{"id":1314164,"date":"2019-08-30T23:48:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-31T05:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/rifle-dominates-grand-valley-47-7-in-home-opener\/"},"modified":"2019-08-30T23:48:00","modified_gmt":"2019-08-31T05:48:00","slug":"rifle-dominates-grand-valley-47-7-in-home-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/rifle-dominates-grand-valley-47-7-in-home-opener\/","title":{"rendered":"Rifle dominates Grand Valley 47-7 in home opener"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Rifle\u2019s Kenny Tlaxcala leaps over Grand Valley\u2019s Steven Hicks for the touchdown during secodn quarter action Friday in Rifle. The Bears defeated the Cardinals 47-7 in their season opener.<\/strong>
Kyle Mills \/ Post Independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Five drives. Six touchdowns, one thanks to an interception return.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how the Rifle High School football team started the first half of Friday night\u2019s home game against Grand Valley.<\/p>\n

Conversely, the visiting Cardinals tallied three punts, three turnovers and no first downs during the same timeframe.<\/p>\n

At halftime, the Bears led 40-0, en route to a 47-7 victory for Rifle in both team\u2019s season opener.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a physical game, and Rifle was well prepared as they always are,\u201d Cardinal coach Tim Lenard said. \u201c\u2026. We just couldn\u2019t meet their physicality in the first half.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rifle opened the game with a 10-yard run by Levi Warfel.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing in, we were a little nervous, simply because it was the first game of the season,\u201d the senior said. \u201cBut after that first play, it was all good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Warfel scored two touchdowns in the first half, and was one of several Rifle players who finished with multiple trips to the end zone.<\/p>\n

Kenny Tlaxcala scored three touchdowns \u2014 one rushing, one receiving, and one on an interception return. On his three touchdowns, Traxcala had a simple plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just tried to follow my blockers and things went well,\u201d Tlaxcala said.<\/p>\n

On defense, Talon Cordova picked off a pass and also recovered a fumble. The senior also scored a rushing touchdown.<\/p>\n

Starting quarterback Holden Stutsman threw two touchdown passes. Carter Pressler capped the game with a touchdown.<\/p>\n

For Rifle coach Damon Wells, the game\u2019s main highlight was simply being back on the field on a Friday night, and seeing the look on the parents\u2019 and kids\u2019 faces.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love coaching the Bear football team in Rifle, Colorado,\u201d Wells said. \u201cI think Friday nights at Bear Stadium are pretty special.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the Cardinals, quarterback Hector DeLaCruz scored the team\u2019s lone touchdown during the second half.<\/p>\n

Coach Lenard was pleased to see Grand Valley play better, \u201cand at least get a little something going to carry into next week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Up next for the Grand Valley is a road game Sept. 6 against Kent Denver.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s another tough game,\u201d Lenard said. \u201cThey are like Rifle; they are in the playoffs every year. \u2026 We\u2019ve got our work cutout for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rifle also travels, taking on Eagle Valley in Gypsum on Sept. 6.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we play a 3A team,\u201d Wells said. \u201cSo, they are bigger than us, and they have more kids than us. It will be a challenge. We look forward to the idea that the greatest improvement comes from between the first and second game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re excited to see how much we can improve.\u201d<\/p>\n

jraehal@postindependent.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rifle\u2019s Kenny Tlaxcala leaps over Grand Valley\u2019s Steven Hicks for the touchdown during secodn quarter action Friday in Rifle. The Bears defeated the Cardinals 47-7 in their season opener.Kyle Mills \/ Post Independent Five drives. Six touchdowns, one thanks to an interception return. That\u2019s how the Rifle High School football team started the first half […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1314164","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-26 19:42:31","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1314164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314164\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1314164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1314164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1314164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}