The Mancos Blue Jays are looking to play the villain this week.
After its 40-24 homecoming win against Sanford last week, Mancos will travel to Monte Vista for a matchup against Sargent for the Farmers’ homecoming.
Both teams enter the game with 3-1 records, and if the Blue Jays plan on wearing the black hat and spoiling Sargent’s homecoming, they have their work cut out for them.
The Farmers’ offense averages 304 rushing yards and 95 passing yards per game, so the performance of the Mancos defense will be crucial.
“I’m expecting this to be one of our biggest challenges for our defense,” said co-head coach Josh Gardner. “Our defense is playing well, but they’re very disciplined, their coach is creative, they do a lot of different things and their quarterback has a good fake, so we’re going to have to be on top of our game and have each kid do their own job.”
But the Blue Jays have a dominant offense of their own.
And after rushing for 444 yards last week, the game may turn into a high-scoring affair.
“First of all, our offense has to have a big game,” Gardner said. “They’re so good on offense that I’m expecting for them to challenge us a lot. But we can combat that with our offense having a good game.”
The Mancos defense must be disciplined in order to stop Sargent’s option. Gardner noted that it will require the Blue Jays to be aggressive up front and for the ends and linebackers to perform their responsibilities.
Offensively, Mancos will look to its three-headed monster in the backfield, comprised of Axel Bonde, Everett Strazza-Whalen and Andrew Morgan - each of whom rushed for over 130 yards last week.
Sargent’s homecoming game against Mancos kicks off on Friday at 7 p.m. - and the Blue Jays are hoping to rain on the parade.