MANCOS – Mancos and Montezuma-Cortez entered Friday night with a chance to stay atop their respective leagues. However, in contests against Alamosa and Sanford, both teams fell short against high-powered offenses.
The Bluejays and visiting Mustangs entered the night’s contest ranked No. 5 and No. 6 in the classification, adding playoff seeding implications to the league title chase.
Sanford (6-1, 3-0 Mountain League) quickly took the wind out of the Bluejays’ sails on Senior Night, scoring on each of their first four possessions and holding Mancos without a first down until the scoreboard read 28-0. Three one-yard touchdowns capped efficient Mustang drives, including two from senior quarterback Trason Gartrell.
In a deep hole, Mancos (5-2, 2-1 Mountain League) showed signs of life as junior quarterback Michael Resner broke loose on a long run to set up a red-zone opportunity. Several plays later, senior Jonah Ritter submarined behind his line into the end zone from four yards out to cut the margin to 28-8.
Sanford scored on its first drive of the second half with a 69-yard burst from Gartrell.
Mancos responded early in the fourth quarter on a fourth-down heave from Resner to classmate James Potts, making it 35-14.Sanford sealed the win with time-consuming drives in the closing minutes.
Mancos will look to bounce back and maintain a top-eight seed, which would ensure its five seniors at least one more home game. The Bluejays travel to Norwood (5-2, 2-1 Mountain League) on Thursday, Oct. 23, for another top-10 clash against the Mavericks.
Alamosa 40, M-CHS 0
The Mean Moose defense proved too tough for the Panthers (4-3, 2-1 2A Intermountain League), holding M-CHS to fewer than 25 yards of total offense in their trip to the San Luis Valley.
Alamosa (5-2, 3-0 2A IML) scored on its final four possessions of the first half to build a 26-0 lead and never looked back, remaining atop the league standings alongside Pagosa Springs (4-3, 3-0 2A IML).
M-CHS will host Pagosa Springs next Friday at Panther Stadium for Senior Night in a game with major implications for the league championship and playoff positioning. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. The Panthers–Pirates matchup will be broadcast on 98.7 FM KRTZ and streamed online at https://krtzradio.com.
