RANGELY I The scoreboard showed 39-14, in favor of the other team.
But that’s not how Rangely coach Tim Galloway saw it.
“I think we beat ourselves,” Galloway said after Friday’s loss to Altamont, Utah. “I believe we’re a better football team than what we showed.”
The game was Altamont’s third of the season — the Longhorns are 2-1 — but it was the first for Rangely.
“I don’t know if it was first-game jitters, but we just weren’t real sharp,” Galloway said. “We had our flashes, like when Tobie (Gasper) returned a kickoff for a touchdown. We had our shots. We just didn’t execute very well.”
Only 18 players suited up for the Panthers, while Altamont had nearly double that number. Galloway hopes to have a few more on the sideline for Friday’s first road game at Basalt.
“We had one who was hurt, one who didn’t have all his practices in and five who were ineligible (academically),” Galloway said. “Hopefully we’ll get a couple of those ineligibles back (for Friday’s game).”
Rangely’s other touchdown last Friday came on a Kody Denny 5-yard pass to freshman Andrew Morton.
Despite the loss, Galloway was encouraged by what he saw from his team.
“All of the mistakes we had are coachable and fixable,” he said. “It’s just the little things.
“I was proud of the kids,” Galloway continued. “They kept scrapping. I told the kids after the game I was still proud of them. I would still go to war with them anytime, anyplace. I wanted that win for them as much as anything. I want them to have success, because they deserve it. They’ve worked hard for it.”