Santa Fe Indian School remains undefeated, but Capital High loses at home to Miyamura and Santa Fe High is defeated at Taos Friday night

High scoring Anders Pecos leads the Braves, Patriots’ quarterback Matt Chavez runs and passes past the Jaguars, and the Tigers roll after the Demons score first

By ARNIE LESHIN, Santa Fe Today

It just wasn’t a good Friday night on the football field for Santa Fe’s public schools, but surprising Santa Fe Indian School ran its undefeated record to 4-0 by turning back previously unbeaten Zuni, 34-27, at Braves Field.

The Demons and Jaguars weren’t as fortunate. Santa Fe High returned from undefeated Taos with a 56-14 defeat, its 28th in a row, while the Tigers advanced to 4-0 and will play their District 2-4A opener at Indian School Thursday night.

Capital, now 1-3, played host to unbeaten Miyamura and was impressive on its first possession, similar to scoring quickly on the loss at Roswell Goddard, but nothing after that. This time, it went eight plays for 59 yards, reaching the end zone on a 7-yard run from freshman Luke Padilla. But the point-after failed and the Patriots followed by dominating the rest of the way in a 44-14 victory.

By the time the Jaguars scored again, it was late in the game and the Patriots (3-0) had already taking control behind 5-foot-10, 165-pound senior quarterback Matt Chavez. He passed for 250 yards and ran for 110. He picked up four touchdowns through the air and ran for another.

And he also displayed Miyamura’s abilty to put up points. On the first possession following Capital’s touchdown, Chavez needed only two passes and one run to knot the score at 6-6 after the Pats missed the PAT.

That score didn’t last long, but it was evident who would be piling up the points. First Chavez found wide out Brandon Vigil for his first of two TD catches, this one taken in by Vigil in the end zone. After the Jags fumbled the ball away on their next possession, it was again Chavez to Vigil, this time for 36 yards.

Then, with the first half in its final minutes, Miyamura drove 61 yards that concluded on a short run by A.J. Silver for a 28-6 halftime lead. Back-up quarterback Brett McFarland took over in the third quarter and showed the way to a 44-6 lead late in the quarter. The Jaguars then came up with a late TD after the damage was done.

Turnovers didn’t help Bill Moon’s team and neither did the up-tempo spread passing attack employed by the Patriots. It doesn’t get any easier as Friday night it is home to undefeated Moriarty (4-0), which routed Espanola Valley, 62-7, Friday night.

Up in Taos, Santa Fe High (0-4) scored first to go up 7-0 after the PAT. But the Tigers roared their way to a 28-7 advantage after the first quarter. The lead rose to 41-7 before the Demons found the end zone. And in the final minutes, they added another, but by then the Tigers already had 56 points.

Taos completed its scoring in three quarters time, with 14 points in the second and third quarters. When the Demons scored again with one minute left in the third, they were already down 56-14 and the running clock was in play.

The next test for new head coach Andrew Martinez’ team playing an independent schedule is Friday night, where it is home to Roswell Goddard, which has lost three of four starts after opening with a win over Capital.

In the clash of the undefeated at Indian School, it was scoreless after one quarter, but 13-7 Braves at the half when their high-scoring junior running

back Anders Pecos scored twice, but they were wide on their first PAT try, and the Thunderbirds got on the scoreboard and did make the point-after to trail 13-7 at the intermission.

But after three quarters, the visitors had forced a 20-20 deadlock on a combination of passes and runs against the aggressive Indian School defense.

They scored twice and were good on one PAT. Senior quarterback Alec Lee responded for the Braves of second-year head coach Carl Vigil by getting the ball to Pecos and senior receiver Tolaska Hunts Along and. After kicking the point-after, it was 27-all.

Then came the final minutes. Lee’s passing and Pecos’ rushing and stellar blocking wore down Zuni enough to have the winning touchdown scored in the final minute when Lee threw to senior Tolaska Hunts Along and the celebration would follow not long after.

This one was close against the 3A Thunderbirds (3-1), but the next challenge will be the toughest yet when Taos comes to town. As for now, the Braves have scored 184 points and allowed 39, but the Tigers have rolled over four teams, and none of these games were close.

In other games, Escalante rolled over Espanola Valley, 55-0, Kirtland Central won handily at Los Alamos, 42-14, West Las Vegas blanked Albuquerque Academy, 48-0, Las Vegas Robertson outscored Ruidoso, 42-28, and Raton shut down Questa, 54-0.