Basalt football earns No. 2 seed in state playoffs; to host The Academy
Longhorns will play the No. 15 Wildcats at 1 p.m. Saturday
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times
With the unveiling of the Class 2A state football bracket on Sunday came the great reset, records forgotten, a new path forward lit for the few still playing.
Undefeated and the No. 2 seed, Basalt High School is ready for its new season.
“Extremely proud of my kids and my coaching staff for going undefeated and winning a league championship and being able to be the No. 2 seed. I think it’s a huge accomplishment,” longtime BHS coach Carl Frerichs said a few hours after the brackets were announced.
“At the same time,” he continued, “we’ve been telling our kids for several weeks now, and we talked about it all summer: Our goal is not to just get into the state tournament. We want to make a run at it. So, this is our new season starting, and everyone is 0-0. You are only guaranteed one more Monday, depending on how you play.”
The second-seeded Longhorns (9-0) will host No. 15 seed The Academy (6-3) at 1 p.m. on Saturday in Basalt. The winner advances to face either No. 7 Woodland Park or No. 10 Sterling in the quarterfinals.
With only a little bit of film study completed and a lack of history playing each other — this could be the first meeting between the schools, although that couldn’t yet be confirmed — Frerichs was still figuring out Westminster-based The Academy on Sunday afternoon.
What he does see is an athletic backfield with dual-threat quarterback Jase Farmer (585 yards rushing, seven touchdowns) and running back Jacob Arzberger (958 yards rushing, 12 TDs).
“There are only 16 teams that make it, so everyone is good and anyone can get beat,” Frerichs said. “The Academy definitely has some really good skills. Their quarterback looks extremely quick, and the running back looks quick. They are doing some things that we don’t see a lot in our league, a lot of quarterback read-option stuff we haven’t seen. We have in the past, but not this year.”
The Wildcats average about 27 points per game, although with a high against Arvada (63-18 win on Oct. 24) and some early-season duds, there’s been a wide variety in scoring from week to week. Defensively, they give up just over 21 points per game, although that number has dropped to about 16 over the Wildcats’ current four-game win streak.
As it happened, Arvada is also the only mutual opponent between Basalt and The Academy this season. The Longhorns opened play against the Bulldogs on Aug. 24, winning 40-8.
“It is a huge advantage being able to be at home,” Frerichs said of the playoffs. “Is there anything we do different? No, because all we try is to get better every day, and that’s all we can do.”
This isn’t Basalt’s first time entering the postseason undefeated. The Longhorns also went 9-0 in 2022, beating No. 10 Woodland Park as the No. 7 seed in the first round, 45-24, before a 41-7 loss to No. 2 Eaton in the second round to finish 10-1 overall. Eaton beat Delta in the state championship game that fall.
“Usually, when you have a season like this, it all comes down to the kids and the chemistry,” Frerichs said. “It’s really a guessing game until you get going. This has been a really special group in terms of how bought in they are to each other.”
The rest of the 2A bracket includes No. 1 Strasburg vs. No. 16 Denver West; No. 8 Delta vs. No. 9 Wellington; No. 4 Elizabeth vs. No. 13 Eaton; No. 5 Lamar vs. No. 12 Alamosa; No. 6 Berthoud vs. No. 11 Montezuma-Cortez; and No. 3 The Classical Academy vs. No. 14 Pagosa Springs.
Delta beat Rifle in the state championship game last season; the Bears moved back to 3A this fall.
After going 5-4 overall and finishing No. 19 in the final seeding index through CHSAANow.com, Aspen did not make the 16-team postseason field. Coal Ridge also just missed the cut at No. 20.
Wray earned the No. 1 seed in Class 1A, a bracket that does not include Roaring Fork. The Rams finished the season 3-6 overall.
This week in Aspen history
“Mrs. Mary Newton, the miner’s friend, left last week for Leadville to lay in a supply of turkeys, oysters, clams, crabs and turtles for the holidays,” noted the Rocky Mountain Sun on November 26, 1881.
Will-power: Basalt football’s dynamic backfield duo has Longhorns rolling
Whether Will or William, it’s been their combined willpower that has carried the Basalt High School football team to the Class 2A semifinals with an undefeated record.
