Ray K. Erku / Post Independent
Former Rifle Bears standout turned starting running back for Western Colorado University Ty Leyba remembers it like it was yesterday.
“I think my best one was actually in the headline in the newspaper the next morning on the front page,” the 2016 Rifle graduate recalled. “It was a long touchdown on one of the first drives against Glenwood.”
It was the Colorado High School Activities Association Class 3A 1st Team All-Stater’s junior year. The win was so good, during an internship at a Glenwood Springs accounting firm sometime later, Leyba said he’d sneakily pin the newspaper clipping to his boss’s office door. The head honcho, of course, was a Demons football coach.
Ray K. Erku / Post Independent
Just a few minutes away from punching their ticket to the next round of the 3A playoffs, Bears senior Bryce Rowley was anxiously lingering on the sidelines when one of his teammates asked how many quarterback sacks he had.
“Three,” he responded confidently. “But I’m going for one more.”
If it weren’t for the backfield ambushes by Rowley, perhaps the outcome of the Bears’ 28-20 win over The Academy on Saturday could’ve been different. The 140-pound outside linebacker equipped with a keen nose for the ball did in fact inflict three punishing sacks on junior Wildcats starting quarterback Isaiah Eliot.
Down 14-7 with less than 11 minutes left in regulation, Rifle head coach Todd Casebier decided it was time to deviate from his ground-and-pound offense for a bit of an aerial attack.
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