Prep football kicks into conference play

High school football makes the turn into conference play this week.

The Aspen Skiers (2-2) and the Basalt Longhorns (1-3) both open play in the Class 2A Western Slope North League on Friday night.

The Longhorns, coming off their first win of the season last weekend at Grand Valley, will host Coal Ridge (2-2) in a 7 p.m. kickoff Friday.

The Skiers, coming off a bye week for a week of experiential education, will make the short trip to Carbondale to take on Roaring Fork (1-3), also with a 7 p.m. kickoff scheduled.

The Aspen High School football team closed out the preconference schedule two weeks ago with a 14-12 loss to Cedaredge, in spite of a dramatic late rally.

The Skiers had recorded back-to-back wins over Grand Valley (41-7) and Steamboat Springs (23-14) earlier.

With a 33-0 loss at Montezuma-Cortez, the Skiers are 2-2 heading into league play under first-year head coach Ryan Triece.

Roaring Fork opened the season with a road trip to Meeker to take on Class 1A power Cowboys with Meeker prevailing 46-0.

Meeker (4-0) is ranked No. 3 in the statewide 1A poll on CHSAAnow.com. The Cowboys are behind only defending state champion Paonia (4-0) and Buena Vista (4-0).

Roaring Fork bounced back from the loss to Meeker to beat Grand Valley 39-20 before a pair of losses to teams from the Western Slope South League — Olathe (34-6) and Gunnison (48-0).

Basalt broke out in a big way last weekend, posting 31 points in the win at Grand Valley.

Alex Nakagawa scored two first-half touchdowns to help stake the Longhorns to a 17-7 halftime lead. David Flores added a field goal for Basalt’s 10-point halftime lead.

Quarterback Miles Levy connected with Nakagawa on a 53-yard touchdown pass play in the third quarter.

Basalt’s Josue Vigil added another TD as the Longhorns extended their third-quarter lead.

The Longhorns will face a Coal Ridge team that lost 42-13 at Olathe last weekend.

Coal Ridge owns wins over Grand Valley (27-7) and Dolores (47-0). The Titans also lost 52-6 to Meeker.

In the Class 2A football poll on CHSAAnow.com, unbeaten Brush (4-0) is ranked No. 1.

Kent Denver (4-0) is No. 2.

Strasburg (4-0) is at No. 3, followed by fellow league members Platte Valley (2-2) and Eaton (4-0) and No. 4 and No. 5, respectively.

Florence is No. 6 with a 3-1 mark, followed by 3-1 Faith Christian at No. 7.

Lamar is ranked No. 8 (3-1) followed by St. Mary’s of Colorado Springs (4-0) at No. 9.

Montezuma-Cortez, playing down in classification this season, is at No. 10 with a 3-1 mark.

dstrode@aspentimes.com