The football season for the Rye High School Thunderbolt Football team ended in Rocky Ford where the RHS football team won a convincing 42-36 victory. Less the score fool you, Rye led at halftime 35-7 and the Meloneers scored 21 of their 36 points in the final quarter.
Dylan Hurne and Josh George each scored three touchdowns.
Quarterback Nolan Schauer connected on 10 of 15 passes for 125 yards and threw a pair of touchdowns. George was on the receiving end of six of those passes good for 105 yards.
In addition to Hurne, who carried the ball eight times for 151 yards, freshman Jackson Bjorum ran 19 times for 87 yards.
Bjorum and fellow freshman Isaac Moreno led the defense with the most tackles. Moreno had 13 tackles and Bjorum had eight, one of which was a sack of the quarterback. George had an interception.
Kyran Baker was 5 of 6 on extra point attempts.
Rye had some hope of a playoff berth but it was not to be. The Thunderbolts who ended the season with a 6-3 record and placed third in the league did not make the 16 teams who advanced.
Limon ended up with the #1 seed in the state. Banning Lewis Ranch is seeded #8 and Colorado Springs Christian School is seeded #12. Banning Lewis and CSCS were the two league losses Rye had.
Schauer, Hurne, Derick Bak, Brendan Gray, Cael Sirbu, Codah Graber, James Scott and Rylan Baker played their final game as a Thunderbolt.