{"id":13495,"date":"2026-02-15T06:33:57","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T13:33:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/iml-champs-cortez-blasts-pagosa-springs-to-capture-first-intermountain-crown\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:38:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:38:38","slug":"iml-champs-cortez-blasts-pagosa-springs-to-capture-first-intermountain-crown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/iml-champs-cortez-blasts-pagosa-springs-to-capture-first-intermountain-crown\/","title":{"rendered":"IML champs! Cortez blasts Pagosa Springs to capture first Intermountain crown"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"M-CHS
M-CHS sophomore Royce Watts finished with a career-high 14 points to help the Panthers earn their first IML title. Erika Alvero\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

CORTEZ \u2013 There was only one more rung on the ladder left to climb, and on Saturday, Montezuma-Cortez made sure there were no doubts about its status as the Intermountain League\u2019s new top cats.<\/p>\n

The steady build over the last six seasons has been remarkable. Beginning in 2020, the Panthers finished fifth for two seasons, then posted back\u2011to\u2011back fourth\u2011place campaigns before last year\u2019s runner\u2011up finish, all leading to this year\u2019s dominance.<\/p>\n

With three games still remaining on the IML schedule, no one can catch the Panthers, who added a 72\u201154 Valentine\u2019s Day win over Pagosa Springs in The Jungle to seal the program\u2019s first IML title since the league was formed.<\/p>\n

For most of the league\u2019s history, Alamosa and Centauri competed for the top spot, each claiming four titles, while the rest of the league tried to chip away at their control. M\u2011CHS joins Pagosa Springs as the only other team to win a regular\u2011season crown, and now the Panthers can focus on trying to run the table.<\/p>\n

The final score against the Pirates shows an 18\u2011point margin, but the game was effectively over after an opening stanza in which M\u2011CHS snuffed out any hopes of an upset with a 23\u20112 start. From there, M\u2011CHS kept the visitors at arm\u2019s length, never letting the separation drop below 20 points until the final moments.<\/p>\n

Multiple dunks from junior Trey Hall deflated the Pirates even further, all to the delight of another packed house in The Jungle. Sophomore Royce Watts complemented Hall\u2019s game\u2011high 26 points with a perimeter shooting flurry of his own to steady the Panthers when classmate Ah\u2011dae Lang left the game after a hard fall. Watts tallied a career\u2011high 14 points, one of four Panthers in double figures.<\/p>\n

Seniors Wyatt Oliver and Trace Hartsoe added 10 points apiece, and on the holiday weekend, the Panthers spread the love around. Good ball movement, one of the hallmarks of the team\u2019s 20\u20110 start, once again created quality looks at the rim.<\/p>\n

With only one more road game on the regular\u2011season schedule, Tuesday night in Ignacio, the Panthers have visions of big crowds continuing to pack The Jungle well into the postseason. M\u2011CHS sits No. 1 in the state\u2019s Selection and Seeding Index 4A rankings, meaning the Panthers are poised to host a regional for the first time since 2018\u201119 on the weekend of March 6\u20117.<\/p>\n

For head coach Mike Hall, though, that\u2019s looking farther ahead than he\u2019d prefer. With big goals still in front of his team, it\u2019s all about the next game on the schedule. Perhaps a moment to soak in this milestone will seep in there, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unbeaten season remains intact with three regular\u2011season games to go<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13496,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[38,39,28,37,36],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-13495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dolores-high-school","tag-dove-creek-high-school","tag-headlines","tag-mancos-high-school","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13495","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=13495"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19006,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13495\/revisions\/19006"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13495"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=13495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}