Dave Gibson, Gilpin County. After a ruling was handed down by the Colorado High School Activities Association a month ago in favor of fall sports and a scant two weeks of practice, 200 Colorado football teams took the field beginning October 8, 2020. The Gilpin Eagles faced the Sargent Farmers last Friday night, at home with Covid-19 safety precautions in place. Only 68 Eagles’ fans and 40 Farmers’ supporters were allowed into the contest. Some were forced to observe the game from outside the fence. Hurdles strung together with yellow tape on the track served as a barrier between onlookers and players and afforded a closer view of the action. Everyone was mask compliant and happy that football was back; even if you couldn’t see their smiles it was evident in their voices and eyes.

 Traveling four hours each way from Monte Vista, the Farmers didn’t seem too road-weary when they scored their first touchdown and 2-point conversion halfway through the first quarter. In the second, they showed why they were the 9th best 8-man football team in the state last year with another TD. Failing on the conversion, the score stood 14 – 0 at halftime. The Eagles’ defense was sturdy in the 3rd quarter with neither team scoring any points. Stephen King decided to keep the ball on a wave sweep pass that went for 45 yards and a touchdown, giving fans something to cheer about. Blake Boulter walked it in untouched for another two points. Final score: Sargent 22, Gilpin 8.

According to Coach Craig Ball, “Our boys played hard at our Friday Night home opener against Sargent. We had two weeks to get ready for the game and we missed having our normal scrimmage before our first game to get up to game time speed. CHSAA set up our game schedule this year due to the lockdown and we drew the #9 Sargent to play at home on our beautiful field. Sargent is a mostly power running team and I thought our defense did a great job to slow them down. Our new defense is designed to take advantage of our team’s natural tendency to be aggressive. Even with this design feature, it is difficult to find the right angles to avoid blocks while remaining on a downhill dive forward. Our defense was learning this skill on the job. We have limited contact practices during the week and the only way to practice this type of movement and flow is with full speed contact drills. We held the powerful Sargent offense to one score per quarter in the first half and scoreless in the 3rd quarter. Alex Rodriguez-Jimenez #33 really came to life as a tackler in the second half and was credited for 10 tackles down the stretch. 

“Our offense could have really used a scrimmage to get some of the timing and kinks out. We have a new Offensive Coordinator (Chase Boulter) this year and I thought that the play calls and setups were good for a first game. As a team, we did not take care of the ball as much as you would like to see when playing a top team. We missed some great opportunities to score. We drove inside the 5-yard line twice and could not punch it in.

“Our team was resilient and I was proud of the effort. We have a great group of seniors this year and the team and I are ready to hit the practice field on Monday in preparation for our Friday Night game against Vail Christian.” 

(Originally published in the October 15, 2020, edition of The Mountain-Ear.)