YOUR AD HERE »

High School sports preview, Oct. 13 to Oct. 15

Joel Reichenberger

Steamboat volleyball

6:30 p.m. Thursday Steamboat (7-9) at Battle Mountain (11-4)

1 p.m. Saturday Steamboat vs. Palisade

No. 1 vs. No. 2 a year ago, this year the Sailors come into the match at Battle Mountain solidly No. 4 in the Western Slope League, right behind the No. 3 Huskies.



Steamboat will look for a sharper game than it had in this season’s first matchup against the Huskies, a 3-0 loss at home. The Sailors have played better since that night last month and now are coming off back-to-back league wins for the first time all season.

A win would be a huge boost to the Sailors hopes of falling on the right side of the regional tournament bubble.



Steamboat football

7 p.m. Friday Steamboat (0-6) at Moffat County (3-3)

A slow start has turned into a miserable middle of the season for the Sailors, but nothing could change that quicker than a win on the road against U.S. Highway 40 rival, Moffat County.

Steamboat will need to take a few major steps forward if it’s to realize such a turnaround, however.

Senior quarterback Keenan Hildebrandt has led the way for the Bulldogs, racking up nearly 1,200 yards offense and 12 touchdowns. That presents a problem for Steamboat, which has struggled mightily to score. The Sailors have scored only 27 points on the season and are unlikely to find a win until they can crank up the offense.

Steamboat and Soroco cross country

Thursday Steamboat and Soroco at Rifle


The Soroco High School cross-country team fared well at the Chris Severy Invitational in Aspen last week.

Chloe Veilleux won the girls race, finishing with a time of 21 minutes, 21 seconds. Kourtney Bruner was 27th.

On the boys side, Ben Kelley sat the week out, but Brad Veilleux finished 31st and Joshua Taing 35th.

Steamboat, meanwhile, competed in Delta, also without several of its top athletes.

That didn’t prove a problem. The girls team won first overall and Maggi Congdon was first individually, in at 18:18. Kandice Kittinger was right on her heels, placing fourth. Isabelle Boniface was fifth, Meg Anderson 14th and Nicole Mueller 16th.

Cisco Delliquadri was ninth for short-handed boys team. Josh Bush was 31st, slightly head of teammates Aubrey Morrison, Quinn Wellman and Brooks Birkinbine.

The teams will try to maintain that momentum at Rifle, the final tuneup before next week’s regional meet.

Soroco football

7 p.m. Friday Soroco (5-1) vs. Plateau Valley (2-3)

The Rams, ranked No. 10 in this week’s chsaanow.com poll, survived a scare last week against Gilpin County and could face another similar test this week at home against Plateau Valley. 
Soroco coach Dick Dudas pointed to a handful of mistakes that limited his team’s scoring against Gilpin, allowing the game to be as close as it was. They’re things that should be able to be cleaned up, and things that will need to be for the Rams to keep rolling.

Soroco volleyball

6 p.m. Friday Soroco (8-8) vs. Plateau Valley (4-9)

The Rams will play at home against Plateau Valley to extend a winning streak to three matches. Soroco’s coming off an easy win against De Beque and a grueling one against Hayden and will try to carry that momentum into its first back-to-back-to-back wins of the season.
 The squad is lodged firmly in the middle of the Western Slope pack, seventh out of 12. Winning Friday is important to both, because Plateau Valley is one spot back, and because there’s plenty of room to move up a rung or two with a solid finish to the regular season.

Hayden football

7 p.m. Friday Hayden (3-3) at Gilpin County (3-3)

The Tigers picked up a solid win last week against Rangely and have a chance for another at home Friday against Gilpin County.

The Eagles have been to overtime in each of its past two games, splitting those results. Matthew Immordino has been the team’s leading rusher, gaining 5.5 yards per carry, but he’s one of five players to have scored the ball on the ground this season.

Hayden, 1-7 a year ago, has already shown huge improvement, but could battle for a top-half finish in the league with a win Friday, a big step forward for the program.

Hayden volleyball

6 p.m. Friday Hayden (3-11) at Vail Christian (6-9)

The Saints lost only four league matches in the past three seasons, but have slowed this season, having already lost three.

It’ll still require the best the Tigers can muster to take advantage of that. Fortunately for Hayden, it has been playing some of its best ball recently. A five-set loss to Soroco was heartbreaking for the Tigers, but still gave the team an example of how well it can play.

To reach Joel Reichenberger, call 970-871-4253, email jreichenberger@SteamboatToday.com or follow him on Twitter @JReich9


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

Readers around Steamboat and Routt County make the Steamboat Pilot & Today’s work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Each donation will be used exclusively for the development and creation of increased news coverage.