{"id":2451198,"date":"2019-11-16T19:52:02","date_gmt":"2019-11-17T02:52:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/kent-denver-dashes-roaring-forks-soccer-title-hopes\/"},"modified":"2019-11-16T19:52:02","modified_gmt":"2019-11-17T02:52:02","slug":"kent-denver-dashes-roaring-forks-soccer-title-hopes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/kent-denver-dashes-roaring-forks-soccer-title-hopes\/","title":{"rendered":"Kent Denver dashes Roaring Fork\u2019s soccer title hopes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Roaring Fork senior Dylan Webster works to control the ball against Kent Denver’s T.J. Gibson during the Rams 5-0 Class 3A title game loss Saturday at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City.<\/strong>
John Stroud\/Post Independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

For 50 minutes of play in the 3A state high school soccer final Saturday it seemed quite possible Carbondale\u2019s Roaring Fork Rams just might pull off the seemingly impossible.<\/p>\n

But a four-goal scoring barrage by Kent Denver over a 15-minute span in the second half saw it all come crashing down.<\/p>\n

In the end, the second-seeded Sun Devils were state champs for a second-straight year by virtue of a 5-0 shutout over No. 5 Roaring Fork, and the Rams were relegated to runner-up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were right there with them that whole first half, pretty much neck and neck, and it really felt like we had a good chance,\u201d Rams senior Lucas Schramer said as he left the field at Dick\u2019s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, we just let a couple slide, and it all seemed to come right at once,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

All at once is right, as Kent Denver senior forward Pace Billings broke it open with just over 30 minutes showing on the second-half clock to give the Sun Devils the 1-0 advantage.<\/p>\n

After Rams junior goalkeeper Noah Wheeless made several impressive saves, Kent Denver pushed the ball into heavy traffic in front of the net, when a ricochet gave Billings a wide-open shot just inside the left post.<\/p>\n

Not 15 minutes later, it was all but over, as Billings had scored two more goals, the second off a Sun Devils corner kick, for a hat trick on the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat first half, to shut them out, I was so confident in our team,\u201d Wheeless said. \u201cMy defense was on lock, but the offense was struggling a little bit with just two shots on goal. Their defense is just really tough.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the Rams dialed up some offensive pressure in the first three minutes of the second half, the momentum turned Kent\u2019s way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey just found the gaps in my defense and started playing to their wings and coming in close to the two-hole,\u201d Wheeless said. \u201cThey were just right in my box, and there was nothing I could do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, \u201cI love my team, and I\u2019m proud of how we played,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Kent senior Max Hewitt added another goal just over a minute after Billings\u2019 third, and then senior Layton Purchase added the fifth goal with 7 minutes left to play.<\/p>\n

The Rams had several scoring opportunities in the first half, including a header shot from senior Dylan Webster off a free kick in the 31st minute that sailed just high over the crossbar. Two minutes into the second half, Webster had an open shot that went just wide left.<\/p>\n

Roaring Fork coach Nick Forbes said it\u2019s one more big step for a program that\u2019s made the final four of the 3A playoffs the last two seasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to keep building, and we\u2019ll see you again next year in the same game,\u201d he vowed, while crediting the Kent Denver program.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom back to front, they\u2019re just a really strong program,\u201d Forbes said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard coming from a public school and matching those resources and a program that\u2019s so established.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kent coach Arty Smith also commended the Roaring Fork program.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoach Forbes did a great job; they were well-organized and obviously we couldn\u2019t break them down in that first half,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThey just always had an answer for anything we threw at them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patience paid off for the Sun Devils, though, who forced the Rams to open it up after the first goal and were able to create the follow-up scoring chances.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut boy, Roaring Fork, that is a very good soccer team, and they\u2019ve got a lot to be proud of,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThey showed a lot of heart and a lot of spirit, and I\u2019m sure they\u2019re going to be back.\u201d<\/p>\n

The championship game marked the final game in a Rams uniform for seniors Schramer, Webster, Connor Brennan, Johnny Delgado, Frankie Harrington, Aidan Foote and Sawyer Shook.<\/p>\n

jstroud@postindependent.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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

Roaring Fork senior Dylan Webster works to control the ball against Kent Denver’s T.J. Gibson during the Rams 5-0 Class 3A title game loss Saturday at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City.John Stroud\/Post Independent For 50 minutes of play in the 3A state high school soccer final Saturday it seemed quite possible Carbondale\u2019s Roaring […]<\/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-2451198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-19 06:12:24","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\/2451198","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=2451198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2451198\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2451198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2451198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2451198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}