CORTEZ – For high school football fans, week one of the season holds the same anticipation and excitement of a child opening a gift at the holidays. With a new head coach and roster turnover, plenty of surprises burst through the cheerleader tunnel into Panther Stadium on Friday night.
The Montezuma-Cortez High School defense turned into a gift that kept on giving – mostly in the form of crunching tackles for loss – leaving the visiting Ignacio Bobcats wishing that they had kept the receipt.
M-CHS overwhelmed the ‘Cats for most of the night, pulling away in the second half for a 44-0 blanking, and a nearly perfect start to new head coach Bryce Waggoner’s high school tenure.
The Panthers offense amassed over 250 yards on the ground, led by junior Kendrick MacPherson going over 150 and scoring one of the six M-CHS rushing touchdowns on the night.
Sophomore Miguel Rodriguez added nearly 100 yards of his own and a pair of scores, while senior quarterback Cody Case raced into the end zone twice. Senior Maleko Esquibel also got into the act with a fourth quarter score to help the Panthers nail down victory with a 24-point fourth quarter.
Meanwhile, the other side of the ball may have stolen the show – the Panthers ‘D’ was impenetrable from the opening kickoff, allowing only three first downs all night. A constant rotation of Panthers invaded the Ignacio backfield, led by junior linemen Cade Phillips and Zane Coffey and senior linebackers Esquibel and Kyler Wyatt.
“We played our hearts out,” said Esquibel after the win, “we wanted to blitz and light up the backfield.”
Ignacio’s defense made the Panthers offense earn their yardage, particularly in the first half, as the Bobcats line led by senior Tyce Nossaman turned the Panthers away on multiple occasions.
Trailing 7-0 after Case’s first score of the night capped a 69-yard first quarter drive, Ignacio stuffed M-CHS’ second drive on downs inside the IHS 10-yard line.
M-CHS immediately turned the tide, however, as senior linebacker Diego Muniz pounced on a fumble at the six-yard line. Two plays later, the Rodriguez found pay dirt from four yards to double the lead at the end of the first stanza.
The two teams traded fourth down stops in the second quarter, including a drive in which Wyatt produced sacks on back-to-back plays. The ‘Cats lingered within earshot at 14-0 when the clock struck halftime.
M-CHS made sure that any visions of a comeback died away early in the second half with a grinding six-minute drive dominated by Phillips and the Panthers offensive front, and capped off by Rodriguez dashing across the goal line from seven yards out.
The special teams added to the night of big plays for the orange-and-black, tackling Ignacio’s William Mendoza-Lechuga on botched punt snap to set up the second of two quick-fire scores in the fourth quarter, just moments after Esquibel scored his first varsity touchdown on a one-yard plunge. Case scored on the next play to make it 36-0.
“It was an amazing feeling,” said Esquibel of the rare circumstance for a defender to get a chance to score on offense, “I wasn’t expecting to get that opportunity.”
MacPherson added a 45-yard sprint through tired Bobcat defenders in the final five minutes, sending the game to mercy-rule running clock.
M-CHS completed their third consecutive shutout in their series with Ignacio, holding the Bobcats out of the end zone on their game-ending heave.
“We cleaned some things up after the first half, and played like I know this team is capable of in the second,” said Waggoner, who exhaled a sigh of relief after completing his first game in charge of the varsity.
Even more encouraging for the new Panthers head coach, he got the opportunity to get virtually the entire roster of 40-plus student athletes onto the field for a series of snaps.
“We were able to get our freshmen in which was really exciting,” Waggoner said, “and having those numbers helps keeps the guys fresh and away from injuries.”
Next up, the Panthers begin a three-game road trip, starting with a contest against Cedaredge on Friday at 7 p.m. Ignacio travels to Duchesne, Utah, for their next outing, also on the evening of Aug. 28.
“We’re ready to come for anybody,” Esquibel said, as the Panthers gear up for the tough road ahead.
