Barbara Lawlor, Gilpin County.  The Gilpin County Eagles traveled to Soroco last Friday night, Oct. 6, 2017, for a competitive game against the Rams and charged forward at the end of the fourth quarter to win, 48-40, giving them a 5-1 win record and the eighth place in the league.

Eagle coach Craig Ball says, “Our defense needed to contain a star running back for Soroco. That they did. We had, and needed, some great open field tackles to beat this team. I’m just really proud of our boys. The rankings just came out and we have moved from 10th to 8th after the win.”

The game was slated to be a battle between the 8-man leaders. It came down to Ram junior Jace Logan and Gilpin senior Austin Boulter and the two players battled into the fourth quarter, when Boulter went for the 48 -40 victory. Coach Craig Ball said the Eagles didn’t have the speed so they had to contain Logan.

Early in the first quarter, the Rams led with a pair of first-quarter touchdowns, but Gilpin made up for it in the second quarter and led 14-12 seconds before the end of the first half. Soroco hit a touchdown pass as the clock ran out and the teams headed to the lockers with the Rams ahead 20-14.

Soroco scored in the third quarter, but Austin Boulter began slamming his way through the Ram line and made a couple long passes to Jack Ball for touchdowns. Rams had a 75-yard touchdown play in the fourth quarter, and with about four minutes left in the game, the score was tied at 40. Eagle senior Stephen King took a kickoff to the 15-yard line and Boulter took the ball to the one-yard line and Manny Gomez put it in for the winning touchdown. The Eagles held the Rams and celebrated the win.

Austin Boulter was named Overall Player of the Game; Jack Ball was the Offensive Player of the Game; Josh Trujillo was the Defensive Player of the Game and Stephen King was the Special Teams Player of the Game.

Gilpin and West Grand are the teams to beat in the Northwest 8-man football league.

Quarter scores:

0-12 14-8 14-6 20-14

Individual Statistics:

Passing: Stephen King: 2/3 for 53 yards and 1 touchdown; Austin Boulter, 5/6 for 119 yards for 2 touchdowns

Rushing: Jack Ball, 8/25 yards, Stephen King, 12/95 yards, 1 touchdown; Austin Boulter, 34/179 and 1 touchdown; Manny Gomez, 8/33 and 1 touchdown

Receiving: Jack Ball 6/145 yards and 3 touchdowns; Angel Gomez, 1/25 and 1 touchdown

Tackles: Jack Ball, 4 solos, 4 assists; Austin Boulter, 7 solos, 4 assists; Angel Gomez, 9 solos, 2 assists; Jake Duncan, 8 solos, 5 assists; Manny Gomez, 3 solos, 6 assists; Josh Trujillo, 9 solos, 10 assists; Jaime, Alexander, 1 assist; Tristan Froio, 1 solo; Nolan Lindberg, 1 assist; Josh Trujillo 1 interception; Austin Boulter 1 fumble recovery, Jaime Alexander 1 recovery

(Originally published in the October 12, 2017 print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)