Steamboat Springs — Temperatures Saturday in Iliff hovered near 100 degrees, and first-year Soroco High School head football coach Dick Dudas jokingly said the team might have drank a program record in Gatorade.

Despite the heat and an opponent in Caliche that is coming off an 8-man state championship, Soroco’s season-opening 30-18 loss couldn’t have gone much better.

“We took on the No. 1 team in the state, the defending state champions, at their house, and had a shot at them,” Dudas said. “Up there, they play smash mouth football. But we knew what we were getting into. We were ready for it.”

The Rams received touchdown runs from senior running back Storm Veilleux, junior quarterback Isaac Jonas and a 91-yard run from freshman Jace Logan. Dudas said the team probably won three of the four quarters, but a lackluster second quarter led to their downfall.

“We scored the first quarter and then right at the end of the first quarter they scored, and then they scored twice in the second quarter,” Dudas said. “We just couldn’t get the ball back away from them. But I’m really proud of the way they hung in.”

Soroco rushed for 257 yards on 26 carries and did not turn the ball over, but 11 penalties and an ineffective passing attack made progress difficult against the Buffaloes’ bigger and stronger lines.

“The game was actually closer than what it looked. … We did not have a fumble, did not have an interception. But the penalties were momentum killers,” Dudas said. “I’ll give them credit. Caliche is a good team, a strong team, and a well-coached team.”

Soroco (0-1), which stayed Friday night in Sydney, Nebraska, will have the luxury of its own bed this week. The Rams will host Sanford (0-1) at 6 p.m. Friday in Oak Creek for the home opener. Sanford lost, 30-6, to Gilpin County on Friday in “Zero Week.”

Sanford defeated Soroco, 62-16, last year in the Rams’ season opener.