Ray K. Erku / Post Independent
Right before suiting up to play one of the biggest games of his high school career, Rifle senior Bryce Rowley was determined to do better.
“I think it’s funny because like I said right before the state game, I’m like, ‘Hey, I took fifth in state wrestling, at least let me say that I took first at something,” Rowley said.
The 18-year-old varsity athlete and quarterback played an integral part in assisting the Bears to their heart-stopping 35-34 3A state championship win over The Classical Academy on May 15.
But it’s the preceding ride that got Rowley to where he is today that’s most notable.
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.
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