News
ENLARGE
COLBRAN — Plateau Valley turned into Heartbreak City for Vail Christian basketball Friday night.
The boys lost to the Cowboys, 43-40, while the girls fell short by just one point. So much for being courteous hosts.
For the boys, the growing pains continue. They are formidable in Edwards and still struggling to find their touch outside the friendly confines.
“This team has struggled all year with consistency, especially on the road,” Saints coach Sheldon Kuhns said. “We really need to find that momentum on the road. We need to learn to create that momentum.”
Plateau Valley jumped out to a 12-1 lead on the Saints in the first quarter. Vail Christian responded nicely with a 12-0 run of its own to finish the period. From there, it turned into a defensive stalemate. Vail Christian had a chance to send it into overtime, but the 3 was off the mark.
Larry Cavanaugh and Robbie Bowles had 11 points each, while Fernando Hernandez had nine.
Both Saints team have nonconference games Tuesday. The girls are at Nederland, while the boys are at home for Cornerstone Christian. While every game is big, some are more equal than others. Both teams host Soroco in a week and both need to win to avoid facing the respective 800-pound gorillas in their upcoming district tournaments — Meeker for the boys and Plateau Valley for the girls.
Hockey
Rampart 4, Battle Mountain 1
COLORADO SPRINGS — Rampart got its revenge over Battle Mountain hockey Friday, defeating the Huskies, 4-1.
Last year, Battle Mountain beat the Rams, 1-0, in overtime at the Eagle Ice Arena.
The Huskies got the first goal again Friday with Alex Woods getting an unassisted tally early in the second, but the host Rams took over from there. Rampart's Anthony Apodaca scored on the power play for the tying goal and Zak Rajcevich gave the Rams the lead for good.
Matt Avila and Tyler Ketner iced the game with goals in the third.
Battle Mountain (9-5-2) is right back in action tonight at 6 at Dobson against Doherty.
Skiing
Devils sine at Loveland
LOVELAND — There were no new qualifiers for the state meet for Eagle Valley alpine Friday in the final regular-season race of the season, but the were some big personal bests that made the bus ride home a good one.
Shanna Zoch (fifth), Pearl Nanin and Rachael Landin are in for the girls, while Andrew Darrough is Keystone-bound for the boys.
Rachel Nagel turned heads with an eye-popping second run in 35.55 seconds. Francois Nanin was very pleased with how Nagel attacked the course in that run.
Then there was Jessie Baumgardner who still had part of a toothpick in her foot from Wednesday, yet skied in pain and still had her best outing of the season.
“At the team dinner Thursday, she couldn't put any weight on her foot,” Nanin said. “There was no way she could ski, I thought. That was incredible.”
Elizabeth Schwaiger, who's struggled with her technique, also put it all together Friday. And the good news is that a lot of these skiers are still underclassmen, so the future is bright for the Devils.
For the boys, Jay Dostal was the first of many good surprises, the coach said. Keathon Franklin, a sophomore, who has more experience in the terrain park, showed he could bash gates with the best of them.
Senior Cassidy Kuhn capped his senior year with one of the best races of the season.
“Everyone did so well today. It was amazing,” Nanin said. “Their improvement was like night and day.”
Sports Editor Chris Freud can be reached at 970-748-2934 or cfreud@vaildaily.com.
The boys lost to the Cowboys, 43-40, while the girls fell short by just one point. So much for being courteous hosts.
For the boys, the growing pains continue. They are formidable in Edwards and still struggling to find their touch outside the friendly confines.
“This team has struggled all year with consistency, especially on the road,” Saints coach Sheldon Kuhns said. “We really need to find that momentum on the road. We need to learn to create that momentum.”
Plateau Valley jumped out to a 12-1 lead on the Saints in the first quarter. Vail Christian responded nicely with a 12-0 run of its own to finish the period. From there, it turned into a defensive stalemate. Vail Christian had a chance to send it into overtime, but the 3 was off the mark.
Larry Cavanaugh and Robbie Bowles had 11 points each, while Fernando Hernandez had nine.
Both Saints team have nonconference games Tuesday. The girls are at Nederland, while the boys are at home for Cornerstone Christian. While every game is big, some are more equal than others. Both teams host Soroco in a week and both need to win to avoid facing the respective 800-pound gorillas in their upcoming district tournaments — Meeker for the boys and Plateau Valley for the girls.
Hockey
Rampart 4, Battle Mountain 1
COLORADO SPRINGS — Rampart got its revenge over Battle Mountain hockey Friday, defeating the Huskies, 4-1.
Last year, Battle Mountain beat the Rams, 1-0, in overtime at the Eagle Ice Arena.
The Huskies got the first goal again Friday with Alex Woods getting an unassisted tally early in the second, but the host Rams took over from there. Rampart's Anthony Apodaca scored on the power play for the tying goal and Zak Rajcevich gave the Rams the lead for good.
Matt Avila and Tyler Ketner iced the game with goals in the third.
Battle Mountain (9-5-2) is right back in action tonight at 6 at Dobson against Doherty.
Skiing
Devils sine at Loveland
LOVELAND — There were no new qualifiers for the state meet for Eagle Valley alpine Friday in the final regular-season race of the season, but the were some big personal bests that made the bus ride home a good one.
Shanna Zoch (fifth), Pearl Nanin and Rachael Landin are in for the girls, while Andrew Darrough is Keystone-bound for the boys.
Rachel Nagel turned heads with an eye-popping second run in 35.55 seconds. Francois Nanin was very pleased with how Nagel attacked the course in that run.
Then there was Jessie Baumgardner who still had part of a toothpick in her foot from Wednesday, yet skied in pain and still had her best outing of the season.
“At the team dinner Thursday, she couldn't put any weight on her foot,” Nanin said. “There was no way she could ski, I thought. That was incredible.”
Elizabeth Schwaiger, who's struggled with her technique, also put it all together Friday. And the good news is that a lot of these skiers are still underclassmen, so the future is bright for the Devils.
For the boys, Jay Dostal was the first of many good surprises, the coach said. Keathon Franklin, a sophomore, who has more experience in the terrain park, showed he could bash gates with the best of them.
Senior Cassidy Kuhn capped his senior year with one of the best races of the season.
“Everyone did so well today. It was amazing,” Nanin said. “Their improvement was like night and day.”
Sports Editor Chris Freud can be reached at 970-748-2934 or cfreud@vaildaily.com.
