The 2016 Montezuma-Cortez football season came to a close on Friday night at Panther Stadium.
Hosting the Pagosa Springs Pirates, both teams entered their final game of the season with 1-8 records, hoping to end with a victory.
The Pirates got on the board on their opening possession with a 31-yard touchdown pass from Isaiah Griego to Keaton Laverty, but both offenses were stagnant for the next handful of possessions, trading 3-and-outs.
A muffed punt by M-CHS gave Pagosa possession late in the first quarter, and the Pirates put together a 59-yard scoring drive that stretched into the second to go up 14-0.
The Panthers’ highlight play came later in the second quarter when quarterback Coby Baer connected with Tanner Desrosiers on the right side of the field.
After catching the pass for a short gain, Desrosiers spun out of two tackles and streaked down the right sideline to the Pagosa Springs 2-yard line for a 52-yard pickup. Baer then capped off the drive with a TD run and tacked on the extra point to trim the Pirates’ lead to 14-7.
M-CHS drove down inside the red zone late in the second after Pagosa Springs had added two more scores, but the Pirates stopped them inside the 10-yard line to go to the half up 28-7.
Juan Arballo made a nifty toe-tap catch on the sideline for a 20-yard gain to start the third quarter. But the drive stalled and M-CHS turned the ball over on downs.
The Pirates controlled things the rest of the half, scoring 25 unanswered points to go on to win, 53-7.
The contest resembled many of the Panthers’ league games this season, as the undermanned team seemed to run out of gas in the second half, finishing with a 1-8 record and 0-5 in Intermountain League play.
Still, the Panthers showed consistent effort, even when trailing by large margins.
“They never quit. That’s just heart,” said assistant coach Tim Robinson.“We were shorthanded all year, we didn’t have a lot of kids come out or stay, and a lot of kids got hurt, but they never gave up.
“We’re proud of the seniors,” he added. “We had a good senior class and they played their tails off.”