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Longhorns make big statement in 34-14 win over Glenwood Springs

A mass of Basalt High School football players work together to bring down Glenwood Springs quarterback Joaquin Sandoval during their game on Friday, Sept. 17, 2021, at Stubler Memorial Field in Glenwood Springs.
Chelsea Self/Glenwood Springs Post Independent

Kade Schneider scored four touchdowns, Sam Sherry did just about everything and the Basalt High School football team earned a statement win Friday night, beating host Glenwood Springs 34-14 on Stubler Memorial Field in what was homecoming for the Demons.

“I’m super proud of my kids and how they are buying into the team,” Basalt coach Carl Frerichs said. “We had so many kids step up with energy and effort. The kids are buying in together and working hard.”

Both undefeated coming into the week, Basalt entered Friday’s game ranked No. 4 in Class 2A, while Glenwood was No. 7 in 3A. Despite being separated by only 20 miles, the teams rarely play in football, with the Demons’ 21-14 win in the one-off spring season a few months back having been their first showdown since 2011.



The Demons won the spring game with a touchdown run in the final seconds when they were briefly league foes. The Longhorns didn’t let Friday’s rematch come down to a single play, instead dominating most of the second half to pull away against their Roaring Fork School District cohort.

“They capitalized on our mistakes and did a fine job of closing out a football game,” Glenwood coach Pat Engle said. “We didn’t protect our quarterback very well. We found ourselves in a lot of second and 15s and third and 15s. I don’t know if there is any offense that is going to do well with that type of down and distance. They did a great job. They pressured our quarterback well.”



Scoreless after a quarter, Basalt took a 7-0 lead when Schneider, the team’s junior quarterback, found senior receiver Wilson Maytham for a 27-yard touchdown. After Jamie Dolan jumped on a Glenwood fumble soon after, Sherry broke free for a 50-yard touchdown run to make it 14-0.

The Demons did answer, with sophomore quarterback Joaquin Sandoval scoring on a 5-yard keeper, leading to a 14-7 halftime score.

Schneider, who entered the game with seven TD passes and no interceptions, threw his first pick of the season right before the half, but no harm came of it.

“We got a little greedy at the end of the half. We probably should have just went into halftime,” Frerichs said, letting the coaches take the blame for Schneider’s turnover. “We were trying to be aggressive and in these big games it’s important to be aggressive. Which I give a lot of credit to coach (Mitch) Levy and coach (Clayton) Peetz for doing that, because I think it helps the offense by being aggressive.”

A quick defensive stop to open the second half led to Schneider and Maytham connecting for another score, this time from 52 yards out, to make it 21-7 BHS midway through the third quarter.

The Demons had one more answer, a nice drive ending with a short touchdown pass from Sandoval to Marcos Aragon that made it 21-14 after three quarters.

The Longhorns dropped the hammer from there.

“We came into the game thinking that our best shot to defend them would be in a man situation,” Engle said. “For a while there it was working really nicely. They figured it out pretty quickly, made some nice adjustments and started getting the ball in the flats to No. 1 (Sherry) and No. 7 (Maytham). As coaches, we should have done a better job of adjusting and we just did not.”

Gallery caption: Photos: Basalt football at Glenwood Springs

Schneider scored on a 5-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter to make it 28-14. With about six minutes to play, he then connected with junior receiver Dylan Madden on a 30-yard score to put an end to the game.

Unofficially, Schneider finished 11 of 18 passing for 248 yards with three touchdowns and the one interception, not to mention his rushing touchdown. Sherry, the team’s standout senior receiver and linebacker, had more than 100 combined yards rushing and receiving to go with nine solo tackles.

“Sam Sherry just had a phenomenal night,” Frerichs said. “He’s a special, special player. The level he is playing at right now is special.”

Glenwood, now 3-1, heads into a bye week before it will close out non-league play at home on Oct. 1 against Roosevelt, which came into this week as the top-ranked team in 3A. For Engle, he’d rather jump back into it to get the taste of Friday’s defeat out of the mouth.

“This loss is completely on me. I called a very bad game and I take full responsibility for it,” Engle said. “We’ve got to regroup. The hard part is, especially after a loss, you normally like to get right back in play, but we got a bye week. So we’ve got to think about this one for two weeks and then we have a pretty good football team that is going to be coming in here.”

Basalt (4-0) also enters a bye week after finishing non-league play with a perfect mark. Frerichs likes the timing of the bye, with BHS set to begin 2A Western Slope League play on Oct. 1 at home against rising Moffat County.

“We need to get healthy,” Frerichs said. “We had some more kids out tonight. We need to get healthy and get ready for homecoming. I know Moffat is going to be a tough team.”

Elsewhere on Friday night, Rifle beat Faith Christian 48-10 to reach 2-2 overall after dropping its first two games. The Bears won the one-off 3A state championship in the spring and are off until traveling to Aspen on Oct. 1 to open 2A WSL play.

Delta played Friday at Montezuma-Cortez, winning 49-8 to improve to 3-1 entering league play. Coal Ridge lost 24-6 to Steamboat to stay winless, while Moffat County (3-0) had a bye.

In Class 1A on Friday, Roaring Fork lost 35-14 to Grand Valley.

Cardinals senior Emilio Garcia had 10 carries for 120 yards and a touchdown. Rushing touchdowns also came from seniors Brayden Harper and Kaden Sheets, and junior quarterback passed for a pair of touchdowns in the Grand Valley win.

Roaring Fork sophomore quarterback Max Bollock was 14-for-24 and 120 yards passing, including a touchdown. The Rams fall to 0-4 (0-2 1A Western Slope), while the Cardinals improved to 3-1 (2-1 WSL).

acolbert@aspentimes.com

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