Season Finale Loss Can’t Diminish Red Devils’ Historic Year: Grand County Falls to Monticello 61-26 -

By Laura Strother | JTS Media

Jason Strother – JTS Media

Grand County’s season ended Thursday night with a 61-26 loss to Monticello in Moab, snapping the Red Devils’ five-game winning streak and leaving them with a 6-3 record. The finale brought a difficult result against a physical opponent, but it did not erase what the team built in a season of transition: a renewed commitment to Red Devil football, and a foundation for restoring the program’s culture.

A demanding finish in Moab

Jason Strother – JTS Media

Monticello brought a talented, physical squad to Grand County for the Thursday, Oct. 15, season finale. The Red Devils entered the game without two of their top defensive players, facing an added challenge before kickoff. Their names and the circumstances of their absences were not provided.

The Buckaroos won 61-26, ending Grand County’s run of five consecutive victories. The result was a clear setback on the scoreboard, and the season-ending loss deserves to be acknowledged plainly. Monticello improved to 7-2, while Grand County finished 6-3.

Jason Strother – JTS Media

The final score also marked the end of a season that had gathered momentum through a difficult stretch of close games and convincing wins. Grand County’s streak included a six-point win at Panguitch and a six-point victory at Utah Military-Hill Field, alongside three wins by at least 25 points. The finale stopped that run, but it did not define the work behind it.

Jason Strother – JTS Media

The game’s result and records are reported in the MaxPreps recap and the High School On SI game listing.

Jason Strother – JTS Media

A season that changed the standard

Jason Strother – JTS Media

Grand County’s 2026 campaign was more than a sequence of wins and losses. It was a transition season, with the program moving to 8-player football and taking on the challenge of building a team identity in a new format.

That kind of change asks for more than adjustments on the field. It calls for players and coaches to commit to a shared standard while learning and adapting together. The season’s meaning, as the Red Devils close it at 6-3, lies in the response: the team embraced the transition and worked to reestablish the physicality, toughness and brotherhood associated with Red Devil football.

The results provided an important measure of that progress. Before Thursday’s loss, Grand County put together five straight wins, each adding to the team’s momentum and belief:

Sept. 11: Won 12-6 at Utah Military-Hill Field.
Sept. 24: Won 54-6 against Monument Valley.
Sept. 25: Won 45-0 against Whitehorse.
Oct. 2: Won 45-20 at Altamont.
Oct. 9: Won 15-9 at Panguitch.

Jason Strother – JTS Media

The streak began with a narrow road victory and ended with a one-score win at Panguitch. Between those results, Grand County recorded two shutouts and scored 45 points in consecutive games.
Jason Strother – JTS Media

Those outcomes show the range of the run without reducing it to a single defining moment: the Red Devils found ways to win in different circumstances and carried that stretch into the season finale.

Jason Strother – JTS Media

Thursday’s loss does not alter those results or the record the team earned. It does, however, set the closing scene for a season that asked the program to confront change and continue building through it. A five-game streak ending against a talented opponent is a real conclusion to a strong run, not a reason to dismiss what came before.

The work behind the record

Jason Strother – JTS Media

A 6-3 finish gives the Red Devils a concrete summary of the season. The broader task was to make the move to 8-player football part of a renewed identity rather than simply a change in format. The players and coaches took part in that work, helping create a new chapter for Grand County football.

The program’s focus on physicality, toughness and brotherhood gives that chapter its central theme.

Jason Strother – JTS Media Those qualities are built over time, through commitment and shared effort; they are not measured only by a final score. Grand County’s five-win run offered evidence of progress, while the season finale supplied a reminder that the path forward includes challenges as well as victories.

The final result against Monticello stands on its own. So does the season that preceded it. The Red Devils competed through a period of transition, reached five consecutive wins and closed the campaign with a 6-3 record. None of those facts needs to be softened to recognize the larger accomplishment: players and coaches helped restore belief in the program and laid groundwork for what comes next.

Seasons end; the foundation remains

Jason Strother – JTS Media

There is no next game on Grand County’s schedule. Thursday’s contest was the Red Devils’ season finale, bringing the 2026 campaign to a close without changing the significance of the work already done.

To the players and coaches, the season deserves a clear thank-you for their commitment, sacrifice and determination. They carried the program through a significant transition and helped establish a renewed standard for Grand County football.

Jason Strother – JTS Media The loss to Monticello ended the season and the winning streak; it did not erase the culture the team worked to rebuild.

Jason Strother – JTS Media

The foundation has been laid. Restoring the prominence of Red Devil football remains a longer effort,

Jason Strother – JTS Media one that will continue beyond the final whistle of this season. The record now stands at 6-3, and the next chapter begins with the standard these players and coaches helped set.