Roaring Fork High School’s 16th-seeded boys soccer team played the No. 1 seed Colorado Academy to a 1-1 tie through regulation and double overtime of a second-round 3A state playoff in Denver Tuesday.
All the way down to the final kicks of a shootout, the Rams were on the verge of a major upset — but for one miss.
Roaring Fork was one kick away from advancing to the quarterfinals, but in the end it was Colorado Academy claiming victory with a 5-4 tally.
The Rams cracked it open late in the first half when junior Cristian Turcios scored to make it 1-0. They then held the Mustangs at bay until 10 minutes left in regulation when the host team evened it up.
Two scoreless overtime periods proved Roaring Fork worthy of keeping with the top seed.
“Penalties [penalty kicks] are a coin toss and a terrible way to decide a tie, but that’s what we got,” Rams head coach Nick Forbes said in a text message shortly after the conclusion of the game.
Instead of taking it to the next round, Roaring Fork ends the season at 10-5-2, and bids farewell to a slate of seniors.
“I’m disappointed for the boys, who played great, but now we celebrate some seniors who have been pillars of the program, then take a rest and start planning for next season,” Forbes said. “Hopefully this feeds our belief and our desire for next fall.”
Roaring Fork advanced by downing Rocky Mountain Prep SMART 3-2 at Rams Field in Carbondale on Oct. 29.
In that one, the Rams collected goals from sophomore Alan Rodriguez and junior Cal Stone in the first half, and held a 2-1 advantage at halftime. Stone struck again in the second half to secure the win.
State cross country
A contingent of runners from the combined Basalt and Roaring Fork high school cross country team, and from Carbondale’s Colorado Rocky Mountain School, represented at the Colorado High School Cross Country Championships in Colorado Springs on Saturday, Nov. 1.
The area’s top finisher was Basalt senior Towler Scott in the Class 3A boys race, taking seventh place overall to claim a coveted podium spot.
Scott covered the five-kilometer course at the Norris Penrose Event Center in 16 minutes, 26.2 seconds — 31 seconds off the winning pace established by Vanguard School’s Max Miller. It was also an improvement over Scott’s 20th-place finish at last year’s state meet.
Roaring Fork sophomore Levi Friday ran 18:05.1 to finish 79th out of 153 runners.
The Basalt girls, who qualified as a team, sent seven runners to state. Finishing in order out of 148 runners were Basalt freshman Scarlett Jones, 48th (21:16.6); Basalt senior Addison Raymond, 69th (21:53.2); Roaring Fork senior Caroline Cole, 80th (22:10.5); Basalt freshman Jude Tiernan, 82nd (22:18.8); Roaring Fork junior Sadie Silcox, 86th (22:25.3); Roaring Fork freshman Maggie Cole, 88th (22:30.4); and Roaring Fork junior Miley Stuart, 95th (22:39.3).
The CRMS girls also qualified as a team in the Class 2A division, which featured 132 runners. The Pearls were represented by sophomore Kayla Steele, 11th (19:51.9); sophomore Abigail O’Keefe, 51st (22:00.1); freshman Ayla Perry, 102nd (24:07); junior Tacie Simmons, 105th (24:23.8); senior India Picard, 112th (24:34.4); and freshman Sabina Davies, 121st (25:35.5).
Football playoffs
Basalt enters the Class 2A state football playoffs as the 16th seed in the 16-team field, after going 6-3 on the season and 4-0 in the Western Slope League to defend their conference title.
The Longhorns are set to play at No. 1 Strasburg at 2pm on Saturday, Nov. 8.