Football: Mancos Wins 8-Man State Championship

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.