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In front of a bleacher filled with festive camo and led by the tunes of the high school band, Basalt football kept on rolling, with an emphatic homecoming victory over Moffat County on Friday night, 48-7, putting another potential undefeated regular season just two games on the horizon.
The Longhorns moved to 7-0 on the season on the strength of a big first half, outscoring the Bulldogs 35-7. Junior QB Karson Schneider showed off the Horns’ air game with passing touchdowns to start the scoring, first to senior Samuel Volf over the shoulder in the corner of the end zone, then to senior Taylor Hays for 14 yards, the receiver carrying it for the last 10-ish yards.
Hays wasn’t done scoring, with two rushing TDs on reverses in the second quarter. Junior Will Tarallo added a pick-six interception in between to send the Longhorns to the locker room with a 28-point edge.
Tarallo helped Basalt get to the mercy-rule running clock in the third quarter with a long rushing TD on the team’s second possession. Hays scored his fourth TD of the day on a pass for more than 70 yards to make the score 48-7 and start the running clock.
Basalt came into the game already ranked No. 2 in 2A by the Colorado High School Activities Association, which showed some more love to the program earlier in the week when it named head coach Carl Frerichs the Broncos Coach of the Week, a statewide recognition across all classifications. Friday night’s win was the 107th in his 22-year coaching career, all with Basalt.
The Longhorns are one of just two teams still undefeated in 2A, with No. 1 The Classical Academy also entering the weekend at 6-0. Basalt went 9-0 in 2023 before the playoffs.
They have two games remaining, traveling to Middle Park (1-5) on Oct. 25 before closing the regular season at home against Aspen (4-2 entering Friday night) in the Battle of the Pan on Nov. 1. Entering Friday night, Aspen and Basalt were the only two teams still undefeated in 2A West League play.
Young students eagerly egged on cars to honk their horns along Midland Avenue before the floats cruised by during Friday’s pre-game homecoming parade. Around 2:15 p.m. on Friday, the Basalt High School band led the charge down Two Rivers Road onto Midland Avenue, followed by the school’s clubs and sports teams.
They weaved through the downtown construction zone, where work was halted to allow the annual event to proceed.
“It was actually quite simple: The travel lanes are already wide enough to accommodate a float,” Basalt Town Manager Ryan Mahoney said. “This year we have the bonus of having traffic control out there because of the project, so that traffic control will give us a hand. And then we have our police department on hand as well as our public works crew. So it’s kind of an all hands on deck just to maintain the safety and make sure at the end of the day the kiddos are staying safe.”
The floats included homecoming royalty, sports teams, clubs and others. They came by truck bed, golf cart, foot and firetruck, tossing candy and handing out posters to onlookers.