No. 10 Ralston Valley football shuts out Fossil Ridge
ARVADA — Ralston Valley senior AJ Jergensen had a touchdown cycle late Friday afternoon at the North Area Athletic Complex.
Jergensen had a touchdown catch, threw a pair of touchdowns and carried one in on the ground in the Mustangs’ 49-0 victory over Fossil Ridge. It was a nice win for Ralston Valley, No. 10 in the CHSAANow.com Class 5A football rankings, after a close loss to 4A No. 1 Loveland last week.
“It’s starts up front with our offensive line,” Jergensen said giving a nod to Ralston Valley’s offense line. “They have done a great job this year and did a great job today.”
Jergensen had a touchdown catch tossed by junior Walker Brickle, along with a pair of touchdown passes to junior Caleb Rillos. The University of San Diego baseball commit finished off his night with an 8-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.
“Coaches are just trying to put players in positions to succeed. I think we’re doing a good job with that,” said Jergensen, who split time at quarterback with Brickle in the Mustangs’ non-league finale. “We are getting a lot of guys reps and we’ll be ready for league.”
Senior Brad Roberts got it all started with a 59-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. He added a short touchdown run in the second quarter before Jergensen’s pair of touchdown passes to Rillos.
“Athlete guy and we try to get him (Jergensen) the ball if we can in different spots,” Ralston Valley coach Matt Loyd said.
While the offensive was impressive, Ralston Valley’s defense was outstanding. The Mustangs (4-1 record) held the Sabercats (2-3) to minus-25 net yards in the first half.
Fittingly, Ralston Valley senior Phil Donley finished off the scoring with a pick-6 early in the fourth quarter for the final score of the game.
“It was the same way we attack every other week. We schemed off their offense and we do what we do,” Ralston Valley senior Isaac Townsend said. “We executed well and it showed on the scoreboard.”
Loyd gave a lot of credit to his defensive coordinator Greg Francis for the dominating defensive effort and second shutout victory of the season for Ralston Valley.
“Our defensive coach (Francis) did a good job putting that together,” Loyd said of the Mustangs’ defensive scheme. “He mixed it up with not knowing who was coming each time. It worked.”
Ralston Valley heads into the second-half of the regular season next week by opening up play in the 5A Metro West League. The Mustangs face rival and No. 8 Arvada West at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 27, at NAAC.
“(Loveland) was a tough loss and we knew we wanted to bounce back before league to get things on track,” Jergensen said. “We are excited and ready to roll.”
Fossil Ridge is on the road against Horizon in its 5A Front Range opener.
