It was a statement win for the Mancos Blue Jays in their home contest on Saturday.
The Jays defense was relentless, stuffing inside runs and holding the No. 8 ranked Sangre de Cristo Thunderbirds to one score en route to a 42-6 upset victory.
The Mancos defense forced the Thunderbirds into a turnover on downs on their opening possession, and the visitors’ three subsequent drives ended in a punt and two lost fumbles.
“We came downhill fast,” said coach Josh Gardner. “We played with a lot of heart. I think the defense as a whole played really well.”
Axel Bonde got the Jays on the board in the first quarter, diving across the goal line on fourth-and-goal to cap off a 47-yard drive to go ahead 6-0. He scored again in the second quarter on a 2-yard rush to capitalize off one of the Thunderbirds’ fumbles to lead 12-0.
Dax Mortensen broke away for a 66-yard touchdown to cut the Mancos lead in half at 12-6. But later, Breccen Morelli sacked the Sangre de Cristo quarterback in the end zone for a safety and then Bowen Strazza-Whalen scored on an 11-yard run and Mancos added the 2-point conversion to go to the break with a 22-6 advantage.
From there on out it was all Mancos.
“The second half has been our half,” explained coach Adam Priestley. “We played hard, worked hard and I think we came out in the second half and they just believed in themselves.”
The Jays were methodical on offense, grinding clock and moving the chains to extend drives. They also showed different looks at QB, mixing in senior Riley Burton and freshman Breccen Morelli under center.
“That’s new,” said Priestley. “Morelli is a freshman and we’re just building him to lead the team as he gets older, and Riley is a senior. Both of them give us something different. It’s just been one of those things that we’ve been building on and today it was very successful.”
Strazza-Whalen broke away for a 29-yard touchdown run in the third quarter and the Jays added the 2-point conversion. And then Morelli found the end zone on a 10-yard scamper in the fourth to take a 36-6 lead.
Morelli would tack on one more TD for the home team late in the fourth quarter on a 4-yard rush as the Blue Jays went on to win 42-6.
Mancos is now 3-2 on the season and 2-0 and tied atop the A-8 Southwest League standings. The Blue Jays will travel to Sanford (0-4, 0-1 A-8 SWL) on Friday for a 6 p.m. kickoff.