MANCOS – The Mancos Bluejays have made a habit of shifting gears from the grind of regular season football in October to the four-week playoff sprint of November.
For the seventh straight year under coach Josh Gardner, Mancos earned its place in the championship bracket. In each of the past six years, the Jays have earned a spot in the quarterfinal round.
The Jays (9-1) made the most of their home field advantage, dominating all phases of the game against Plateau Valley in a 48-6 win Saturday afternoon.
Bluejays junior Jonah Ritter set the tone by bursting through a seam on the opening kick return for an 85-yard score and an 8-0 lead.
The visiting Cowboys (7-3) enjoying one of their best seasons in program history, looked to lean on their prolific passing game. Plateau Valley scored on their first possession with a 57-yard connection between Colter Ralston and London Mitchell. From there, however, Mancos made sure that Plateau Valley’s aerial attack stayed mostly grounded, courtesy of a swarming defensive line.
After sophomore Michael Resner’s punt pinned Plateau Valley inside its own 5-yard line, Mancos forced Ralston to throw an incomplete pass in the end zone, yielding a safety on an intentional grounding penalty, and the Jays lead expanded to 10-6.
PV hung around with its defense, but Mancos turned the contest midway through the second quarter when with a fourth-down stop in the red zone. The offense took over from there, marching 80 yards to end zone with senior quarterback Brandon Vannest connecting with Ritter on a fourth-and-6 for a big gain.
Vannest plunged from a yard out on the next play, his first of four touchdowns, and the whole mood shifted at Bluejay Field. A strip sack of Ralston a couple plays later, paired with a fumble recovery by sophomore Gavin Smith, set up Mancos on the doorstep of another score.
By that point, Mancos imposed its will on the ground, with Vannest sweeping in for a 4-yard score to build the lead to 26-6 at halftime.
“After that slow start, we knew that we had to play our game – and once we did, we knew that no one could stop us,” said senior middle linebacker Kaiden Wyatt.
The defense stacked up sacks, while the offense tallied three more scores on its next three drives to allow the Jays to pull away in the second half. On offense, Vannest found Wyatt for a 24-yard touchdown to send the game to a running clock.
Wyatt said he was given “a lot of control to be able to motion” the Bluejays’ linemen “and get some different stunts and twists.”
Junior Jacob Martin once again added to his double-digit sack total, harassing Ralston for most of the afternoon.
“(Martin) is so fast, and when the other team has to focus on trying to figure out how to deal with him, that opens up more space for me to operate,” Wyatt said. “Moving him from nose guard out to end means he’s getting a lot of one-on-one matchups, and there aren’t many guys who can keep up with him.”
Vannest surpassed 1,000 yards on the ground for the season, following behind another vintage performance by the Mancos offensive line.
“Plateau Valley had some big boys, but our offensive line was ready, and as long as they open holes, we’ve got it,” said Wyatt.
The Bluejays will host either No. 5 Byers or No. 12 Merino at Bluejay Field next weekend.
