No. 14 Tanque Verde pulled away from No. 19 Cortez 42-27 Friday night to advance to the second round of the 2A state playoffs next Friday where the Hawks will face No. 3 Willcox on the road once again. Willcox beat Tanque Verde 34-7 to end the regular season on Oct. 23 as part of the “crossover” matches between the two region champions.

The winner of Willcox (10-0) and Tanque Verde (7-4) will head to the quarterfinal round. If Willcox wins, the Cowboys will host the quarterfinal round but Tanque Verde will travel again as the lower seed if the Hawks win. There was only one upset in the 2A first round with No. 23 Desert Star beating No. 10 Veritas Prep 33-17 but Cortez went up early at Tanque Verde in what looked to be an upset in the making.

The Colts (6-5) went several years without victories in the 4A Conference before shifting to the 3A level in 2020 but success did not follow until the program moved to the 2A Conference in 2022 but a couple of years with seven victories gave way to a 3-7 record last year. Legendary head coach Brian Cole took over and the program made their first playoff appearance since 2005 with a 6-4 record with senior athlete Anthony Jamerrius leading the way.

Jamerrius put the Colts up 7-0 on 56-yard sprint up the middle on a third-and-16 situation with 10:24 left in the first quarter and he put Cortez up 14-0 with 5:48 in the first on a short run. It looked like it was going to be a long night for the Hawks but head coach Jeffrey Bollnow could be heard telling his players to, “compete” and they did.

Bollnow led the Hawks to a semifinal finish last year as a No. 9 seed in the most successful season in program history. It seems like it was not too long ago when the school had to play on Saturday mornings as an 8-man program because the football field had no lights and now there is a multi-year plan to further improve the stadium facilities and the football team has been improving at a similar pace.

Down 14-0 to the Colts, the Hawks turned to big hits, turnovers and big plays to turn the game around. Gabe Torgeson cut the lead down to 14-7 with 57.8 seconds remaining in the quarter on a short run and then Torgeson stripped the ball from Jamerrius and Daniel Waters collected the fumble to put the Hawks back in business. Gaines Gooch hit Mason Sandoski from 30 yards out but a missed extra point kept the Colts up 14-13 with 8:24 left in the half.

Brock Payne came up with another turnover on a strip-sack and recovery with 6:28 left in the half but Cortez would go into the locker room leading 14-13. That lead would end quickly in the second half with Gooch finding Mason Sandoski for 80 yards with 11:38 in the third to put Tanque Verde up 21-14 with a successful two-point conversion added.

42-yard run from Gooch was followed by a 20-yard scoring run from Payne and the Hawks led 27-14 with 10 minutes left in the game. Tray Edmonds scored on an 80-yard kickoff return to cut the Tanque Verde lead down to 27-21 with 9:44 left and then Cortez stopped Tanque Verde but a face mask penalty on a punt gave the Hawks new life and Sandoski scored from 25 yards out to put Tanque Verde up 35-21 with 6:45 left.

Beau Duke ran the ball in from two yards out to put the Hawks up 42-21 with 3:51 left and then Jamerrius scored one more time, this time from 41 yards out on a fourth-down play for the 42-27 final.