The Montezuma-Cortez High School boys soccer team trailed at halftime Thursday.
Instead of backing down, the Panthers punched back.
Goals in the 45th and 50th minutes and a barrage of acrobatic saves from goalkeeper Austin Hart helped the Panthers preserve the lead.
Before the final whistle blew, the visiting Aztec Tigers had lost control of their tempers.
It was M-CHS that controlled the second half in a 2-1 win at Norman Johnson Memorial Field.
“I’m very proud of our kids,” first-year M-CHS coach Gary Geppert said. “So far this year, the goalkeepers have been fantastic. It’s one of our focal points of keeping Cortez in the game.”
The Panthers (1-2-1, 0-1 5A/4A Southwestern League) had been on the road the first three matches of the season. They took their lumps in Delta and Durango, but have shown steady improvement under Geppert.
Supreme play in front of the net by Bridger Brenner in the fist half and Hart in the second left 4A Aztec (2-4-1) shaking their heads in disbelief and the drive down to New Mexico a long one.
“It’s nice to come out in the first home game and get a win,” said a winded Hart. “Everybody got pumped for this game before the game. The defense did their job really good. We had good offense, got some good goals.”
Junior captain midfielder Jaron Carver attacked early with a shot in the 15th minute. But it was snared by Tigers’ goalie Brandon Staford.
Aztec returned the aggression with a shot to Brenner, which the sophomore caught. But in the 28th minute, Brendan Huntsman found Tigers’ teammate Angel Melendez open in front of the pack and he capitalized with a one-on-one shot over Brenner’s head. The Panthers trailed 1-0 and that’s what the score was at the half.
M-CHS would make its adjustments, though.
Geppert’s squad bursted with energy after the break to quickly set the tone. Carver found an open Taren Lanier straight away from 25 yards out. Lanier booted a shot, Staford leaped for the grab, but couldn’t quite handle the ball, as it bounced into the net.
Lanier sprinted to midfield with his hand in the air and cheers from the fans echoed on a cool evening with the score knotted 1-1. It is the sophomore’s second goal of the season.
But the Panthers weren’t done.
Five minutes later, Andrew Laymon placed a left corner kick in front of the net. Carver was Johnny-on-the-spot and beautifully executed a header past Staford to give M-CHS a 2-1 lead.
“Shoot, I don’t know. That was not a play. That was just an opportunity,” said Carver about his third goal of the season. “You get an opportunity, you just kind of got to take them. It was a prefect cross (kick).”
Goalkeeping would tighten on both sides, especially from Hart. The junior showed tremendous heart in the 59th and 62nd minutes when it appeared the Tigers would score.
Aztec had a wide open net on a left corner kick. But Hart repositioned himself and jumped to his right batting the ball out of the box. A Tigers fast-break ensued three minutes later. Instead of letting a shot come to him, Hart went to the Tigers. As the Aztec player was about to fire toward goal, Hart dove through the grass and snatched the ball away.
A fired up Panthers bench shouted their praises and a disgruntled Tigers team shouted their frustrations at the officiating crew. Aztec’s Cameron Nash was red carded in the 74 minute and Devin Cole received a yellow card in the 79th minute.
After 80 minutes, the Panthers were ecstatic with the win, which snapped a 16-game winless streak dating back to last September.
“I told you we’d be making a difference,” Geppert said. “It’s the little things. Last game, we lost (at Durango) 9-0, which looks bad. But the year before that, it was 11-0 mercy rule at halftime. We basically made up 13 goals. I told you the games would be closer and we’re finding out that they are.”
While everyone is happy, Geppert knows his team needs to remain focused. M-CHS gets back to business today at home versus 3A Pagosa Springs.
“It’s one game at a time,” Geppert said. “We’ll make changes where they need to be and we’ll get on it.”
The Panthers and Pirates kickoff at 11 a.m., at Johnson Field.
bobbya@cortezjournal.com.