Homecoming week can make a coach nervous, as the festivities have a way to take a player's attention away from the field.
So, Friday night's 48-7 rout of visiting Moffat County is one Basalt High School football coach Carl Frerichs is happy to have in the rear view.
"They've had a lot of fun this week with all the different events, but I think just making sure they are dialed in (is key)," he said. "The focus is really there. It's just every week is a different kind of match up."
Despite the homecoming revelry, which included a parade through downtown Basalt earlier in the afternoon and the recognizing of homecoming royalty at halftime, the Longhorns didn't have much trouble with the Bulldogs. It's a win that keeps Basalt undefeated, with only two games remaining in the regular season.
Junior quarterback Karson Schneider had a strong outing, going 9 of 18 for 184 yards with three touchdowns. BHS leaned on the passing game a bit more than usual after the early exit of star senior running back Will Daniel to an apparent leg injury. His junior backfield counterpart, Will Tarallo, had 86 yards on 11 carries.
Senior receiver Taylor Hays had a strong night, with four catches for 100 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for 56 yards on three carries with two more scores.
"They have been dialed in, but we were not as pleased as we have been in the first half," Frerichs said. "But again, Karson had a huge night throwing the ball, and Taylor had a big night catching, and our receivers' blocking was phenomenal."
Leading 7-0 after a quarter thanks to a short TD pass from Schneider to Samuel Volf, BHS began to pull away from the Bulldogs in the second quarter. A 15-yard Hays TD catch made it 14-0 only seconds into the second frame, and he'd score again on a reverse only a few minutes later.
Down 21-0, Moffat County's lone score came via a long touchdown run midway through the second quarter that temporary got the Bulldogs back into the fight.
But, after recovering a surprise onside kick, disaster struck on a fake punt attempt when the pass was intercepted by Tarallo and returned for the touchdown. Another Hays touchdown run in the final two minutes of the quarter made it 35-7 in favor of Basalt at halftime.
A long Tarallo touchdown run made it 42-7 and a 71-yard pass and catch from Schneider to Hays made it 48-7, leading to a running clock with about four minutes remaining in the third quarter.
"We told them at halftime, we really got to focus on ourselves. I think the first half we were kind of all over the place," Frerichs said. "The second half, I thought we really buckled down and played a lot better football. But first half, I think their offensive line was giving us some fits, and it was nice in the second half to buckle down and play better gap assignment football."
Moffat County fell to 2-5 overall and 0-3 in 2A West league play. The Bulldogs still play Delta (5-2, 2-1) and Middle Park (1-5, 0-2) over the final two games.
Basalt improved to 7-0 overall and 3-0 in league play. Standing in the way of an undefeated regular season are games at Middle Park (Oct. 25) and at home against Aspen (Nov. 1).
With Aspen's 28-7 home loss to Delta on Friday, Basalt now has solo possession of first place in the league. The Skiers are 4-3 and 2-1. They host Coal Ridge (4-2, 1-1) this coming week.
On Wednesday, Frerichs was named the Denver Broncos Tackle Football Coach of the Week via the Colorado High School Activities Association and CHSAANow.com. True to form, he credited the Basalt community for the honor.
"Super overwhelming and just lucky to be here in Basalt," he said. "We are a little banged up, but in the long run, we are going to be OK, and we are right where we want to be."