{"id":2448349,"date":"2019-09-04T22:48:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-05T04:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/basalt-football-faces-olathe-on-friday-in-season-opener\/"},"modified":"2019-09-04T22:48:00","modified_gmt":"2019-09-05T04:48:00","slug":"basalt-high-football-heads-to-olathe-on-friday-for-2019-season-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/basalt-high-football-heads-to-olathe-on-friday-for-2019-season-opener\/","title":{"rendered":"Basalt High football heads to Olathe on Friday for 2019 season opener"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"6.5172413793103\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-312346-287\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/BHSfootball-atd-090519-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/BHSfootball-atd-090519-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times | The Longhorn defense gang tackles an Olathe runner in the first half of 2018's game in Basalt. BHS will play at Olathe on Friday to open the 2019 season.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>The Longhorn defense gang tackles an Olathe runner in the first half of 2018&#8217;s game in Basalt. BHS will play at Olathe on Friday to open the 2019 season.<\/strong><br \/>Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/BHSfootball-atd-090519-1.jpg\" alt=\"The Longhorn defense gang tackles an Olathe runner in the first half of 2018's game in Basalt. BHS will play at Olathe on Friday to open the 2019 season.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/BHSfootball-atd-090519-1-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/BHSfootball-atd-090519-1-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times | Basalt football plays a playoff game against D'Evelyn on Saturday, Nov. 3, 2018, in Basalt. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times).\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"0\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"11\">\n<p><strong>Basalt football plays a playoff game against D&#8217;Evelyn on Saturday, Nov. 3, 2018, in Basalt. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times).<\/strong><br \/>Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/09\/BHSfootball-atd-090519-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"Basalt football plays a playoff game against D'Evelyn on Saturday, Nov. 3, 2018, in Basalt. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times).\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/basalt-football-faces-olathe-on-friday-in-season-opener\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/basalt-football-faces-olathe-on-friday-in-season-opener\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText DropCap\">Being the underdog used to be commonplace, but a lot has changed for the Basalt High School football program over the past three seasons. The Longhorns keep rewriting their record book, having won 25 games over that span, including back-to-back 9-2 seasons.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Yet, the outside hype isn\u2019t quite there for the 2019 team compared to some of its Class 2A Western Slope League foes. Basalt is replacing more key pieces than some of its WSL opponents, but that doesn\u2019t seem to be fazing any of the players in purple.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI don\u2019t think we all feel like underdogs,\u201d senior center Daniel Sherry said. \u201cI feel like we are still in the same place that we were at the end of last year. Still feeling pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The Longhorns open their season Friday night at Class 1A Olathe (0-1), which won a pair of 2A state championships under longtime coach Ryan Corn (2008 and 2010). The Pirates haven\u2019t been quite as intimidating in recent years, winning no more than five games in a season since a 6-4 campaign in 2013. Basalt opened the season against Olathe at home last year, winning 28-0.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The Pirates lost 35-14 at Coal Ridge, one of Basalt\u2019s WSL opponents, in their season opener last week. When Olathe sees the Longhorns on Friday, it\u2019ll be against a group with a new backfield, notably at quarterback, but a group that has repeatedly found a way to reload instead of rebuild in recent years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThe kids have been working their tails off,\u201d longtime BHS coach Carl Frerichs said. \u201cI think that\u2019s a huge part of sustaining success, and we really feel like if these kids keep working hard in the classroom, keep working hard on the field, that we have no reason we shouldn\u2019t be able to keep our success going.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Making his first career start at quarterback will be BHS junior Matty Gillis, who replaces two-year starter Trevor Reuss. As a senior last season, Reuss threw for 1,035 yards and seven touchdowns with eight interceptions. Hardly gaudy numbers, he also rushed for 288 yards and nine scores and was the team\u2019s unquestioned offensive leader.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Basalt also graduated workhorse running back Jake Reardon, who ran for 1,561 yards and 15 touchdowns. Taking over will be a combo of sophomores Cole Dombrowski and Gavin Webb, neither of who have significant varsity experience. The absence of fullback and linebacker Tai Kim, another graduate from last year\u2019s team, also will be felt.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Still, the BHS football program has done nothing but win over the past three seasons, and this year\u2019s group feels it can carry on that tradition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cEvery year the older kids show the younger kids that it\u2019s a brotherhood and we all need to work together,\u201d senior tight end\/linebacker Tristan Johnston said. \u201cBy the time the seniors leave, everyone gets that and it carries over.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The Longhorns open the season just outside the CHSAANow.com top 10 \u2014 they are effectively No. 14 in 2A this week. However, the 2A WSL is expected to be one of the best leagues in the state, with Rifle (No. 4), Delta (No. 5) and Aspen (No. 7) sitting comfortably in the early-season rankings. Rifle, which beat Grand Valley 47-7 in its opener last week, is the defending WSL champion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The cupboard is hardly empty for BHS this season, as it did bring back star wideout Jackson Rapaport and lineman Ernesto Lopez, who is a game-changer on the defensive side. Also, while the Longhorns did graduate most of their line from a year ago, they simply replaced those names with more seniors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe are probably not as big up front as we were last year, but that doesn\u2019t mean we are not as quick or as aggressive,\u201d Frerichs said. \u201cWe have six seniors returning and they are all starting and five of the six are the ones up front. So it\u2019s kind of nice when your older kids are the ones up front and the leaders of the team. They are excited for their time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Basalt\u2019s home opener will be Saturday, Sept. 14, against Battle Mountain. Aspen opens its season this Saturday, Sept. 7, against 2017 state champion Bayfield.<\/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\/basalt-football-faces-olathe-on-friday-in-season-opener\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Longhorn defense gang tackles an Olathe runner in the first half of 2018&#8217;s game in Basalt. BHS will play at Olathe on Friday to open the 2019 season.Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times Basalt football plays a playoff game against D&#8217;Evelyn on Saturday, Nov. 3, 2018, in Basalt. (Photo by Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times).Austin Colbert\/The Aspen [&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-2448349","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 05:09:09","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\/2448349","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=2448349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2448349\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2448349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2448349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2448349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}