{"id":38107,"date":"2022-10-02T00:24:30","date_gmt":"2022-10-02T06:24:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/panthers-roll-to-homecoming-win-over-salida\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:42:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:42:10","slug":"panthers-roll-to-homecoming-win-over-salida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/panthers-roll-to-homecoming-win-over-salida\/","title":{"rendered":"Panthers roll to homecoming win over Salida"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Tay
Tay Wheat takes the opening kickoff 75 yards for a Panthers touchdown Friday night. (Sam Green\/Special to The Journal)<\/span>Sam Green\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Style points may count for something on the dance floor, but on the football field, not so much.<\/p>\n

With the Montezuma-Cortez Homecoming in full swing, in front of one of the largest crowds in recent memory at Panther Stadium, M-CHS made three touchdowns in the first quarter stand up through several lengthy delays, defeating Salida 19-0 to pick up their first league win of the season and fourth consecutive victory.<\/p>\n

Making their first trip back to the state polls since a top-10 visit in 2014, M-CHS checked in at No. 10 in the CHSAA Coaches Poll, and they\u2019re looking to make it a lengthy stay.<\/p>\n

The fanfare reached a fever pitch with Motocross legend Eli Tomac of Cortez on hand to join the Panthers captains for the game\u2019s opening coin toss, firing up countless starstruck youngsters in attendance, looking to follow in the motorcyclist\u2019s footsteps.<\/p>\n

\"Dorrian
Dorrian Hilliard recovers a fumble on the 1-yard line and then on the next play he takes the ball into the end zone for the Panthers second touchdown in the first minute of the game Friday night. (Sam Green\/Special to The Journal)<\/span>Sam Green\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Mason
Mason Anderson takes the ball down to the Salida 8-yard line to set up the Panthers third touchdown Friday night.(Sam Green\/Special to The Journal)<\/span>Sam Green\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Shyoki
Shyoki Knapp blocks a punt Friday night against Salida. (Sam Green\/Special to The Journal)<\/span>Sam Green\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The Montezuma-Cortez High School marching band performs Friday night at the Panthers football game. (Sam Green\/Special to The Journal)<\/span>Sam Green\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The color guard performs with the M-CHS marching band Friday night at the Panthers football game. (Sam Green\/Special to The Journal)<\/span>Sam Green\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The pee wee cheerleaders join the M-CHS cheerleaders at the Homecoming game Friday night.(Sam Green\/Special to The Journal)<\/span>Sam Green\/Special to The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

With a festive atmosphere already well underway, M-CHS (5-1, 1-0 2A SWL) looked to keep the party going \u2013 and wasted little time providing the night\u2019s first fireworks.<\/p>\n

Sophomore Tay Wheat, who ranks among the state leaders in rushing yards through six games, showcased his breakaway ability on the game\u2019s opening kickoff, sprinting in front of the Panther bench for a 75-yard return for a score. Freshman Isaac Dozal punched through the PAT, and 12 seconds in the contest, M-CHS led 7-0.<\/p>\n

Orange-and-black clad fans has scarcely returned to their seats before the Panther defense brought them to their feet again on Salida\u2019s first offensive play. Spartan junior quarterback Caiven Lake fumbled the ball, and M-CHS senior linebacker Dorrian Hilliard pounced on it at the Spartan 1-yard line.<\/p>\n

Hilliard would take care of that final yard one play later, bulling through the line for the score and a 13-0 advantage, less than 40 seconds deep into the contest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat start got us pumped up,\u201d said Hilliard of the early spark, \u201cwe were already hyped to come out and play, so it just boosted our confidence to start strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

From there, the Panthers kept the Spartan (3-3, 0-1 2A SWL) offense at bay, as a driving rainstorm limited the play selection for both head coaches. Taking advantage of a short Spartan punt, the Panthers moved 43 yards over a series of running plays, with a big gashing run from sophomore Mason Anderson setting up the Panthers inside the Spartan 5-yard line.<\/p>\n

Senior quarterback Jake Blackmer capped the drive with a keeper up the middle, and the M-CHS advantage ballooned to 19-0 with 2:24 left in the opening quarter.<\/p>\n

From there, the defense and special teams continued to dominate. Dozal enjoyed a spectacular day of punting, while sophomore Shyoki Knapp blocked a Spartan punt as well.<\/p>\n

The Panthers collected five turnovers, including four fumble recoveries, as the Salida offense found little traction against the feisty Panther \u2018D\u2019. Junior Marcus Harris and sophomore Braiden Seymour disrupted the Spartan ground attack, and junior Dean York played another solid contest from his linebacker spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all ball-hawks,\u201d added Hilliard, \u201cwe want to get out there, we want to hit somebody, and that\u2019s our job \u2013 to make sure that nothing gets past us.\u201d<\/p>\n

A lengthy lightning delay at halftime forced the Panthers to manage their focus through the remaining 24 minutes of the contest, while also delaying the announcement of the Homecoming Court. After over an hour wait, Hilliard learned that he was named Homecoming King.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Panthers showed their grit to withstand yet another distraction in a week full of re-directed focus, and kept their composure to preserve the shutout. In a grinding second half, the Panthers kept the ball away from the Spartans \u2013 who were down to their second-string quarterback after Lake had to be stretchered off the field in the third quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talked about it all week,\u201d said Hilliard of the preparation amidst the Homecoming festivities, \u201cIt\u2019s fun to have all these activities, but when we\u2019re having a good season, it\u2019s the football that matters the most.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the end, M-CHS avenged a 36-34 loss to Salida from a season ago, and turned away a late Spartan drive to produce their second shutout in as many weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne word that sums up this team is \u2018heart,\u2019\u201d added third-year head coach Ivan Mack, \u201cit was a full team effort, from the guys on the field to the guys on the sideline.\u201d<\/p>\n

An intriguing match-up awaits on the horizon, as the Panthers look to snap a seven-game losing streak against the Bayfield Wolverines (0-5) when the Southwest League foes meet next Friday, Oct. 7 from Wolverine Country Stadium at 7 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

offense, solid defense push Panthers past Salida<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[926,28,36,445],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-38107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-football","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school","tag-newsletter-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38107","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=38107"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83919,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38107\/revisions\/83919"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38107"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=38107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}