A new era on the gridiron was unleashed Friday night at Panther Stadium.
Fans and students packed the stands in anticipation for a new direction of Montezuma-Cortez High School Panthers football.
A new direction Panthers fans are chomping at the bit to see go the right way.
Unfortunately, a new coach with a new system with many underclassmen will provide some growing pains.
The bigger, stronger Panthers often times looked confused with plays and lackadaisical on defense against the visiting Miyamura (Gallup, N.M.) Patriots.
The 4A Patriots from the Land of Enchantment looked poised, confident and executed an offense to the tune of 467 yards en route to a 38-12 pummeling of M-CHS (0-1).
This game came down to execution. They out-executed us, first-year Panthers coach Casey Coulter said. Are they a better football team? Absolutely not. Execution wise tonight, yeah, they were. The good thing is, everything we did wrong, is fixable.
The game was scoreless in the first quarter. In the second, Patriots quarterback Zach Shank did his best Tom Brady impression airing out touchdown passes of 48 and 59 yards to receivers Frank Villa and Kishoun Woods. The 2-point conversions were converted on each touchdown to give Miyamura (1-0) a 16-0 lead, which gave Panther Stadium cold silence on an unusually humid night.
M-CHS would finally get its offense going later in the second behind strong runs from seniors Destry Smith and Tam Phan. Senior Trenton Gustafson capped the drive with a 22-yard touchdown run up the middle to get the Panthers and fans back in the game. With the score 16-6 at the 3:42 mark, M-CHS lined up for the point after. Coulter called timeout to setup a 2-point conversion. After the timeout, there was confusion with the play and Coulter had to call another timeout, much to the chagrin of the coaches. After the second timeout, junior quarterback Tallon Ralstin pitched the ball to Smith and he was tackled short of the goal line. It remained 16-6 at halftime.
The Panthers opened the third with a three-and-out and the Patriots quickly drove down the field when they got the ball. Miyamura had a first-and-goal at the 9 and got to the 4 where they faced fourth-and-goal. Patriots coach Wes Shank rolled the dice, but the M-CHS defense held and took over on downs.
A fired up Panthers sideline shouted their excitement into the night. That excitement was short-lived. Two plays later, Ralstins pass was tipped into the arms of Villa and he returned the interception seven yards for a Miyamura touchdown. Woods threw a halfback pass to Dylan Summy for the 2-pointer to give the visitors a 24-6 lead.
The Patriots increased their lead to 32-6 in the fourth, but the Panthers wouldnt quit. The home team responded with a 90-yard touchdown drive. The score came when Ralstin rolled to his right, threw to his left and found a wide open Smith. The 6-foot-3 tailback rumbled down the sideline and got a huge block by Phan that cleared an easy path to the end zone to make it 32-12. Alex Lopez missed the extra point and Miyamura added one more touchdown for the final score.
All of it comes down to mental (mistakes). Its not that they dont communicate, Coulter said. Come Monday, were going to fix what we can fix and prepare for Zuni (N.M.).
The team sentiment is to improve fast going into Fridays road game at 3A Zuni (1-0), who is coming off a 32-0 road win over 2A Ramah (N.M.) High School.
We need to get better. We got to get better, Smith said. We got Zuni next. Well see what they run. Well prepare for them. Well work hard, work our butts off, you know. We got to do a better job of executing in the red zone.
The Panthers arent panicking and feel better days are on the horizon.
Were getting there. Its just going to take a week or two. Well be ready. Well be good, Smith said. You just got to work hard for your coaches, for your team, for your brothers.
Reach Bobby Abplanalp at bobbya@cortezjournal.com.