close
close

Basalt football takes business against Coal Ridge and remains undefeated

Posted on by Vaseline
Basalt football takes business against Coal Ridge and remains undefeated

Basalt football takes business against Coal Ridge and remains undefeated
Basalt High School Football’s Will Tarallo carries the ball against Coal Ridge on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024 at the BHS field.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times

One game at a time has always been the approach for the Basalt High School football team under longtime head coach Carl Frerichs, a message the players wholeheartedly embrace.

“I am very proud of my children. It’s another big challenge if we want to achieve the goals we have, and that’s where every Friday night is so big now,” he said. “Because it does matter when we talk about playoff seeding. We’re honest with the kids, and every Friday night is a big night because we want to have the seed that we want to have.

The Longhorns took another step toward landing one of the top seeds in Class 2A on Friday night when they rolled past league foe Coal Ridge 42-7 on the BHS field. The win leaves Basalt undefeated on the season, while the loss snapped a four-game winning streak by the Titans.

A team built around the run, it was a dime of a pass from junior quarterback Karson Schneider to senior receiver Taylor Hays on third and long, the 34-yard TD connection capped off the first BHS drive and set the show for the game .

‘He put that in the bread basket perfectly. There couldn’t have been a better ball,” said Hays. “It just started with a great week of practice. A lot of focus, guys doing the right thing. We had a lot of confidence and this team is really special. I really like this team. All the work we put in is really paying off. It’s great to see.”

The Longhorn offense ripped through the Titan defense with relative ease in the first half. The second BHS drive ended with a 1-yard touchdown run by senior William Daniel to make it 14-0, and his junior counterpart in the backfield Will Tarallo added his own 1-yard touchdown in the second quarter to cap the to make it 21-0.

It was 28-0 in Basalt’s favor at halftime after Schneider found Hays from seven yards out for a TD with just two seconds left until the break.

“We know we are a versatile team,” Hays said. “It really just comes down to our O-line. All the work we put into it. Our backs are great, but we couldn’t do it without our line. We thank those guys after every ride.”

Daniel’s 30-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter extended the Basalt lead to 35-0. That’s when Coal Ridge finally put together a complete drive, a couple big plays, setting up a 2-yard TD run by QB Dylan Miller to put the Titans up 35-7.

Basalt High School football’s Chris Hays, left, makes a tackle on Coal Ridge’s Marcus Munoz on the BHS field on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times

Basalt responded with another scoring drive to end the third quarter, Daniel capped it off with another 1-yard touchdown run and a 42-7 lead. Neither team scored in the fourth quarter.

“William and Will are both special backs. Karson is doing a great job on offense. I think a lot of credit should go to the offensive line as well,” Frerichs said. “It is a special group that works very hard. And we’re bigger up front than we’ve been in a while, so it’s nice to have some kids over 200 pounds up front.

The loss dropped Coal Ridge to 4-2 overall and 1-1 in league play. The Titans enter having won four in a row following a season-opening loss to Steamboat Springs, including a 40-15 loss to Moffat County in the league opener last week.

Coal Ridge next hosts Middle Park (1-5, 0-2) on Saturday.

Show captionsHide captions

Basalt improves to 6-0 and 2-0 in the league before Moffat County are at home on Friday evening. The Bulldogs played a spoiler in this game a season ago, beating the Longhorns 29-6. BHS went 7-2 in the regular season last fall before suffering a first-round playoff loss.

“We’ll enjoy this tonight, but we realize Moffat County is going to be a big one. They beat us at our last homecoming…and they are a very well-coached team,” Frerichs said. “We are very excited about where we are now. We had an extremely difficult non-conference schedule. To go through that like we did and then to have our first two big league games played and experience that, it’s a great honor for the kids.”

After Moffat, Basalt’s final two regular-season games are Oct. 25 at Middle Park and Nov. 1 at home against Aspen.

Skiers win third in a row, beating Moffat

Aspen’s midseason football resurgence continued Thursday night with a 53-6 loss to Moffat County in Craig. After a 1-2 start, including back-to-back losses to Steamboat Springs and Summit, the Skiers have now won three straight against Kent Denver, Middle Park and now the Bulldogs.

According to MaxPreps, the Skiers were rolling in the first half and held a 41-0 lead at the break. Junior Dylan Mika rushed for 98 yards and two touchdowns on just 12 carries, while senior Andrew Palmaz added 73 yards and a TD on six carries.

Show captionsHide captions

Junior quarterback Brett Eggleston went 7 of 9 for 85 yards with two touchdowns, both to senior standout tight end Henry Hurd.

Moffat County fell to 2-4 (0-2), while Aspen is now 4-2 overall and 2-0 in the league. The Skiers next host defending 2A state champion Delta (4-2, 1-1) on Saturday afternoon.

Roaring Fork Football hosted Meeker on Friday and lost 40-0. The Rams fell to 2-4 overall, while the Cowboys improved to 4-2. Roaring Fork heads to Olathe (2-3) on Friday.

Glenwood Springs lost 28-21 to Eagle Valley on Thursday to drop to 4-3 overall. The Demons play at Rifle on Friday.

[email protected]

Related Posts