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Preps: Basalt soccer rebuilds with youth and new head coach

Aspen football impresses in opener

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Austin Colbert

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Players battle for possession as the Basalt High School boys soccer team hosts Salida on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025, in Basalt.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times

Following last week’s loss to Salida, new Basalt High School boys soccer coach Chris McDermand pointed out the key difference in the two rosters: The Spartans are almost exclusively upperclassmen, while the Longhorns only have a handful that can even drive to practice.

And this excites the Texas native, who has experience building programs in the greater Houston area.

“We have a lot of freshmen, which makes for what could be a rough season at times. Especially the start here,” he said. “It’s not been the easiest beginning for us. But what that means is you have way more ability to grow. You can just not cut any corners and try to do all the right things, take your lumps, and each year they will be a little better.”

Now a social studies teacher at Basalt Middle School, McDermand helped create the soccer program at his prior stop in Huffman, seeing plenty of regional success over his tenure. At BHS, he replaces Thomas Olson, who led the Longhorns each of the past two seasons.

After a season-opening 5-1 loss at Crested Butte — a Class 2A powerhouse ranked preseason No. 3 — and a 4-0 loss to Salida (preseason No. 2 in 2A), the Longhorns hosted and beat Bayfield on Friday, 1-0.


“You walk through the hall, and you see the trophies from Basalt, and there are a lot,” McDermand said. “There is a history here, but they kind of stopped around 2010. So, we are going to try and bring that back.”

Basalt will return to the pitch on Wednesday with a 6 p.m. game at 3A preseason No. 6 Roaring Fork (0-1) in Carbondale. The next BHS home game is Friday at 4 p.m. vs. Grand Junction Central.

Aspen (0-0) will open its season this coming Saturday at 1 p.m. against Caprock Academy on the AHS turf. Coming from Grand Junction, the Eagles are 0-2 with losses to Telluride (8-0) and Crested Butte (10-0).

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Aspen football impresses in opener

Bryce Sandoval made an impressive debut as the new Aspen High School football coach on Friday, leading the 2A Skiers to a 40-0 win at 1A Grand Valley (0-1). AHS (1-0) has a bye this week, its next game being the 7 p.m. home opener on Sept. 12 against 3A’s Steamboat Springs.

Basalt’s season debut didn’t go nearly as well on Friday, with the preseason 2A No. 6 Longhorns losing 16-15 to Class 3A Evergreen (1-0) in a sloppy, error-filled game on the BHS field. The loss is the first in the regular season for the Longhorns since falling 29-6 to Moffat County on Oct. 13, 2023; BHS had an undefeated regular season in 2024.

Basalt’s true season opener was to be last weekend at Arvada, but that game was canceled, resulting in a forfeit win for BHS.

Officially 1-1 overall, the Longhorns will look to bounce back this coming Friday with a 7 p.m. home game against regional rival Rifle. The Bears are 0-2 following losses to Golden (30-20) and Grand Junction (34-7), both notably larger schools.

Glenwood Springs is now 1-1 after a 34-23 win at Summit on Saturday. The Demons next play this coming Saturday at Greeley’s Northridge (0-1).

BHS softball gets first win

Basalt softball got on the board with its first win on Friday, beating Platte Valley, 19-18, in a wild game that needed eight innings to finish. Now 1-8 overall, the Longhorns next host Meeker for a pair of games on Saturday. First pitch is 11 a.m.

Aspen (0-0) is still waiting for its first game, scheduled for Sept. 8 at Cedaredge. The Skiers will then host the Longhorns on Sept. 9.

Runners in Minturn

Aspen runners competed on Saturday at Battle Mountain. Grand Junction won the boys team title, with AHS finishing eighth out of nine teams. Monarch won the girls team title, with AHS finishing at the bottom of the pack in eighth.

Individually, Palisade’s Hyrum DeFord won the boys race in 17 minutes, 20 seconds. Aspen junior Jack Diaz was sixth in 18:31.

Battle Mountain’s Eden DeMino won the girls race in 20:44. Colorado Rocky Mountain School’s Kayla Steele was eighth in 22:41, and Aspen’s Molly McPhee was 15th in 22:51.

Basalt did not have any runners at this meet. The Longhorns are scheduled to next compete on Saturday at Eagle Valley, alongside Aspen.

Golfers at Vail

Aspen and Basalt golfers returned to the course on Tuesday with a tournament hosted by Vail Mountain School at Vail Golf Club.

The host school’s second foursome officially won the event, shooting 21-over 234. But in second was Aspen, shooting 238 to lead all 3A schools competing (VMS is 2A), while Basalt was third, only a stroke back of AHS at 239. Battle Mountain was fourth with 240.

The Skiers’ runner-up finish was impressive considering they didn’t have their full varsity line-up in action. Oliver Pullis and Leo Roennau led the team, each shooting 78 to tie for fourth place. Lucas Williams stepped up to shoot 82 (T21), and Shaw Feinberg was strong with 83 (T28).

Basalt’s Elijah Kelley was also part of the five-pack to shoot 78 and tie for fourth. Hagan Hamlet shot 79 for ninth place. Hudson Arnold (82, T21) and Brady Luetke (86, T39) rounded out the BHS scoring.

Individually, Fruita Monument’s Collin Black won behind his 3-over 74.

Both AHS and BHS plan to send golfers to Rifle Creek on Monday.

Volleyball season finally going

Basalt’s volleyball season got underway on Thursday with a 3-0 home loss to Glenwood Springs (4-1 overall). Set scores were 25-5, 25-11, and 25-21.

BHS (0-1) next hosts Roaring Fork at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. The Rams (1-6) beat Vail Mountain on Tuesday night, 3-1.

Aspen’s season is scheduled to begin on Thursday night at Olathe. The Skiers then play at a tournament on Saturday in Denver.

Tennis at Crown Mountain

Aspen’s tennis season will get underway on Wednesday when Basalt plays host at Crown Mountain Park. First serve is 3:30 p.m. The public is welcome to watch.

acolbert@aspentimes.com

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