Aspen Skiers Reach No. 11 Ranking After Fourth Straight Win

Durango —Aspen High School football coach Bryce Sandoval told his players to forget about the past. Specifically, he wants them to ignore the 2-6 record from last season and the slow 1-2 start to this one. He wants them to look at Friday night, when the Skiers trailed 14-0 early in the game against Pagosa Springs and still found a way to win.

The 29-28 homecoming victory was the fourth straight win for Aspen, a team that has been described as "hard to kill." Sandoval noted that the turnaround didn’t happen overnight. It started in June, when he had more than 30 players showing up to summer practice. They went to camp in Gunnison, put in the hours, and let the work pay off.

"Hard work pays off and no one tells you when," Sandoval said. "These boys have been at it since I got here Day 1."

Let’s do the math on what that work has produced. Aspen is now 5-2 overall and 3-1 in Western Slope League play, sitting second behind only Delta. As of Sunday, the Skiers were ranked No. 11 among Class 2A schools in CHSAA’s rankings. That is a massive leap from the 2-6 finish of Sandoval’s first year, which followed a decade as an assistant at Bayfield and Durango high schools.

The path to that ranking has been anything but smooth. The Skiers opened the season with a 25-13 loss at North Fork, a team currently 6-0 and ranked No. 1 in Class 1A. They followed that with a 23-8 win over Summit, then took a 42-0 loss to Delta, who are now 8-0 and ranked No. 3 in 2A. Since then, every game has been a nail-biter: a 21-20 win at Gunnison, a 27-24 win over Wyoming’s Lyman, and a 16-6 win at Montezuma-Cortez.

Friday’s game against Pagosa Springs followed the same pattern of volatility, but with a different ending. Aspen fell behind 28-16 at halftime after trailing early in the first quarter. They then outscored the Pirates 13-0 in the second half, with all those points coming in the third quarter. A standout defensive performance sealed the deal. Pagosa Springs is now 3-4 overall and 2-2 in league play.

The practical impact of this turnaround is postseason eligibility. Aspen High School hasn’t played a playoff game since the 2020-21 pandemic season. To get back there, they have to survive two more regular-season games. The Skiers are currently in a strong position to make the cut, but the season isn’t over.

Sandoval’s message is clear: the scoreboard is dark, and the past doesn’t matter anymore. What matters is that this team refuses to quit when they are down by 14 points early in the game. That is a tangible change for fans in the valley, who have waited years for this level of competitiveness.