (home Sept. 26), Delta (away Oct. 3), Aspen (away Oct. 12), Moffat County (home Oct. 19)
Just two years removed from the program’s first-ever state championship, veteran coach Nick Forbes sees lots of the same characteristics from that year in this season’s group of Rams.
“This team is really motivated,” Forbes said of a team that features several starters from Iast season. “They’re motivated to win and they work hard on their own, and they’re eager to show what they can do.
“Obviously, we had a pretty good year a couple years ago, and we’re kind of trying to emulate that and see if we can get back there. I think we’ve got all the tools we need here to go pretty far.”
Photo by John Stroud
VOLLEYBALL
Coach: Karen Crownhart, 6th season; assistant Madilyn Kuhl
Last year’s record: 15-10 (3rd 3A Western Slope League at 4-3)
Key returning players: seniors: Ruby Denning, Fernanda Ruiz, Nora Lindgren; juniors: Carley Crownhart, Erica Crownhart, Elizabeth Fullerton, Maddie Anderson; sophomores: Nikki Tardif, Yakelin Nunez Hernandez
Home opener: Sept. 6 vs. Basalt, 6:30pm
League games: Basalt (home Sept. 6, and away Oct. 5), Aspen (home Sept. 14, and away Oct. 17)), Delta (away Sept. 19), Gunnison (home Sept. 21), Coal Ridge (home Sept. 25), Rifle (away Oct. 10), Moffat County (away Oct. 21)
Roaring Fork looks to build on a strong season last year, which saw a young Rams team stay competitive in a tough Class 3A Western Slope League that was dominated by Delta and another up-and-coming team, Rifle.
With some more experience on the floor and about half the rotation back as juniors and seniors, veteran coach Karen Crownhart likes what she’s seen so far in practice, including a bigger, more-experienced front line.
“We’ll have much more of an offensive attack this year, which is really nice,” she said. “My teams have always been more defensive-oriented, and we work really hard to dig the balls off the floor and we’re pretty scrappy. So, this year I feel like we will be pretty balanced all the way across the net, with a more aggressive offense than we’ve had.”
In her sixth year as coach now, this will also be the first time Crownhart has coached a team all the way through four years of high school.
“One of my loves as a coach is to teach the whole game, and not just a position, where they all can play all the spots,” she said.
That comes with time on the court.
“It’s very satisfying to see a group understand that and to be flexible where we can throw people in different spots and make adjustments,” she said.
Senior Ruby Denning goes up for a spike during a practice scrimmage as her teammates move into coverage while coach Karen Crownhart looks on. Photo by Sue Rollyson
LONGHORNS
Also getting into action this week are a pair of Basalt High School-based teams that include student-athletes from Roaring Fork: softball and cross country.
The Longhorns softball team opens the season at Aspen on Thursday, and is at home Friday against Rifle at 3pm.
And, the Longhorn Cross Country Invitational takes place Saturday morning at Crown Mountain Park in El Jebel, with middle school races at 9:30am, followed by the high school boys and girls at 10 and 10:45am, respectively.