In a month known for gratitude and good eating, Southwest Colorado football fans can be grateful for the buffet of options with three local teams playing quarterfinals at home this weekend.
Montezuma-Cortez, Mancos and Dove Creek high schools prepare for postseason foes who will converge on the Four Corners with dreams of state semifinal appearances on the line.
Fresh off their upset of Elizabeth in the opening round, the M-CHS Panthers look forward to a quarterfinal home game against Rifle on Saturday, Nov. 12, at 1 p.m.
The contest serves as a rematch from their early season encounter at Bears Stadium in Rifle, where M-CHS' rally fell short against a highly disciplined Bears program. Rifle picked up a 33-26 victory behind 180 rushing yards from senior running back Nicholas Saldivar.
For M-CHS, senior quarterback Jake Blackmer threw for more than 250 yards and two scores, but the Bears also forced three takeaways in their win.
The Panthers’ ground game defense shone in their win over Elizabeth a week ago, and they'll need to be their best again with Saldivar and junior quarterback Logan Gross both accounting for better than 700 yards rushing this season.
Sophomore Tay Wheat looks to spearhead the Panthers attack, as he accounted for over 1,000 yards from scrimmage this season. Senior Zander Cruzan hopes to duplicate the big day he enjoyed against the Bears in their first meeting, where the receiver grabbed eight catches for 180 yards.
The No. 11 Panthers (7-3) are enjoying their best season since 2014 – their last quarterfinal appearance – and hope to have all engines firing against the Bears in their rematch. M-CHS posted a 3-1 home record, and hopes that Panther Stadium will be filled to capacity with orange-and-black on Saturday afternoon.
No. 14 Rifle (6-4), meanwhile, seeks to continue its dream of a second state title in three seasons, after the Bears won the spring championship in the 2020 campaign.
Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m. Saturday, and local coverage of the contest can be found on local radio station 92.3 FM and 740 AM KVFC beginning at 12:30 p.m. Out-of-area listeners can also tune into the contest on kvfcradio.com.
The winner of M-CHS and Rifle will take on the No. 2 Eaton- No. 7 Basalt victor in the semifinals.
As they work their way deeper into the playoffs, the Bluejays have a huge intangible factor in their corner – experience.
The veteran Jays take on an upstart Lyons program in the midst of one of their best seasons in program history.
Mancos (8-2) showed no early postseason nerves in their 46-22 demolition of Swink. Mancos scored five first-half touchdowns, pushed the game to running clock and turned their focus to the Lions.
Junior Levi Martin has joined classmate Kail Wayman as a dynamic weapon out of the backfield, while senior Lane Greenlee guides a sturdy offensive front for Josh Gardner's group.
Junior Andrew Jaime emerged this year as a premier cog in the Jays defensive unit, while Cole Dainty-Guilfoyle has put together a monster year terrorizing opposing quarterbacks.
No. 6 Lyons (10-0) brings a young, but talented group to Bluejays Stadium, led by junior dual threat quarterback Miles Dumbauld, who dominated in their 56-6 thumping of No. 11 Dayspring Christian.
For a program in its third year since transitioning from 11-man to eight-man ball, the Lions are enjoying a major resurgence and their first postseason appearance since 2012. Just four seasons ago, the Lions posted a winless season, but now stand as just one of four remaining unbeaten teams in the classification.
No. 3 Mancos and Lyons get set to kick off this weekend from Bluejays Stadium.
Few teams in the state come out of the gate as strongly as the Bulldogs.
No. 2 Dove Creek (10-0) looks to continue the trend on Saturday, Nov. 12 at 1 p.m., when the Bulldogs host Merino at the Soper Sports Complex.
Shane Baughman’s squad overpowered West Grand 52-18 in their first-round matchup, using a steady dose of junior running back Gage Buffington to pace the way.
A strong offensive and defensive front, led by seniors Audric Chadd, Dustin Glover, and junior Tyson Beanland have controlled the line of scrimmage in the Bulldogs perfect run through the regular season.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs defense continues to give opponents fits moving the ball, as seniors Kendall Gardner and Quaden Huffaker find themselves in the backfield often, harassing ball carriers on every down. Seniors Taber Dejane, Kade Hankins and Cole Taber account for 12 of DC's 15 interceptions this season.
No. 10 Merino (6-4) won a shootout with Crowley County, 44-38, to advance in the tournament. The Rams feature one of the most prolific rushing attacks in the classification, and have been battle-tested all season. All four of the Rams' losses have come against teams in the top six in the state.
Local radio station 98.7 KRTZ looks to carry all the action, with pregame slated for 12:30 p.m. Saturday and kickoff set for 1 p.m. Coverage will also be available online at krtzradio.com.
Wins for both Dove Creek and Mancos would set up a Four Corners semifinal showdown on the weekend of Nov. 19.
