The Alamosa Mean Moose controlled the ball, the tempo, and the game on a cold and wet Thursday evening against the Montezuma-Cortez Panthers.
The Mean Moose chipped away on the ground, moving the chains to prolong drives as the clock rolled. They put together a five-minute 57-yard scoring drive on their opening possession, and then added a 68-yard scoring drive to start the second quarter to go ahead 14-0.
Going to the air, they scored on a 46-yard touchdown pass from Angelo Ramirez to Reis Martinez to give the Mean Moose a 21-0 lead with just under three minutes left in the second quarter.
The M-CHS offense had sputtered its way to a turnover on downs and two punts on its first three possessions, but with two minutes and 50 seconds left in the second quarter, it showed signs of life.
Starting from their own 37-yard line, the Panthers picked up a first down and more on a swing pass from Cole Herrmann to Tanner Desrosiers to convert on fourth down. And after 15 yards were added on a roughing-the-passer penalty, the Panthers were set up at the Alamosa 25.
They converted on another fourth down with a nice pitch and catch from Herrmann to Cordell Baer to move down to the 6. And plays later, Herrmann swung a quick pass out to Coby Baer who cruised into the end zone from 1 yard out to get M-CHS on the board.
Coby Baer intercepted Ramirez near the end of the half to give the Panthers a lift heading into halftime trailing 21-6. But Alamosa’s ground and pound-style attack took its toll on the Panthers defense in the second half.
The Mean Moose stayed the course, initially picking up short clips of yardage at a time. But in the second half they were able to spring big plays, with Mason Barrows running untouched for an 18-yard score and Ben Wuckert racing 60-yards for a TD as Alamosa outscored M-CHS 28-0 in the second half to run away with a 49-6 win.
“We might get three yards, three yards, three yards – and then all of a sudden it wears on a defense,” said Alamosa head coach Dillion McNamee. “And our skill guys made big plays when it counted.”
Alamosa’s long, drawn out possessions kept the Panthers defense on the field and kept the ball out of the hands of the M-CHS offense.
“We didn’t run enough plays in the first half,” said M-CHS head coach Scott Conklin. “We ran probably a third of the plays we ran last game. So that just tells you they had long drives, we couldn’t stop them and it wore everybody out.”
The Panthers offense was also without starting quarterback Ike Dennison, who has been ruled out for the season as a part of the concussion protocol.
Herrmann, a sophomore, started in his place, and while the stout Alamosa defense limited the Panthers offense – Herrmann took care of the ball, made smart choices and didn’t force anything, and finished with a touchdown and no turnovers.
“Cole looked alright,” said Conklin. “Cole made some pretty good decisions. He had zero turnovers. And our goal going into this game, which wasn’t enough, but our goal was not to turn the ball over on offense, and we did better this game.”
M-CHS (1-4, 0-1 Intermountain League) will play its second league game on Friday at Bayfield (2-2, 0-0 IML).