{"id":2443652,"date":"2019-05-01T22:56:01","date_gmt":"2019-05-02T04:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/junior-gents-to-host-castle-rock-in-home-playoff-game-on-saturday\/"},"modified":"2019-05-01T22:56:01","modified_gmt":"2019-05-02T04:56:01","slug":"junior-gents-rugby-to-host-castle-rock-in-home-playoff-game-on-saturday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/junior-gents-rugby-to-host-castle-rock-in-home-playoff-game-on-saturday\/","title":{"rendered":"Junior Gents rugby to host Castle Rock in home playoff game on Saturday"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery\" readability=\"6.8389380530973\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-305125-882\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/rugby-atd-050219-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/rugby-atd-050219-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Paul Cloud\/courtesy | The Aspen Junior Gents rugby team plays a game earlier this season. The Gents will host Castle Rock on Saturday at Willits in the first round of the Division II state playoffs. Photo courtesy of Paul Cloud, whose work can be viewed at paulcloud.zenfolio.com.\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"7.5\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/rugby-atd-050219-1.jpg\" alt=\"The Aspen Junior Gents rugby team plays a game earlier this season. The Gents will host Castle Rock on Saturday at Willits in the first round of the Division II state playoffs. Photo courtesy of Paul Cloud, whose work can be viewed at paulcloud.zenfolio.com.\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"10\">\n<p><strong>The Aspen Junior Gents rugby team plays a game earlier this season. The Gents will host Castle Rock on Saturday at Willits in the first round of the Division II state playoffs. Photo courtesy of Paul Cloud, whose work can be viewed at paulcloud.zenfolio.com.<\/strong><br \/>Paul Cloud\/courtesy<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/rugby-atd-050219-1-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/rugby-atd-050219-1-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Paul Cloud\/courtesy | The Aspen Junior Gents rugby team plays a game earlier this season. The Gents will host Castle Rock on Saturday at Willits in the first round of the Division II state playoffs. Photo courtesy of Paul Cloud, whose work can be viewed at paulcloud.zenfolio.com.\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"7.5\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/rugby-atd-050219-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"The Aspen Junior Gents rugby team plays a game earlier this season. The Gents will host Castle Rock on Saturday at Willits in the first round of the Division II state playoffs. Photo courtesy of Paul Cloud, whose work can be viewed at paulcloud.zenfolio.com.\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"10\">\n<p><strong>The Aspen Junior Gents rugby team plays a game earlier this season. The Gents will host Castle Rock on Saturday at Willits in the first round of the Division II state playoffs. Photo courtesy of Paul Cloud, whose work can be viewed at paulcloud.zenfolio.com.<\/strong><br \/>Paul Cloud\/courtesy<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/rugby-atd-050219-1-2-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/rugby-atd-050219-1-2.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times | Aspen Junior Gents rugby coach Zach Hendrix makes a pass duirng a team practice earlier this season at their home field in Willits. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times).\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"7\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/rugby-atd-050219-1-2.jpg\" alt=\"Aspen Junior Gents rugby coach Zach Hendrix makes a pass duirng a team practice earlier this season at their home field in Willits. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times).\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"9\">\n<p><strong>Aspen Junior Gents rugby coach Zach Hendrix makes a pass duirng a team practice earlier this season at their home field in Willits. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times).<\/strong><br \/>Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/rugby-atd-050219-1-3-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/rugby-atd-050219-1-3.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times | The Aspen Junior Gents rugby team practices earlier this season at their home field in Willits. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times).\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"6.5\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/rugby-atd-050219-1-3.jpg\" alt=\"The Aspen Junior Gents rugby team practices earlier this season at their home field in Willits. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times).\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>The Aspen Junior Gents rugby team practices earlier this season at their home field in Willits. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times).<\/strong><br \/>Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/rugby-atd-050219-1-4-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/rugby-atd-050219-1-4.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times | The Aspen Junior Gents rugby team practices earlier this season at their home field in Willits. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times).\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"6.5\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/05\/rugby-atd-050219-1-4.jpg\" alt=\"The Aspen Junior Gents rugby team practices earlier this season at their home field in Willits. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times).\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>The Aspen Junior Gents rugby team practices earlier this season at their home field in Willits. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times).<\/strong><br \/>Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/junior-gents-to-host-castle-rock-in-home-playoff-game-on-saturday\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/junior-gents-to-host-castle-rock-in-home-playoff-game-on-saturday\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText DropCap\">Ernesto Lopez said he simply wanted something new in his life, and so far rugby has filled that void. A junior at Basalt High School who has made a name for himself on the football field and the wrestling mat for the Longhorns, Lopez also has become an important piece for the playoff-bound Aspen Junior Gents this spring.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI know there is a great brotherhood they made here and I\u2019m so proud of being a part of it,\u201d Lopez said. \u201cSeeing how they play as a team makes me feel happy being a part of it, because they are a good team and they come in and put in the work every day and it shows.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Saturday, the Jr. Gents will have a rare opportunity when they host Castle Rock in a 2 p.m. playoff game at Willits Field. Despite a history of success \u2014 Aspen <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/aspen-junior-gents-win-state-championship\/\">won the 2013 state championship<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=p2iWYzb17GE\">played in the 2014 final<\/a> \u2014 the team is never believed to have hosted a playoff game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI\u2019m pretty sure the format today is the first time they\u2019ve really gone out of their way to allow the top seeds to host,\u201d Aspen assistant coach Cameron McIntyre said. \u201cIn previous years, all playoffs were on the Front Range and that is always trouble to us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Aspen, which is led by coach Zach Hendrix, is 5-1 in matches played this season and finished as the second seed in its division, behind only undefeated Fort Collins. Fort Collins beat Aspen, 41-27, in the season opener on March 9, but the Gents haven\u2019t lost since.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">En route to the playoffs, Aspen beat Northside (56-0), Ridgeview Academy (21-19), Grand Junction (45-5), Cherry Creek (60-19) and Dakota Ridge (28-0).<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cPutting this field on the map would be such a huge thing for us,\u201d Lopez said of hosting a playoff game. \u201cI got lucky to be here on this team. I\u2019m trying to get as much people to come out here and play because it\u2019s a great sport.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Lopez is one of a few dozen who play for the Jr. Gents, the Roaring Fork Valley\u2019s high school rugby team that is named after the Gentlemen of Aspen Rugby Club. While a few of the players come from Aspen and Basalt, the majority of the players come from the Glenwood Springs area.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">They didn\u2019t field a team two years ago because of low numbers, but returned with a solid season last spring. The majority of the players are relatively new, if not brand new, to the sport.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIn the last five years, this is the best team we\u2019ve been able to put out,\u201d McIntyre said. \u201cWith the benefit of some of these kids returning from last year, they are a more rounded team. They understand the game better. Obviously half the team, or greater than half the team, is still new this year, but out of that there are a bunch of hard workers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Castle Rock went 5-3 this season in its side of Division II, <a href=\"https:\/\/rugbycolorado.org\/e\/boys-hs-rugby-2019\/standings\">which has two nine-team divisions<\/a>. The top four teams from each division advanced to the state tournament. The Boulder Valley Lions were the top seed in D2A, followed by the Broomfield-based Tigers Rugby Club. Ridgeview and Cherry Creek finished third and fourth behind Fort Collins and Aspen in D2B.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI\u2019m excited for us being in the playoffs,\u201d second-year Jr. Gents player Omar Marquez said. \u201cMy heart would be blowing up with joy (if we won).\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:acolbert@aspentimes.com\">acolbert@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/junior-gents-to-host-castle-rock-in-home-playoff-game-on-saturday\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Aspen Junior Gents rugby team plays a game earlier this season. The Gents will host Castle Rock on Saturday at Willits in the first round of the Division II state playoffs. Photo courtesy of Paul Cloud, whose work can be viewed at paulcloud.zenfolio.com.Paul Cloud\/courtesy The Aspen Junior Gents rugby team plays a game earlier [&hellip;]<\/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":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2443652","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-17 14:36:20","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":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2443652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2443652\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2443652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2443652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2443652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}