Mancos had its best season in 2010 as an 8-man football program posting a 6-2 record and making the playoffs.
That squad was senior-laden and now the Mancos Bluejays must count on returning varsity players to lead the charge in 2011.
Coach Kyle Graff feels the team speed of the Bluejays may be his biggest advantage of once again challenging for a Western League title.
Were real excited about our athletic ability. We have some, Graff said. You watch them run around, they can do some things. Were hustling. Were getting better.
Senior defensive end/tight end Jake Driver and junior running back/middle linebacker Branson Mitchell return the most varsity experience.
Were feeling pretty good. We did lose a lot of seniors, but thats OK because this is a secondary team, Driver said. We had to run with those seniors last year. We have pretty good high hopes.
Seniors Trey Gordenair (quarterback) and running back Manuel Hernandez, and sophomore right guard/outside linebacker Ty Koppenhafer will be major pieces to the 2011 puzzle.
Weve got to be patient with this team. Were not that young, were just young playing wise. They just dont have the playing time, Graff said. I think well do better as the season goes along. Every game will be a learning experience. As we get a couple games under our belt, hopefully well be right in there in the end.
The first game is today in Mancos at 1 p.m. against Sangre de Cristo, a team the Bluejays flew by on the road last year, 52-22.
Theres no better love than football for coming out to play a team we played last year that we beat by a good amount, Driver said about todays home opener. Our JV did good against them last year, so it should be directly the same thing.
The Bluejays are excited to get out and play against another team after a month of summer practices.
They lost some seniors, too, so it will be even, Hernandez said. We might have to be quicker than them, but we worked hard in practice this week.
Other nonconference opponents for Mancos include a road game at Sierra Grande (Sept. 10), a neutral-site game against Swink at Adams State College in Alamosa on Sept. 24, and the home and regular season finale against Whitehorse (Montezuma Creek, Utah) on Oct. 21.
League play begins at home against Nucla on Sept. 16. Homecoming is against rival Dove Creek on Friday, Oct. 7.
Reach Bobby Abplanalp at bobbya@cortezjournal.com.
