<\/p>\n
The Mancos football team is looking to bounce back after last year\u2019s 2-7 record, and with 14 lettermen and a handful of starters returning, the Blue Jays are optimistic about the upcoming season.<\/p>\n
Senior Drew Morgan returns after being named first team all-conference in 2014, along with second team all-conference selections Everett Strazza-Whalen and Austin Howerton.<\/p>\n
With returning letterman Axel Bonde entering his junior year, Mancos co-head coaches Bill Parsons and Josh Gardner have multiple returning backs.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur backfield is going to be strong and experienced,\u201d said Gardner.<\/p>\n
One of the backfield\u2019s biggest strengths may be its depth, allowing Gardner and Parsons to move players around.<\/p>\n
While Bonde played quarterback last year, Morgan has been taking snaps to begin the 2015 season, giving Bonde the opportunity to work as a running back.<\/p>\n
Paving the way for the backfield will be the offensive line, with both starting guards, Liam Cooper and Brady Sanders, returning around Howerton.<\/p>\n
Continuity is key, and with Cooper, Sanders and Howerton beginning their third year together up front, Gardner expects the interior line to be solid.<\/p>\n
The experienced players will set the tone, but Parsons also envisions younger players like Casey Orange, Chance Morgan-Garcia and Kaleb Hargraves to contribute.<\/p>\n
Playing in the Mountain Conference, the Blue Jays have a tough road ahead of them. And they begin the season against Norwood, who went 10-1 and reached the quarterfinals last year.<\/p>\n
But Gardner and Parsons are hoping that Morgan and Strazza-Whalen can serve as a foundation, and with younger players coming on strong, they are set on winning.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would like to win our league,\u201d said Parsons. \u201cBut I\u2019d say our first goal is to qualify for the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Blue Jays began two-a-days on Monday, and their first test will be at Norwood on Thursday, August 27 at 7:00 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
bring back 14 lettermen, deep backfield<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":110191,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6370],"tags":[],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-110190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mt-sports"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110190"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=110190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}