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Eagle Valley breezes past Summit

Chris Freud
The Vail Daily
Eagle Valley's Luis Chavez makes his way to a first down during the first quarter against Summit in Gypsum Friday.
Anthony Thornton | athornton@vaildaily.com |

GYPSUM — The Gypsum Fire Department probably needs new light bulbs. So does the scoreboard at Hot Stuff Stadium.

Eagle Valley football celebrated homecoming with a smashing win in all ways, pounding Summit County 41-7.

The Devils’ onslaught started, with of all things, a pass. Harrison Stevens hooked up with Bryce Muehlethaler for 12 yards. With the world not spinning off its axis because of a pass, the Devils went to the ground very efficiently.



Luis Chavez for 38 yards followed by 14 yards from Cristian Aguilar put the Devils on the Tigers’ 3. Riley Rowles went from there for a 6-0 lead.

Summit quarterback Luke Egging completed a 43-yard strike to Colby Chrisman, but there was laundry on the play, and that holding call backed up Summit to its own 6.



Eagle Valley’s Devin Ward dumped Eggling in the end zone for a safety on the next play. The ensuing free kick started the Devils’ next drive. Eagle Valley ripped off runs from Buck Ortiz, Rowles and Wyatt Borah with Chavez rumbling 12 yards for the score.

Eagle Valley’s defense was doing the job, too. Chavez ended Summit’s next drive with a 12-yard sack of Egging. The Devils’ offense got itself in a hole with penalties, but Summit reciprocated with a late hit on Stevens. That penalty kept the drive alive, although the personal foul did not give Eagle Valley an automatic first down for some reason.

Stevens hit Mike Ramunno for 15 yards and Rowles pounded it in from 2 yards out for a 21-0 lead after one quarter.

The Tigers did have defensive moment when senior Jordan Nelson blitzed and sacked Stevens. In the process, he jarred the ball loose and Summit’s Harmon Dougherty came up with the fumble.

However, Summit went three-and-out and Eagle Valley needed only three plays to score again. Rowles made a great catch on a 21-yard strike from Stevens and then showed some moves, eluding tacklers. Aguilar took the pitch from Stevens for a 12-yard score.

The Tigers got their biggest gain of the first half on a screen from Egging to Tristan McDonald for 42 yards. Call that a combination of good hustle from McDonald and poor tackling from the Devils.

Eagle Valley, though, shut that drive down when Rowles sniffed out a reverse on fourth down and dropped Summit’s Tony Finley for a loss.

The Devils made it a running clock for the rest of the night with a 32-yard rush by Aguilar and a 23-yard touchdown from Buck Ortiz.

Devils coach John Ramunno wisely used the second half to substitute freely, giving the younger members of the team some varsity experience.

Eagle Valley (4-1 overall and 1-1 in the 3A Slope) heads to Glenwood Springs next week, while Summit County (1-4, 0-2) hosts Delta for its homecoming.


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