Boy, Ralston Valley has really turned this season around.  After going into the losers bracket in their own preseason tournament and then falling to around 5th or so in the Jeffco 5A league standings, the win at Arvada West a couple weeks ago really turned the page on the Mustangs season.  Going into this game against Dakota Ridge, Ralston Valley was 9-5 in league and are currently sitting in third place in the league.

It was good to see Spencer Svejcar back in the RV line up.  He had been sitting out due to a nagging injury from before football season.  So with the Mustangs at full strength, it would be interesting to see how they would handle this Dakota Ridge team.

For some reason my lights seemed a little hot this time in the Ralston Valley gym.  I set them up like I normally do, but for some reason they just seemed a little hotter than normal.

Another thing I noticed, I was shooting more shots of Ralston Valley than I was of Dakota Ridge.  The first quarter the Eagles were out playing the Mustangs, but the shots and action just were not that great for images, or the refs were in my way, it was always something.  Dakota Ridge outscored the home team Mustangs 16 to 13 in the first quarter.

But, after dropping the first frame, RV took over, out scoring the Eagles 14 to 9 in the second quarter and took a 2 point lead into the locker room at half time.

The third quarter started and Ralston Valley looked like a team on a mission.  You could almost say possessed.  The Mustangs added 10 points to their score and held Dakota Ridge to only 2 points.  This put the Mustangs up by 11 going into the 4th quarter.

While Dakota Ridge was down by double digits, I give them credit.  They fought in the 4th quarter.  They matched Ralston Valley almost point for point.  But the Mustangs outscored them by 1 for a 53 to 42 win.  Another thing I give Dakota Ridge credit for, when there was no chance they could come back, they stopped fouling.  To many times I have seen a team down by 10 or more points foul over and over again to drag the game out.  They typically do not get any closer and usually just dig themselves further into a hole at this level.  But Dakota Ridge did not do this.  They let up and let the clock run down.  Bravo.

I really wanted to cover the Mustang’s next game, a rematch against Arvada West, but it took place at the same time as the Ralston Valley hockey playoff game, and I committed to that and the Standley Lake hockey game right before the RV game.  I had planned on returning to Ralston Valley on Saturday to at least get the JV game against A-West, but after the two hockey games the night before and another one that evening, I just did not have the time.

Tomorrow night (Wednesday) I will be at RV High School to cover the Mustangs first round State Championship Playoff game against Smoky Hill.  After that, the only way I will see the Mustangs hoopsters again will be if they make it to the Elite 8 at the Denver Coliseum.

To view and purchase photos from this game, head over to Maxpreps.