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Vail Mountain School shuts out no. 4 Jefferson Academy, 4-0

Vail Mountain's Kevin Garcia moves the ball away from Jefferson Academy on Saturday in East Vail. After losing to the Jaguars in last season's opener, the Gore Rangers beat them on Saturday, 4-0.
Chris Dillmann | cdillmann@vaildaily.com |

VAIL — The Gore Rangers are so hot right now, and it’s not because of their new hairstyles.

No. 5 Vail Mountain School (11-2, 6-1 3A Western Slope) capped off four wins in five days by shutting out No. 4 Jefferson Academy (12-2, 7-1 3A Metro League) in Vail on Saturday afternoon, 4-0.

The Jaguars had allowed four goals all season.



“The boys came out and showed a lot of heart,” said VMS coach Pete Petrovski. “Three games in three days and four in five days is a lot to ask of anyone, and everybody out there worked as hard as they could. It was a team game.”

The Gore Rangers avenged last season’s opening game loss to Jefferson Academy, but more importantly position themselves for a top-four spot in the state, which would bring the first three playoff opponents to Vail Mountain School.

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The Battle Mountain crew in attendance at Saturday’s game also went home very pleased, as the Huskies season-opening win against Vail Mountain School looks better and better in the ratings-percentage index the more the Gore Rangers win.

VMS finishes with two Slope games on the road at Basalt (8-4, 4-2) on Tuesday and Grand Valley (0-11-1, 0-6) on Thursday.

“We’re going to continue to try to get a clean slate, no more goals, bury some and try to get a good seed in the playoffs,” Gore Rangers defender Max Bervy said.

‘That’s the style’

Against a tough Jaguars team, the Gore Rangers dominated on a beautiful fall day. They kept possession of the ball and capitalized on a few opportunities, but the VMS defense led the way.

Jefferson Academy’s first shot on goal was nearly 30 minutes into the first half, a long free kick that goalie Colin Rouaud caught. Its next shot came nearly 30 minutes into the second half, off the foot of Lucas Almeida, but Rouaud made a diving save to maintain the shutout.

While Bervy, Robby Gruber and Max Timm with Pablo Aziz as the holding midfielder and the rest of the Gore Rangers were preventing any chance of scoring by the Jaguars, the Gore Rangers offense was knocking at the goal all day.

Peter Ferraro scored first for VMS 10 minutes into the game.

“I was just running and I saw an opening that Christian (Trevino) sent me through, and I just decided to fake shot because I didn’t have any angle to shoot, and I just took it in,” Ferraro said.

Ten minutes later in the first half, Nathan Rouaud found himself alone with the ball near midfield. He set up his shot and sent it up and over the defense and off the finger tips of the diving Jaguars keeper for the 2-0 lead.

An own goal by the Jaguars off a cross from Eric Zdechlik made it 3-0 early in the second half, and Liam Hurley scored the fourth goal for the Gore Rangers on a header from Kevin Garcia.

“They’ve come off a really good week of playing,” said Jefferson Academy coach Matt Cassell. “We’ve, honestly, had a couple weeks of playing pretty flat teams that didn’t put us under a lot of pressure, and they just came out and they won the ball. They’re well coached.”

On Friday night, the Gore Rangers beat Delta in overtime, 2-1, on a golden goal by Gruber.

The Gore Rangers honored their seniors on Saturday at their final home game of the regular season, but depending on how the final two games of the season play out for Vail Mountain School, the fans might get to see them play at home yet again.

And as for the hair — pig tails, bows and all?

“That’s the style,” Ferraro said.

Reporter Ross Leonhart can be reached at 970-748-2915 and rleonhart@vaildaily.com.


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