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Basalt football takes down Sterling, will host TCA in state semifinals

Basalt High School football coach Carl Frerichs talks to his players after beating The Academy on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024, in a Class 2A first-round playoff game on the BHS field. The Longhorns won, 42-14.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times

The Basalt High School football team has been business-like all season, and nothing changed on Saturday afternoon in Sterling. As the No. 2 seed, the Longhorns pulled away for a 34-14 win over the No. 10 seed Tigers in the second round of the Class 2A state tournament.

BHS, now 11-0, will host No. 3 The Classical Academy (11-0) in the semifinals next weekend.

“The amount of work our kids do for this, I think they are more than deserving, and I am so proud of the way we traveled here and made this a business trip,” BHS coach Carl Frerichs said. “Really, really proud of the kids with the way they were focused the entire game and the way they played during the game, especially.”



Basalt led 7-0 after a quarter and 14-7 at halftime against Sterling. A late fourth-down try by BHS that came up short set up the Tigers for a late score before the break.

Frerichs credited his offense for being able to put the game away in the second half.




“In the first half offensively, our offensive line and running backs did a really nice job establishing the run game,” he said. “I felt like first half we did a good job controlling the game, and we didn’t get it on that fourth-down play, and they went down to score, which put us on our heels a little bit right before halftime. But then we kicked off at half, went down and stopped them, then the offense got going again. And really the offense played phenomenal all afternoon long.”

Sterling finishes the season with a 9-2 record. The Tigers hosted Saturday’s game due to CHSAA’s rule that tries to prevent teams from traveling on the road in back-to-back weeks in the second round of the postseason.

TCA, the No. 3 seed, beat No. 6 Berthoud in the quarterfinals, 20-17. While the day and time wasn’t yet finalized, Frerichs expects Basalt to host TCA at 1 p.m. this coming Saturday in the semifinals.

“Having that home-field advantage in the semifinals is the reason your schedule pays off for what these kids have accomplished all season,” he said.

In the other half of the 2A bracket, No. 9 Wellington upset No. 1 Strasburg, 17-0, leaving Basalt as the highest remaining seed. Also, No. 13 Eaton upset No. 5 Lamar, 14-0. Wellington and Eaton will play in the other semifinal.

acolbert@aspentimes.com

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