PUEBLO – History no longer has to wait for the Mancos High School football team.

Mancos QB Kail Wayman made sure of that on a frigid Saturday night at the ThunderBowl on the Colorado State University-Pueblo campus.

The senior captain had six touchdowns – four in the first half alone – powering the Bluejays to their inaugural state title with a 40-0 victory over Haxtun in the 8-man state championship game.

Back in 2021, Haxtun beat Mancos 40-0 in the state title game. On Sept. 16, Haxtun edged Mancos 28-22, but it was a completely different story this time around.

“This feels amazing,” Wayman said. “Two years ago, we were here, and we had that bad feeling, and we came back with the mentality that is never going to happen again. I’m just proud we put in all the work, and we deserve (this).

“The first time we played them this season we got a little bit out of our comfort zone, and we didn’t stick to what we hang our hat on, which is power football. That’s what came to do (Saturday), and we did it well.”

For his performance, Wayman was chosen the National Football Foundation’s Most Outstanding Player.

Mancos capped its memorable season with a 12-1 record, including winning nine games in a row. Haxtun finished its season with a 11-2 record.

“When we found out that we were playing Haxtun, we were so happy,” Mancos coach Josh Gardner said. “They are such a good team and we felt like we had unfinished business against them, and we were so thankful for this opportunity.”

Mancos struck first with a 51-yard scoring run by Wayman at 9:15 of the first quarter.

Haxtun’s first drive resulted in a turnover on downs when QB Ryland Wolff was stopped after a four-yard gain on 4th down and 5 at the Mancos 23-yard line.

Haxtun then turned the ball over on downs on its second drive when Wolff threw an incomplete pass on 4th-and-9 at the Mancos 39-yard line.

The defensive stop by Mancos proved beneficial as the Bluejays marched 61 yards down the field, culminating with a 1-yard TD by Wayman, stretching the lead to 12-0 with 17 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

After another fourth down stop by its defense, the Bluejays kept rolling and Wayman made it three visits to the end zone with a 5-yard run around the right side with 1:19 until half, making the score 18-0.

“The mindset I had today was I’m the best and I was telling the coaches if we want to score then put the ball in my hands and that’s what they did,” Wayman said.

Mancos was in business to do business moments later when the Bluejays jumped on a fumble by Ethan Wyatt at the Bulldogs’ 21-yard line. A nanosecond later, Wayman bulled in from two yards and added the two-point conversion, giving the Bluejays a comfortable 26-0 heading into half.

The second half didn’t get any better for Haxtun.

When the Bulldogs were stuffed for the fourth time on fourth down, Mancos drove 58 yards, scoring on a 22-yard read-option run by Wayman essentially putting the game away with 5:26 remaining in the third quarter with a 32-0 lead.

“The read option for us is all about the guys up front, our O-linemen and the push that they are getting,” Mancos offensive coordinator Alan Mathews said. “Tonight, the push they were getting we were able to get the reaction out of their defense that we needed and then obviously our quarterback made a bunch of huge plays. A lot of kids did a lot of the right things tonight.”

After the Mancos defense turned Haxtun away for the fifth time on fourth down, Wayman capped a scoring drive with a 5-yard jaunt and the two-point conversion run, pushing the score to 40-0 at the 8-minute mark of the fourth quarter.

“We teach discipline, and we teach about guys doing their job on every play,” Mancos defensive coordinator Jarrod Wyatt said. “Our guys went out and executed. We had a good game plan, and we won the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.”

And the game in convincing fashion – which will never be forgotten.

Stratton Wins 6-Man State Championship

PUEBLO – All season, the Stratton High School football team has been dominating in the 6-man ranks.
 
That didn’t change on a frigid Saturday afternoon in the 6-man state championship game.
 
Senior Cyler Notter ran in four touchdowns and recovered two fumbles, leading the Eagles to a resounding 69-14 victory over Cheyenne Wells at the ThunderBowl on the Colorado State University-Pueblo campus.
 
“We were hoping for this,” the 6-foot-2, 185-pound Notter said. “We have been working hard all season and it was just fun to do one more year of football with my brothers. We just work hard in practice and rep after rep we get better. This feels amazing.”
 
Notter was named the game’s National Football Foundation Most Outstanding Player.
 
Stratton finished the season with a perfect 13-0 record.  Stratton won its eighth outright football state title and second in a row. Stratton, while as a co-op with Liberty, also won two state crowns to make it just the fifth school in state history to have reached 10 state titles in football.
 
Stratton has a 27-0 record the past two seasons on the gridiron. The Eagles also punted just once in the last two years. Cheyenne Wells ended its season with an 8-6 record. CW also lost its first game of the season 65-16 to Stratton on Aug. 26.
 
“The last time we lost was on this field to that team – Cheyenne Wells (in 2021),” Stratton coach Jesse McConnell said. “A lot of these guys were sophomores, real young and it kept them hungry, and it just turned out we saw (Cheyenne Wells) again to end their career. They were fired up (Saturday) and this was a fun way to end their career.
 
“All offseason they lift, and they always want to get better. They aren’t satisfied. The just want to play Stratton football for four quarters. They don’t care what the score is. They just want to play the same way and that’s awesome to see them do that.”
 
It didn’t take long for Stratton to get going.
 
Notter burst up the middle for a 56-yard TD on the first offensive play of the game.
 
“Our coach said, ‘Come out fired up,’ because they were going to come out fired up because they wanted to beat us,” Notter said. “We just came out fired up and did our job.”
 
On the next possession, Stratton’s Brody Webb chugged in for a 37-yard score to make the score 16-0 with eight minutes left in the first quarter. Webb, a junior, finished the game with five TDs.
 
“It is the energy in the beginning,” Webb said about the key to the Eagles’ success. “The kickoff right from the start we are hitting people. That’s all there is to it. We knew no one could stop us if we did our job.”
 
Notter kept up the barrage with a 48-yard score at 6:02 of the first quarter to stretch the lead to 22-0.
 
Notter stayed in the spotlight with his third TD – this one from 27 yards – to make the score 28-0 with 1:44 remaining in the first quarter.
 
On the next Cheyenne Wells possession, Notter recovered a fumble by running back by Trey Sheler.
 
Moments later, Webb zoomed in for a 12-yard score to make the score 35-0 in favor of the Eagles.
 
Cheyenne Wells did get on the board when QB Perry Chadwick tossed a 9-yard TD pass to Corey Hill on fourth-and-goal with 6:44 until halftime.
 
Stratton answered late in the first half with a 1-yard plunge from Webb to keep the Eagles soaring with a 42-6 advantage.
 
Cheyenne Wells kept battling and got within 42-14 on a 2-yard TD pass from Chadwick to Hill with eight seconds left in the second quarter.
 
The second half began in similar fashion for Notter as he recovered a fumble at the CW 5-yard line after a snap went over the head of QB Chadwick. That led to a 2-yard score by Webb at 7:53 of the third. That pushed the score to 48-14.
 
Chadwick was injured on the following possession and did not return.
 
Notter cruised to a 48-yard TD – his fourth of the game – to make it 55-14 with 6:06 on the third-quarter clock.
 
Webb claimed his fifth TD of the game on a 13-yard reception, making the score 62-14 at 1:55 of the third.

- Tracy Renck/CHSAANow.org