{"id":2450612,"date":"2019-10-31T21:12:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-01T03:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/aspen-football-hosts-basalt-on-friday-with-season-on-the-line\/"},"modified":"2019-10-31T21:12:00","modified_gmt":"2019-11-01T03:12:00","slug":"aspen-football-hosts-basalt-on-friday-with-season-on-the-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/aspen-football-hosts-basalt-on-friday-with-season-on-the-line\/","title":{"rendered":"Aspen football hosts Basalt on Friday with season on the line"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Aspen High School\u2019s quarterback Tyler Ward (3) looks for an open pass during the game against Rifle High School on Friday, October 18, 2019. (Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times)<\/strong>
Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

There won\u2019t be any strangers on the field Friday night, and that\u2019s how rivalry games are meant to be. These are kids who have been playing against or alongside one another for most of their lives, and for the seniors it\u2019s a final chance to get the best of their valley counterparts.<\/p>\n

\u201cProbably to the kids more than anyone it means the most, just because they know who is under the helmet,\u201d Basalt High School football coach Carl Frerichs said. \u201cThey know who they are going against, and I know for both schools there is a lot of pride in that game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Basalt (6-2) will close out the regular season Friday with a 7 p.m. game at Aspen High School (4-4). The playoff implications loom large for both teams, as does Basalt\u2019s current five-game win streak in the series. The Skiers haven\u2019t beaten their rivals since a 21-10 win in Aspen during the 2013 season, the last under coach Mike Sirko.<\/p>\n

The current senior class would have been in the sixth grade then, and it\u2019s a losing streak AHS would certainly like to end.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the back of our mind, we know it. But we know it\u2019s a different year this year. It\u2019s a new year and we are ready to take those steps forward to win the game,\u201d Aspen senior Max Ufkes said. \u201cFor me, I\u2019d do anything to win this game. This is obviously a well-known rivalry and that\u2019s exactly what it\u2019s going to be on Friday. We are going to come out and we are going to do our job.\u201d<\/p>\n

PLAYOFFS COME EARLY<\/p>\n

Chances are Aspen doesn\u2019t make the postseason without a win over Basalt. The Skiers are No. 16 this week in RPI (Rating Percentage Index), the magic number that will decide playoff seeding. Only 16 teams make the Class 2A football bracket, so AHS doesn\u2019t have any room for error.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in another playoff week and fighting to survive,\u201d Aspen coach Travis Benson said. \u201cIt\u2019s going out and executing. It\u2019s always going to be momentum plays. It\u2019s going to come down to about three or four plays and it\u2019s who takes advantage at those points in time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aspen\u2019s playoff essentially started last week, when it won 54-20 at Coal Ridge. While a loss to Basalt won\u2019t immediately eliminate them from the postseason, it would leave their fate up to the computers. By the same token, a win doesn\u2019t guarantee a playoff spot, either, though it would go a long way toward making it happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m feeling good. I\u2019m excited. There is no better way to have such an important game in determining playoffs against our biggest rivals, and we get it at home,\u201d AHS senior Jonathan Woodrow said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been right there with them. They\u2019ve broken away and we didn\u2019t, so hopefully this year is different.\u201d<\/p>\n

TAKE IT ON HOME<\/p>\n

Basalt is sitting much more comfortably entering Friday\u2019s game. With an RPI of 7, the Longhorns are pretty much a lock to make the playoffs regardless of how it goes against Aspen. However, with the top eight seeds getting to host a first-round playoff game, there could still be a lot at stake for Basalt.<\/p>\n

Should the math hold, a win Friday means Basalt likely hosts a playoff game next weekend. A loss to the Skiers and BHS likely is going on a road trip.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter what the record is, you throw all that stuff out against your rival,\u201d Frerichs said. \u201cThese kids are giving it their all. I\u2019m sure they are doing the same thing in Aspen. My kids, even with the weather and all those type of things, my kids are outside practicing. My kids are watching film. My kids are doing everything they can because this game does mean a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

GETTING BACK ON TRACK<\/p>\n

Maybe more than anything, the Longhorns hope to right the ship before the playoffs begin. BHS rolled to a 6-0 record and was even No. 1 in RPI at one point this season, but has lost two straight entering Friday\u2019s game with Aspen.<\/p>\n

Frerichs wasn\u2019t concerned about last week\u2019s 21-9 loss to No. 1 Rifle, although he did feel his team should have won. The only major setback was their 35-6 loss at Delta on Oct. 18, a game in which they fell behind by two touchdowns barely a minute into the game and never really competed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been really proud of my team this year, except for Delta,\u201d Frerichs said. \u201cI think coaching and playing, we just had a really bad night. Every other game this year I\u2019ve been really proud of my kids and I think they\u2019ve been giving it their all.\u201d<\/p>\n

AN APPLE A DAY KEEPS THE DOCTOR AWAY<\/p>\n

Aspen had a run of bad luck in terms of injuries early in the season, and it likely cost them a couple of wins. But, as the regular season is about to conclude, the Skiers finally look completely healthy and it couldn\u2019t come at a better time.<\/p>\n

Of all the missing pieces, Ufkes has probably been at the top of the list. He led all of 2A in receiving yards last fall and is a key defender, but a nagging hamstring injury has limited him this fall. Desperate to get out there, he even lined up on the defensive line on a few occasions in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

He should be back at receiver against Basalt and with no limitations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was doing anything to get on the field,\u201d Ufkes said. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely been a long journey for me to play. I\u2019m just really excited to be fully back, fully healthy and ready to grind again.\u201d<\/p>\n

STAYING DEFENSIVE<\/p>\n

For both teams, it\u2019s been the defenses that have really stepped up this fall. Basalt\u2019s defense has been dominant for a few years now, and 2019 has been no different. BHS has only allowed 89 points this fall, which is barely 11 points per game.<\/p>\n

Limited by those injuries, the Aspen offense was hit and miss most of the season, but the defense was pretty much rock solid outside of maybe the Rifle game. Aspen is allowing just over 22 points per game, and the defensive effort hasn\u2019t gone unnoticed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are more games this year where their defense has really shown up and really played some good football,\u201d Frerichs said of Aspen. \u201cTravis is doing an awesome job up there. Those kids, their X\u2019s and O\u2019s look great. They are flying around. They looked really, really good against Coal Ridge.\u201d<\/p>\n

CAN YOU SEE ME NOW?<\/p>\n

Aspen is going to break out its camouflage uniforms Friday, one of the ways it is paying homage to the 10th Mountain Division troops. One of the last surviving members of the 10th Mountain Division, John Tripp, will even join the Skiers for their pregame dinner at the high school.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a jersey for him,\u201d Benson said, \u201cto kind of pay respects to the contributions they not only gave for our freedom during World War II and obviously wars after that with the 10th, but also the contribution they gave to not only Aspen but the rest of the ski industry. And we are the Skiers, after all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Members of local ski patrol, which have a close tie with the 10th Mountain Division, will be on hand for the singing of the national anthem as part of the homage.<\/p>\n

ONE BIG, HAPPY FAMILY<\/p>\n

The game ball will make its way to the AHS turf a little differently Friday. The Aspen and BHS cross country teams will take part in a relay from Basalt to Aspen via the Rio Grande Trail beginning at 3 p.m.<\/p>\n

Part of this is to raise money for Grand Valley football player Cayden Schaeffer, who was seriously injured in a game earlier this season. It\u2019s also a way to unite the Aspen and Basalt communities through a common bond.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have rivalries, there is often this perception that they just don\u2019t get along. And I think that\u2019s bad,\u201d first-year Basalt athletic director Jason Santo said. \u201cIn high school athletics our goal is to be teaching kids the fun of competition, not the ugly side of competition. And this is a great way to say we are in this valley together. We might compete on the field Friday night, but off the field we work together.\u201d<\/p>\n

acolbert@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aspen High School\u2019s quarterback Tyler Ward (3) looks for an open pass during the game against Rifle High School on Friday, October 18, 2019. (Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times)Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times There won\u2019t be any strangers on the field Friday night, and that\u2019s how rivalry games are meant to be. These are kids who have […]<\/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":["post-2450612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-19 10:07:32","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'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\/2450612","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=2450612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450612\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2450612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2450612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2450612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}