The Pagosa Springs High School Pirate football team lost to the Delta Panthers by a score of 49-0 last Friday, Sept. 18 in Delta.
The Panthers put up 21 points in the first quarter, followed by 14 points in both the second and third quarters.
Coach Nathan Morales spoke about how turnovers heavily affected the game, noting the Pirates gave up four turnovers in the first half.
“The whole game is my fault,” Morales said.
The coach explained that he needs to do a better job of making sure everyone is prepared for each game.
“I thought the second half they played a lot better than they did in the first half,” Morales said of the Pirates.
Morales stressed the importance of taking care of the football and not giving up multiple turnovers in a game.
“It just makes it tough to recover when we don’t take care of the football,” he said.
The Pirates put up a total of 111 yards of offense, with Hudson Mazur leading the Pirates in rushing yards on the night.
Mazur ran for 58 yards on eight carries.
Alex Pacheco racked up 33 yards on 11 carries, Kasen Limebrook ran for 12 yards on eight carries and Gage Sams tallied 8 yards on five carries.
Limebrook was unsuccessful on his only pass attempt of the night.
On the defensive side, Reese Jenkins led the Pirates in tackles, coming up with six solo tackles on the night.
Pacheco, Sams and Jimmy Elledge each had five solo tackles, and Mazur had four.
Morales commented that the Delta Panthers are a notorious playoff team that is well-coached with good athletes.
“They did handle business,” Morales said of the Panthers.
The Panthers are currently the No. 1-ranked team in the state’s 2A division with an overall record of 5-0.
Morales also mentioned that Pagosa Springs is competing in a large, tough league this season, “which is what we want.”
He explained that the Pirates want to be playing against quality opponents, “because we are a good football team.”
He added, “We just gotta go out there and prove it every week, and last week we were not able to do that.”
Morales noted that the Pirates plan to “learn and grow” from their performance against Delta.
Despite the loss, the Pirates moved up one spot in the state rankings over the week and are now the 22nd-ranked team in the state’s 2A division with an overall record of 2-3.
League action will continue for the Pirates this weekend as they host the Basalt Longhorns on Saturday, Sept. 26, at Golden Peaks Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m.
When asked about preparations for the game, Morales explained that the Pirates “just gotta take care of the football,” noting, “it’s hard to win games if we don’t have the ball to score.”
Morales mentioned the Pirates were able to move the ball against Delta, but simply didn’t take care of it enough to prevent turnovers.
With four games left in the regular season, including this week’s game against Basalt, “every game counts for us,” Morales said.
He noted that Basalt is another notorious playoff team and that the Pirates will need to do all of the little things right — take care of the ball, finish their tackles and move the ball on offense — in order to be successful against the Longhorns.
“Just gotta do the little things right. I believe in this team, and I believe they can do a lot, but it starts with taking care of the football,” he said.
Basalt is currently ranked 11th in the state’s 2A division with an overall record of 3-1, including a Western Slope League record of 1-0.
Morales explained that with this week’s game being one of two remaining home games, “hopefully we can get everybody out there to support their Pirate football team.”
clayton@pagosasun.com
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