By Mike Weaver

Forty-eight minutes of football action must have seemed like a very long time for the Montezuma-Cortez High School team Friday, Oct. 8, at Panther Stadium.

The Panthers had their football homecoming spoiled by a 41-14 mugging at the hands of the powerhouse New Mexico team from Kirtland-Central, a team which is ranked fifth in the New Mexico high school Class 3A polls.

With four road games left in the season, Cortez will be out to regroup as it tries to turn a 1-4 season into a winning one. The Panthers are in the same position as they were at this time last season when they won four straight and finished with at 5-4. Following Friday’s game, Coach Dick Geddes was confident his team could accomplish just such a turn around.

"This is a real test of character," Geddes said after Friday’s game. "We have to come back now and I know we have the type of young men who will do that. We have four games left, and we’ve gone through the really tough part of the schedule here this last little bit. The rest of the season we have to just get after it."

The Panthers were on the short end of a big play at the start against Kirtland, only the first of many which would plague them throughout the game.

"We would hold and then they would make a big play. It made the difference in the football game," Geddes said."

On its first play from scrimmage, Kirtland quarterback Pat Crawford rolled out on a bootleg and found split end John Atencio with a pass that was good for 67 yards and a touchdown. The point after touchdown kick was wide. With 19 seconds gone from the game clock, Cortez was in the hole 6-0.

Defense stiffened and the Panthers held Kirtland scoreless for the rest of the period.

Early in the second stanza, the Broncos capped a 60 yard drive with a 19 yard off-tackle scoring run by Brad Martin. This time the PAT was good, and Cortez trailed 13-0 with 10:43 left in the half.

Kirtland kicked on side and recovered on the Panther 42 to set up its next score. It came at the 5:36 mark when Nick Martinez made a 40 dash off right tackle. The PAT made it 20-0.

Cortez aired a trick play of its own on its next possession. Looking at fourth and short on the Kirtland 46 yard line, punter Adam Williams found Bryce Tanner for a touchdown. The two-point conversion attempt failed.

With half a minute left in the half, another Crawford-to Atencio pass was good for a 36 yard TD. On the two-point try, Crawford again found Atencio and gave the Broncos a 28-6 half-time lead.

A defensive pass interference call against the Panthers helped Kirtland get to the Cortez 24 in the third period. The Broncos went to their ground attack to get into the Cortez red zone, and Nolan Stewart plunged over from the 1. He then kicked the PAT to give Kirtland a 35-6 lead with 5:40 left.

The next Bronco score came quickly after Nick Martinez intercepted a pass from Cortez quarterback Josh Mortensen at midfleld. Martinez got all the way to the Panther 11 and two plays later, Fabian Medina went over the Cortez goal line from the 5. The PAT kick was no good.