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Roaring Fork Ram Lucas Schramer looks for an open teammate against Fort Lupton High School on Tuesday evening.
Chelsea Self / Post Independent
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Roarking Fork Ram Junior Mercado fights to keep possession of the ball against the defending Fort Lupton Bluedevil on Tuesday evening.
Chelsea Self / Post Independent
It’s on to the 3A state high school soccer quarterfinals as the Roaring Fork’s boys scored a 2-0 win over Fort Lupton in second-round action Tuesday night in Carbondale.
The Rams, seeded No. 5, will travel to Aurora on Saturday to play No. 4 Aurora West College Prep Academy — 4-2 winners over No. 20 Jefferson Academy on Tuesday.
Against the visiting Blue Devils, Roaring Fork freshman Emiliano Magana scored the first goal for the Rams in the 18th minute of play, and the Rams took the 1-0 advantage into the half.
Their second goal came on a penalty kick by sophomore Ross Barlow just as the second half began, when senior Dylan Webster got cleaned out in the box while trying to score. Barlow slotted the ball perfectly past the Fort Lupton keeper to give Roaring Fork the ultimate 2-0 winning advantage.
“We played a complete game, and focused on the basics and just kept it simple,” Rams coach Nick Forbes said. “We’re a good team when we do the basics well.”
Forbes credited senior center midfielders Aidan Foote and Lucas Schramer for holding the line on the Blue Devils offense and fueling the Rams’ pressure up front.
“When we play that collective, smart offense we’re a hard team to beat,” Forbes said. “And we showed good character at the end when it got a little messy.”
Roaring Fork now pays the price for a 2-0 regular-season-ending loss at Coal Ridge, which dropped the Rams (13-2-1) in the final RPI rankings behind Aurora West Prep.
“We had been ahead of them in the rankings right up until that last week,” Forbes said of the 16-1 Spartans.
“They have some good players, and play on a big turf field, so we’ll have to keep it a shorter game with more feet, rather than balls to space.”
Game time for Saturday will be determined later this week.
