In a battle of Panthers on Friday in Delta, the visiting ones of Montezuma-Cortez High School led after two quarters.
A Randy Haley defensive touchdown on a fumble recovery and a Tam Phan touchdown catch gave M-CHS a 14-3 lead at the break.
In the third quarter, long touchdown runs from Delta tailbacks Alex Standish and Zach Decker gave the Panthers of Delta (3A Western Slope) the lead for good en route to a 24-14 win.
I thought we were sitting pretty good, but I thought they (Delta) would come out and punch us in the mouth. I knew they werent done playing, M-CHS coach Casey Coulter said. Their second play from scrimmage, (they ran) a fullback dive up the middle for 60 something yards. Our next possession we punted, and they did the exact same thing (scoring a long touchdown run) right away. Our guys saw that, they never gave up, but it definitely deflated us a lot.
M-CHS (1-2) got 100 yards on the ground from Phan on 22 carries with a touchdown. Trenton Gustafson had a team-high 13 tackles. Haley, a freshman linebacker, had six tackles and a fumble recovery for a touchdown.
We had a lot of freshmen playing in this game. We had some young guys that had to step up, Coulter said. Our young guys are getting good experience. Were going to roll with what we got.
Standish had 125 yards on 14 carries for Delta (1-1).
M-CHS will return to Panther Stadium and conclude nonconference play against 3-0 Farmington (N.M.) on Friday at 7 p.m.