Football Recap: Montezuma-Cortez Panthers vs. Salida Spartans
Montezuma-Cortez had already won two in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 51 points) and they went ahead and made it three on Friday. They came out on top against the Salida Spartans by a score of 34-27. The Panthers have seen this before: they got the W the last time they saw the Spartans, too.
Tay Wheat continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, rushing for 245 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 12.9 yards per carry. He is on a roll when it comes to rushing touchdowns, as he's now punched in two or more in the last five games he's played dating back to last season. Another player making a difference was Parker Conrad, who picked up 109 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Montezuma-Cortez was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 300 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since back in October of 2023.
Montezuma-Cortez's defense made their presence known, laying out Eli Schwarz. five times. The heavy lifting was done by Wyatt Oliver and Ayden Sopha, who racked up all five sacks between them. Sopha also set a new season high mark in total tackles with 11.
Several Spartans players turned in solid performances despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Wyatt Farney, who rushed for 70 yards and a touchdown.
Montezuma-Cortez's record now sits at 5-1. As for Salida, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 2-4.
Both squads are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. Montezuma-Cortez will welcome Alamosa at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Alamosa will be hoping to continue their three-game streak of scoring more points each match than the last. As for Salida, they will look to defend their home field on Thursday against Bayfield at 6:00 p.m. Bayfield is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 38 points per game this season.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
