Humble pie was served cold in a 7-0 loss at 3A Pagosa Springs on Tuesday.
A young Panthers soccer team returned home hungry Thursday afternoon.
The prey at Johnson Field was the 3A Bayfield Wolverines.
Back-to-back goals within a minute of each other in both halves secured the sweet taste of victory for Montezuma-Cortez High School. The Panthers (1-1-0) fought, clawed and kicked their way to a dominating 4-1 win in coach Dave Frames home debut.
After a couple missed shots, freshman Taren Lanier scored the first goal of his high school career and the first for M-CHS this season in the 18th minute of the first half. Jaron Carver got the assist. Around 30 seconds later, Zach Dukeminier did it himself with a solo shot from 20 yards through the top of the net for a 2-0 Panthers lead.
Junior center midfielder Briston Walker filled in at goalkeeper for injured sophomore starter Auston Hart. Walker preserved the first half shutout, as M-CHS led Bayfield 2-0 at the break.
Our main keeper Auston got hurt. I played keeper four years before high school, Walker said. I dont think I did as much as my defenders did. They did a lot of work. I didnt have a lot of hard shots to block or anything.
The Panthers kept up the defensive pressure during the next 40 minutes. In the 62nd and 63rd minutes, junior Andre Esquibell broke Bayfields back with consecutive goals to give M-CHS a 4-0 lead. The first Esquibell score came off a perfectly executed corner kick assist by senior Steven OConner-Seville.
The Wolverines (0-2-0) established some pride with a goal in the 74th minute by Kenai Duran off an assist from Erik Kins to determine the final outcome.
It was really important for us to win. (The) 7-0 (opening loss) was a downer on our team. This will bring us back up and get our minds back on the game to achieve our real goal, said Walker, who had 13 saves as M-CHS out shot Bayfield 27-14. (Our goal) is to play our hardest and work as a team. We havent had the greatest soccer seasons, lately. Were really liking our coaching staff; their strategies and everything is going really good.
The Panthers will stay in the friendly confines of Johnson Field for Tuesdays 3A nonconference matchup with the Telluride Miners at 3 p.m.
We had a scrimmage with them. They are a fast-pace team. But I think we can keep up with them, Walker said.
Reach Bobby Abplanalp at [email protected].
