The Mancos Bluejays's road trip will continue as they head out to face the Dolores Bears at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Mancos is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Colorado's top teams: Merino, who was ranked 12th in their home state at the time (Mancos was ranked third). Mancos secured a 36-32 W over Merino last Saturday.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Mancos to victory, but perhaps none more so than Jonah H Ritter, who rushed for 138 yards and two touchdowns on only 13 carries, and also picked up 81 receiving yards and a touchdown. H Ritter's longest rush was for an impressive 64 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total. Brandon Vannest was another key player, throwing for 180 yards and two touchdowns on only 16 passes.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Mancos was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 345 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 202 rushing yards in 11 consecutive contests dating back to last season.
Meanwhile, Dolores took their match at home on Friday with ease, bagging a 48-16 win over Whitehorse. The victory was all the more spectacular given the Bears' disadvantage in MaxPreps' football rankings in their respective home states (they are ranked 51st in Colorado, while the Raiders are ranked fifth in Utah).
Mancos now has a winning record of 2-1. As for Dolores, the win got them back to even at 2-2.
Everything came up roses for Mancos against Dolores in their previous matchup back in October of 2023 as the squad secured a 70-0 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Mancos since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
