ALAMOSA— Tonight Monte Vista will travel down south to face the undefeated Centauri Falcons.
Centauri boasts a perfect 5-0 record and currently looks like the team to beat in the 1A Southern Peaks league. Centauri has also earned a fourth place ranking in the state. They have done it with smothering defense and explosive offense.

Monte Vista meanwhile has started strong but has had trouble sustaining their success.  They are 3-2 and are perfect in league play with last weeks win over Ignacio. The Pirates rely on grinding down defenses and the clock with the run game.

Rewind the clocks a month and the Pirates were fresh off victories over Cedaredge and Ellicot and were ranked number six, one spot behind Centauri. Pagosa Springs came to town and handed Monte Vista a 26-7 defeat knocking the Pirates down to number 8. Then a trip north to Meeker and a second loss at the hands of the second ranked Cowboys knocked Monte Vista out of the rankings altogether.  
Centauri, meanwhile started off their season hot with a win over post season perennial Paonia and never looked back.

Back to modern day and Monte Vista are 4 votes out of the top ten and a week removed from running wild all over Ignacio for 297 yards and 4 touchdowns.
While Centauri has moved up one spot for all their effort and are rested up off their bye week.

Centauri looks prepared for what Monte Vista has to offer being that they have faced a team very similar to the Pirates already. The Paonia Eagles currently run 87 percent of the time, which is the same rate that the Pirates are handing it off.  
Paonia’s Jaden Miller has accumulated 784 yards and 13 touchdowns. Monte Vista’s Jacob Chavez has run for 738 yards and 10 touchdowns, Miller posts 156.8 a game to Chavez’ 147.6.

When Paonia came to visit Centauri kept Miller out of the end zone in spite of the 150 yards they allowed to him and took the game 20-13.
The Falcons looking to keep their record clean through their final four games, and open that stretch in the win column. The Pirates have ended the skid and hope to right the ship going into the final chapter of their season, and a win against a post season bound Centauri would go a long way towards accomplishing that.

Catch the action when the Falcons and Pirates meet in La Jara at 7 p.m. tonight.