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October 2, 2001
By Jim Thomas The monkey is off the back of Montezuma-Cortez High School second-year head coach Karl McGee afer snapping a personal 14-game losing streak since replacing coach Dick Geddes at the start of the 2000 football season. The Panthers also snapped a 16-game losing dating back to the end of the 1999 season. And the Panthers broke a decade-long drought of losing Homecoming games with a 50-33 win over Glenwood Springs Friday night, Sept. 27, at Panther Field. Not since the Panthers won back-to-back Homecomings in 1990-91 (35-0 win over Palisade in 1990 and 46-6 win over Glenwood Springs in 1991). The win improved Cortez to 1-4 overall and 1-1 in Class 3A Western Slope League. "It has been a long 14 games. It was been not only tough on me and the players, but on my family and the coaching staff. I just wanted thank the players for not ducking out. That just shows the character of this team. I also want to thank the coaching staff for staying with me and working as hard as they have. It has taken a committed effort to stick together and work hard," McGee said following the win. The game got off to an ominous start when Glenwood Springs scored on its first possession as it marched from its own 30 to paydirt. Daine Reardon made a nice fake and then headed to the far sideline and zipped 40 yards down field with 10:12 showing. Brandon Chicoine made the point-after. The Panthers went three and out their first possession and then the Demons went three and out. Taking the ball on their own 30, the Panthers stubbed their toes a few times with penalties but overcame those. The big play of the drive came when quarterback Ronnie Johnson passed to tailback Kevin Wayman good for 48 yards from their own 43 to the GS9. Wayman got the call and took the ball over on the next with 4:46 on the clock. The kick failed. MCHS trailed 7-6. A fumble recovery by Elias Lehi gave the Panthers the ball back on the GS24. A play later, Wayman made a reverse and scored from 12 yards out with 3:58 showing. Johnson passed to Gabe Evans for the conversion and a 14-7 lead. GS was forced to punt. Richard Yake hauled in the ball at his own 49, zipped through the middle untouched and then out raced the defenders for a TD with 2:44 on the clock. Colin Tansey booted the PAT for a 21-7 lead. An interception at their own 45 set up the next Panther score early in the second quarter. Wayman made a nice run up the middle for 33 yards and he scored a few minutes later from 4 yards out with 9:51 left in the second. Tansey hit the PAT for a 28-7 lead. The Panthers got the ball after GS went three and out. This time they dominated the ball and clock. It took MCHS 16 plays, but they finally scored when Tansey kicked a 20-yard field goal. MCHS led 31-7 with 2:27 left. The Panthers took the opening kickoff of the third quarter and scored. The Panthers pounded the ball up the middle. Wayman found a seam and bolted 39-yards to paydirt with 7:38 showing. The PAT missed but MCHS led 37-7. The Demons found their offense again and scored when Tony Campagna scored from 17 yards out off a sweep with 3:25 on the clock. The conversion was good. MCHS led 37-15. The Panthers, though, answered right back. Johnson passed to Wayman coming out of the backfield for a 38-yard scoring strike with :03 left. The kick failed. MCHS led 43-15. MCHS could not convert an interception by Yake as they drove inside the Red Zone to the 14. Glenwood Springs came back and scored when Mike Boitho scored off a slant play from 3-yards out. MCHS led 43-23 with 5:52 on the clock in the fourth quarter. The Panthers recovered an on-side kick at the GS48. They scored moments later when Morgan Oliver swept over the right side for a 41 yard run with 4:41 left. Tansey hit the PAT for the final score of the game. The Panthers, 1-4 overall and 1-1 in Western Slope League play, will visit Delta at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 5. Dolores 7, Norwood 3 The Bears opened up their Class A San Juan Basin League schedule with an important win over Norwood Friday night, Sept. 26, at DHS Stadium. Norwood got on the scoreboard first when Norwood kicked a 30-yard field goal with about four minutes left in the first quarter. The Mavericks got down to the 30-yard line before the Dolores’ defense stiffened. The Bears threatened to score several times early in the half, but offensive mistakes stopped them. The Bears did come up with a touchdown, the only one of the game, after capitalizing following a fumble recovery (by Brady Blackmer) at the 30. The Bears advanced the ball to the 20 when DHS quarterback Cullen Zion found Waylon Bennett for a TD. Casey Garvin booted the point-after. However, as the offense made some mistakes, the Bear defense overcame it. They stopped Norwood several times. In fact, late in the fourth quarter the Mavs were marching and got all the way down to the 4-yard line before Dolores stopped them. With about four minutes left in the game the Bears were trying to run out the clock. But they fumbled on the 30. Norwood got the ball back and marched down field. On a big fourth down play and 1-yard (actually 1 foot) to go, they made a first down by the nose of the ball. Again they moved the ball and on another fourth down play, the Mavs converted on a pass. They converted one more short and fourth play. On Norwood’s final play of the game, Kevin Fane broke up a pass in the end zone. "I think the offense needs to go to a podiatrist because we shot ourselves so many times in the foot. We made a lot of mistakes, but the defense overcame them. The defense really stepped up," DHS head coach Don Story said. Garvin led the way with 12 tackles. But Jon Larsen had a good game as he not only made nine tackles but he made a big, big stop on a reverse play late in the game. The Bears racked up 250 yards in total offense. Zion passed for 110. He also ran the ball 17 times for 70 yards off the option. Garvin rushed for 68 and Luke Ragland added 56. The Bears improved to 4-1 overall and 1-0 in league play. They travel to face defending league and Class A state champ Nucla at 7 p.m. Friday. Dove Creek 56, Farmington JVs 31 Dolores County had its final nonconference tune-up with a thrashing of Farmington High JVs Saturday afternoon, Sept. 27, at Weber Park Field in Dove Creek. The Bulldogs improved to 5-0 on the season. "Right now we’re doing better than I thought we would at the beginning of the season," DCHS head coach Ken Soper said. "I feel pretty good but not that good (going into league play this week). I think we should be doing a lot better." Joe Buffington ran 7 yards to paydirt off an interception early in the first quarter. Dallas Coker booted the point-after. Bru Meyer ran for 8 yards and Coker booted the PAT for a 14-0 lead. After Farmington got on the board, the Bulldogs scored again late in the quarter when Lyle Joe made a 90-yard run from a pass he picked off deep in Bulldog territory. Coker made the kick for a 21-7 lead at the end of the quarter. The Bulldogs continued to pour it on. Darin Retherford bulled his way over from 1-yard out and Coker hit the PAT. Meyer caught a 5-yard from Keith Pierce. The Scorpions scored twice during the period. DCHS led 35-19 at the half. Coker hauled in a pass and raced 25 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter. Coker added on the PAT for a 42-19 lead at the end of three quarters. Retherford added another scored with a 1-yard plunge and Chase Davis scored from the 4 in the fourth. Coker booted one PAT while Buffington nailed the other one. Farmington scored two TDS, including a 70-yard bomb. Meyer led all rushers with 205 yards. Retherford carried for 70. As a team, the Bulldogs rushed for 314 yards. Pierce completed 10 of 22 attempts for 184 yards and one TD passing. Coker had five catches for 130 yards. Defensively, DCHS held Farmington to minus 57 yards rushing but yielded a whopping 437 passing. James Smith recorded 15 tackles including four sacks. Matt Beanland had eight tackles. "Over our last two games, our offense is starting to finally go, but our defense is failing us. It would be nice to finally put both together," he added. The Bulldogs will open San Juan Basin League play at 7 p.m. Friday, at Norwood. Nucla 22, Mancos 14 NUCLA — From a coach’s standpoint, it was not a good football game for Mancos High School this past Friday night. "It was a lack of effort on our part," MHS head coach Gordon Shepherd remarked. "I’m sorry, too, because it will be a tough week of practice for the kids (in preparation for non-conference foe at San Juan High JVs this Saturday, Oct. 6). We are going to make some adjustments this week." An interception on the first series by Nucla set up the first score of the game. They picked the ball off at our 12 and drove it to the 6. They scored from there to tie the game at 6-6. Mancos came down the field but got stopped. Nucla got the ball and was stopped and on the ropes facing a 4th and long situation. Nucla punts the ball but Mancos loses it when a player, who should not have been in the area, gets hit with the ball and Nucla recovers. The score was 6-6 at the half after Mancos scored on its first set of downs in the second quarter. Nick Rubino, on an option play, took the ball in from 7 yards out. Mancos did tie the score at 14-all. Ryan Shepherd, who has been out with a hamstring pull, pulled in a pass from his tight end position, dragging a couple kids into the end zone with him. With a two-point conversion the Jays were caught right back up. Later in the second, other mistakes happen. Following a turnover when Mancos fumbled the ball inside the 5-yard line on the kickoff. Nucla scored moments later which put it ahead for good. "We had breakdowns on the line with our linemen blocking the wrong man. We had players in the wrong spot at the wrong time. Our linebackers weren’t flowing with the play. Our ends weren’t containing. Players were overpursuing or standing around and watching. We just did not come to play. We had some of our younger kids who really didn’t play at all. Some of our older kids also didn’t play well," he said. On the plus side, Rubino had one of his best games of the season as a running back. He had a pretty good day at nearly 100 yards rushing, according to Shepherd. |
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Copyright © 2001 the Cortez
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