On a night in which its seniors and its fans turned out in droves despite a chilly breeze, the Mancos High School football team would not be denied perfection as it defeated Dove Creek, 50-16, on Oct. 26.
With the lopsided victory, the Bluejays finished their regular season with a 9-0 record, its first undefeated season since 1978.
After the contest, Breccen Morelli spoke about the significance his team’s victory.
“It’s amazing to be undefeated,” the junior quarterback said. “We have to give credit to our coaching staff, all of our players, our scout team defense in practice. Our team as a whole is what gets us here, and now we just have to keep moving forward and not be satisfied.”
Although the final score of the Bluejays victory was suggestive of a one-sided result, a spirited effort by Dove Creek made for an exciting contest in which both teams made impressive plays on offense and delivered big hits on defense.
Mancos’ team speed proved to be the difference however, as linebackers Colt Fury, Chance Garcia and Morelli flew around the field and stymied several Bulldogs’ scoring opportunities. Mancos junior Anthony Medina scored five rushing touchdowns.
“We all hustled, and we never took a play off,” Medina said. “That’s how we got that score on the score board right there. We played like a team, just like we always do.”
Among the key scores of the contest were three posted by Mancos during a first quarter that ended with the Bluejays leading 22-0. The first score came on a 45-yard run by Medina around the left side, and the second came on a 68-yard run by Morelli on a play that begin as a pass attempt.
The final Mancos touchdown of the first quarter came after Medina again showcased his speed when he swept around the left side for a 15-yard score, and after a 13-yard run by Morelli late in the second quarter that came after a long screen pass to Garcia, the Bluejays entered halftime leading 28-0.
“Mancos’ speed killed us,” Dove Creek head coach Shane Baughman said. “Garcia is a good player. He’s quick and fast, and I was impressed with him.”
After Mancos honored seniors Garcia, Hunter Hoover, and Honi Chavez during halftime, Dove Creek began the second half with renewed energy and scored on its first possession of the third quarter when Gage Bailey raced into the end zone from 14 yards out to make the score 28-8.
A 60-yard touchdown run by Medina that included a brutal stiff arm, made the score 36-8 with 1:51 to go in the third quarter and two more touchdown runs by Medina in the fourth quarter made the score 50-8.
Although Dove Creek moved the ball inside the Mancos red zone several times throughout the game, the Bulldogs were unable to put points on the board until quarterback Chorbin Cressler scored on a 15-yard touchdown run with less than two minutes to go in the game.
“Offensively, I thought we played well,” Baughman said. “We marched the ball up and down the field, and it seemed like we were inside the (Mancos) 10-yard-line three or four times, but we just couldn’t get it punched in.”
“Cressler is a good runner,” Medina said. “He got into the red zone a couple of times, but our middle linebackers and outside linebackers are pretty much unstoppable, and we shut them down.”
After the clock reached zero, Mancos players shook hands with their opponents and let loose elated cheers. Parents and players snapped pictures near the Mancos end zone, and a banner bearing the words “undefeated” stretched across the field and flapped in the wind.
“We just work as a team, and we do what we do all of the time,” said Fury, flashing a wide smile.
On Sunday, the Bluejays jumped to the No. 2 seeding in the state eight-man playoffs after Sedgwick County fell to Merino on Oct. 27.
Playing at home in the first round, the Bluejays will face No. 15 Merino at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Sedgwick dropped to No. 3 and is in the bottom half of the bracket with Mancos, setting up a possible showdown in the semifinals.
The undefeated No. 1 team, West Grand High School, is in the top bracket with No. 4 Rangely.
Despite its high seeding, Mancos does not appear over-confident.
“We just want to take things one game at a time,” Hunter Goodwin said. “We’re just going to take it as it comes, and we’re not going to look ahead.”
Given the Bluejays’ undefeated regular season, team-first approach, and steely focus, it seems unlikely that Mancos’ season will be ending any time soon.
