The Montezuma-Cortez soccer team has started its season with a win and two losses.

On Saturday, Aug. 29, the Panthers had their first game at Palisade, and head coach Sean Fitzgerald said it showed.

“Jitters were coming out for sure,” he said. “It wasn’t the best game by any means.”

The Panthers lost 3-1, with Manual Martinez scoring the lone goal.

The team’s second game, on Sept. 4 at Bayfield, was a long one. Neither team could pull away, sending the game into double overtime. Extending it even more was a 40-minute rain delay.

“It kind of threw both teams off,” said Fitzgerald. “Both teams came out slow for that, but luckily we went ahead in the end.”

With Martinez scoring once and senior Andrew Laymon finding the back of the net twice, the Panthers came away with a 3-2 win.

The team had a quick turnaround with another game the next day at home versus Ridgway.

While Fitzgerald said it was a good game and fun to watch, M-CHS came out on the bad end of a close 3-2 game.

“We should have won,” Fitzgerald said. “There were a lot of mistakes that we need to learn from.”

Two of the mistakes cost the Panthers, with two of Ridgway’s goals coming from penalty kicks.

Laymon and Martinez were again the two scorers for M-CHS.

The Panthers have three upcoming away games, at Alamosa on Friday, Sept. 11, at Crested Butte on Saturday, Sept. 12, and at Durango on Tuesday, Sept. 15.