RHS Panthers lose to Longhorns 48-14

RANGELY I The Panthers held their first home game Friday last and lost to a bigger 2A Basalt Longhorns team on Yeager Field. The Panthers will travel to Delta, whose mascot is also a Panther, to play its JV team this Saturday.“We need to continue to work hard in practice and get better every week,” head coach Paul Fortunato said of the loss.Basalt jumped to an early lead, scoring 14 points in each of the first three quarters and kept Rangely off the scoreboard until the second half.“Defensively we gave them too many second chances on missed tackles and we will be addressing that in practice,” Fortunato said.The Panthers got on the board in the third quarter, when Toby Gasper intercepted a pass and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown.“Offensively we lost a couple of key players (Jake Massey and Patrick Brown) to knee injuries early in the game and we had to move some guys around, which played a huge factor in our offense and our game plan,” Fortunato said.The Panthers scored their final touchdown in the fourth quarter when Colton Coombs scored on a 40-yard run and Chas Byerly ran in the two-point conversion.Coombs led the team with 54 yards rushing, quarterback Kody Denny rushed for 41 and passed for 27.Justin Goddard led the team with 11 tackles, Coombs had nine and DJ Jamerson made eight stops for the Panthers.“The guys played hard for 48 minutes, they’re not giving up and that’s all I ask, everything else takes care of itself,” Fortunato said. “We have two more games before we start league play.”