The Manitou Springs High School varsity football team had their Homecoming football game against the Woodland Park High School Panthers on Oct. 1. 

While the Mustangs don’t consider the Panthers rivals, these two schools have had conflicts with each other for many years.

 The Mustangs played a strong first half holding the Panthers to zero points. By the end of the half the score was 0-0. Both teams had a touchdown called back. 

The Panthers would end up winning the game 35-0. 

The Mustangs record after that game was 3-2.

The players have been talking about crumbling in the second half and not executing. “I think we kind of gave up in the second half,” said Nathan Gentzel (11), varsity quarterback. “The team needs to work on persevering when things get tough.”

It’s the same story that keeps repeating. The Mustangs are looking to change that for the rest of their season.

On the other hand, the coaches were very pleased with the team’s effort throughout the game; they just needed to execute some crucial plays. “There were some amazing opportunities we could’ve capitalized on, but we didn’t,” said Evan Scherr (11), varsity wide receiver and safety.

The Mustangs played the Florence High School Huskies Football team the following Friday, losing 60-0. 

After the loss the Mustangs are now 3-3. 

The team was upset about the loss to Florence. The Mustangs have won every single away game but have not won any of their home games.  

“Coaches are definitely upset, but just excited to get back at it and excited for the rest of the year,” said Preston Rhodes (10), wide receiver and safety.

The team will now be heading down to play the Alamosa High School football team on October 14. 

“Our effort was good. We just need to be able to play for all 4 quarters,” said Rhodes

Manitou is in League 7, and it is considered to be one of the best in the state of Colorado having 3 of the 6 teams in the top 10 for 2A Colorado football. 

Rhodes believes the team needs to “focus up” in order to make the playoffs. “We have a lot of things that we need to fix for the rest of our league play games,” Rhodes said. 

The team watches film on the Mondays after the game to prepare and get ready for the next game. 

“We just have to work on those tiny mistakes to get better,” Donovan Ornelas (11) said.