Mistakes plague Panthers

RANGELY — Special team turnovers proved to be the undoing of the Panthers during the weekend. The Altamont Longhorns took advantage of a poor snap and a blocked punt to defeat the Panthers 25-12.
In the first quarter, Rangely moved the ball and got into scoring position. The play of the drive was a nice 63-yard pass from Kanden Brady to Adam Dahl which took the ball to the 12-yard line.
After four plays, Rangely turned the ball over to the Longhorns. With five minutes left in the second quarter, the Panthers lined up to punt. The snap was down and away and was mishandled. Altamont recovered the ball on the one-yard line and quickly punched it in. On the next Panther series, a punt situation developed after three plays. This time the snap was good but the blocking was not. The punt was blocked into the end zone and recovered by the Longhorns for their second touchdown. On Altamont’s next possession, their momentum continued and with 19 seconds left in the half, they broke for a 43-yard run resulting in their third score of the quarter. The half ended 19-0.
The Panthers received the kick at the start of the third quarter but turned over the ball on the first play from the line of scrimmage with an interception. Altamont worked the ball down to the three-yard line but were stuffed by a determined front line. Rangely took over but was forced to punt. Altamont worked the ball down to the one-yard line. This time the Longhorns fumbled the ball and Michael Morton jumped on it for Rangely.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Panthers went on a 10-play, 80-yard drive that ended with Kanden Brady sneaking the ball into the end zone. The point-after-touchdown (PAT) attempt was blocked. Kanden then followed up his touchdown with an onside kick recovered by Rangely. This offensive series faltered, but with five minutes left, the Panthers started another drive that went 47 yards in nine plays and finished with Cole Barlow in the end zone. The PAT attempt failed again so the score was 19-12. Rangely worked for another scoring opportunity but could not move the ball. Altamont did get another opportunity after all of the timeouts had been used up. With three seconds left, they rubbed a bit of salt in the wound with a final score from 1 yard out.
The Panthers had 208 yards of total offense with 168 of those through the air. The Longhorns had 179 total yards with 148 of them on the ground. Rangely led in most statistical categories except the important one, the score. The next action for Rangely is Friday in Aspen.