Over the course of the past decade, few football teams in Southwest Colorado have delivered the bone-crushing hits that Mancos High School delivered throughout a 38-20 victory over Sargent on Sept. 14.
Time and time again, Bluejays linebackers attacked Sargent ball carriers with reckless abandon, and over and over, Mancos linemen drove their opponents into the ground.
Junior quarterback Breccen Morelli played with poise and demonstrated leadership abilities throughout the contest, while sophomore receiver Christian Cova showcased the big-play ability that has been lacking from local teams.
“This group has been together since we were in third, fourth, fifth grade,” said Morelli, when asked what spurred his team to victory. “We’ve played a lot of football together. I’ll fight with these guys any day of the week in a game like this, and I’d rather lose with (my teammates) than win for anybody else.”
While Mancos’ ability to put points on the board played a significant role in the team’s victory, it was the Bluejays defense that set the tone by recovering two fumbles in the first quarter and forcing six Sargent turnovers in the game.
On nearly every Sargent run, Bluejays defenders made efforts to strip the ball, and on every Sargent pass, players in the Mancos secondary read the eyes of the quarterback and made a break on the ball.
Hard hits were commonplace throughout the intensely physical contest, and more often than not, plays ended with Sargent players groaning on the ground or wincing in pain.
“We figure if we hit somebody and knock them down and down and down again, they’re not going to get back up,” senior captain Chance Garcia said. “They’re not going to want to play football.”
The Bluejays opened the game’s scoring halfway through the first quarter when Morelli faked a hand-off and raced around the left side for a 2-yard score to put his team ahead 6-0. Mancos increased its lead to 12-0 on a 39-yard touchdown pass from Morelli to Cova with 4:45 left in the first quarter.
After Sargent cut to the Bluejays’ lead to 12-6 on a 37-yard touchdown pass from Frank Torrez to Jacob Deacon with 4:45 left in the first quarter, both defenses stepped up, and Mancos entered halftime with a six-point lead.
Opening what turned out to be an intense third quarter, Morelli scored on a 7-yard touchdown run around the left side to put his team ahead 18-6. A Torrez rushing touchdown and subsequent two-point conversion made the score 18-14 with 2:55 left in the third quarter.
A 66-yard touchdown pass from Morelli to Cova after a beautiful play-action fake put Mancos ahead 24-14 with 58 seconds left in the third quarter. After Sargent cut the Mancos lead to 24-20 early in the fourth quarter, Morelli found Cova with a 16-yard touchdown pass that made the score 30-20.
“Our running backs and our line open up holes in the defense,” said Cova, when asked about the keys to his three-touchdown performance. “(Morelli) does a great job of getting me the ball.”
The Bluejays’ final touchdown of the contest came on a 1-yard run by Garcia with 1:49 left in the contest, and a sack by junior defensive end Hunter Goodwin on the final play of the game put an exclamation point on the Bluejays’ big victory.
Although Sargent entered the contest as the state’s third-ranked eight-man team according to the Colorado High School Activities Association poll, the 10th-ranked Bluejays proved to be the better team throughout the hard-fought contest.
Now 3-0 on the season, Mancos will return to the practice field to prepare for a road match-up against Del Norte on Sept. 21. Although Morelli emphasized that his team still has room to improve, Medina did not hold back when asked about his team’s goals for the remainder of the season.
“We want to knock out some playoff teams and make it to the playoffs,” the junior said. “Then, we’re going to win a few (playoff) games, and we’re going to win state.”
While the ultimate result of Mancos’ exciting season remains to be seen, the Bluejays’ hot start has notified eight-man teams around the state that something special is going on in Southwest Colorado.
