It will be a challenge to replace Vinny Conklin and Cordell Baer at wide receiver, but the Panthers looked to Aca Dennison and Kyler Krobb for touchdown receptions Friday night at Durango. Another weapon for the Panthers is Jacob Schuster, who last season rushed for 217 yards and two touchdowns and also caught two touchdowns as part of 11 receptions for 134 yards.<\/p>\n
Gone from a year ago are the five leading tacklers for the Panthers, including team-leader Matthew Broughton. The top-returning tackler is Rodriguez, who had 47 total tackles. Behind him is Chris Matimba, who had 43 tackles last season. Kaleb Gropp is back for the Panthers defense after he hauled in two interceptions a year ago.<\/p>\n
Durango, which has big playoff aspirations this season in Class 3A, held the Montezuma-Cortez offense to negative total yardage while the Demons\u2019 starters were on the field Friday. But the Panthers won\u2019t hang their heads after being outmatched on the offense and defensive lines against a much larger opponent. They\u2019ll look to regroup before the season opener at 7 p.m. Friday at home against Kirtland Central out of New Mexico. It starts in practice this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of work to do,\u201d Watkins said. \u201cA lot of running plays and cleaning things up. We didn\u2019t even put in half of our playbook yet. We have to work on a lot more so we can put more in and also use more defensive concepts. It\u2019s repetition that we need.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kirtland Central will be the first of three Montezuma-Cortez games against New Mexico foes, as the Panthers will visit Zuni on Sept. 27 and host Albuquerque Academy in the regular-season finale Nov. 1. The non-league schedule includes a Week 2 trip to face Gateway in Aurora and a Sept. 20 meeting at home against Delta.<\/p>\n League will once again be a challenge with trips to Pagosa Springs and Salida bookending home games with Alamosa and Bayfield to fill the month of October. Montezuma-Cortez was one of three teams from the IML \u2013 along with Alamosa and Bayfield \u2013 to make the playoffs last year, and Pagosa Springs had an argument to be in the playoffs with its 3-6 record that included a 41-28 road win at Montezuma-Cortez.<\/p>\n But several IML schools are looking to a new generation of players in 2019, as Salida lost 13 seniors and Bayfield a whopping 19.<\/p>\n \u201cAs far as non-conference games, Kirtland didn\u2019t lose much from this year to last year. It was a tough game for us last year,\u201d Watkins said. \u201cWe use those as preparation, but those games count. When it comes to later in the season, if you don\u2019t have that win, it will hurt you, and we kind of slipped in last year because of things like that.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it comes to league, I\u2019m not exactly sure what to expect. As far as football goes, it sounds like a down year for a lot of people in our conference.\u201d<\/p>\n