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Home / Sports News / Antonio Gabaldon had his choice of receivers as he passed for six touchdowns, two each to Joey Fernandez, Jr., and Israel Chavez, in Saturday afternoon’s victory over visiting Capital High

Antonio Gabaldon had his choice of receivers as he passed for six touchdowns, two each to Joey Fernandez, Jr., and Israel Chavez, in Saturday afternoon’s victory over visiting Capital High

Once Gabaldon got on a run, he was unstoppable through the air as the Horsemen advanced to 2-0 and a key test Friday night at Moriarty, while the Jaguars are home to Santa Fe High Friday night in a match-up of 0-2 teams

Arnie Leshin

By ARNIE LESHIN, Santa Fe Today

Like the rifleman with a lot of targets, Antionio Gabaldon had no problems finding receivers as the senior quarterbacked undefeated St. Michael’s past cross town rival Capital High, 46-27, at Christian Brothers Activities Complex Saturday afternoon.

As was the case in last week’s opening win over Santa Fe High, Gabaldon began slow and just picked up the pace through the air, throwing six touchdown passes to four different players as the Horsemen advanced to 2-0 and dropped the Jaguars to 0-2.

Friday night will be the first true test for St. Michael’s when it plays at 2-0 Moriarty, which handily ran past the Horsemen in Santa Fe last season. Friday night, the Pintos trampled Los Alamos, 44-0. As for Santa Fe High, it heads cross town Friday night to play at Capital, and with a 26-game losing streak.

The 5-foot-11, 155-pound Gabaldon was good on half of his early six passes, but then settled down to connect on 8 of his next 10, and this included the game’s first touchdown as he found his favorite target, senior Joey Fernandez, Jr., on the Capital 5 and Fernandez did the rest late in the first quarter. Junior Andrew Salazar then kicked his first of two PATs.

Capital came out like Gang Busters, taking the opening kickoff deep at its own 20 and relying on its ground game. It got it into St. Michael’s territory, but then came a poor snap to senior quarterback Cisco Leos, a messy play in the backfield, and a handoff to junior fullback Jacob Jiron that brought a one-yard loss.

The next time it had the ball came after containing the Horsemen on defense. This time, the Jags reached the St. Michael’s 25 when a bad snap, a sack of Leos, and a fumble by senior Estevan Segura that he recovered, but it was a loss of three yards, and Capital failed on a fourth-and-one.

It stayed 7-0 heading into the second quarter when Gabaldon made a run. On second and 17, he again found fellow co-captain Fernandez on a 15-yard toss, and it was 13-0 after Salazar kicked wide right.

Next came a 15-yard throw to senior Shawn Roybal on third and goal, and Roybal caught the ball on the Jags’ 2 and took the defender into the end zone with him for a 20-0 lead following Salazar’s PAT.

But back came Capital to score the season’s initial TD late in the quarter. Leos found senior Abraham Sanchez with a 15-yard pass, Sanchez eluded the defender, and took it another 47 yards untouched, and the PAT trimmed the gap to 20-7 with 1:23 left before halftime.

But it was barely enough to stop the Gabaldon parade of passes. The second-year starter senior found senior wide out Israel Chavez on a 30-yard pass-play and he now had four different pass-catchers and a 28-7 advantage when Gabaldon tossed the ball to Fernandez, who he ran it in untouched for the two-pointer.

Not through yet, he again located Chavez on the Capital 30, and this resulted in a touchdown and 34-7 lead after the PAT sailed wide right. The Jaguars’ offense then came on, but not for long, as junior Luke Kastendieck intercepted a Leos pass and sped untouched along the St. Michael’s sideline for a 30-yard tally and 40-7 score.

One more visit to the end zone came when Gabaldon got a six-yard toss to junior Jake Tupler to wrap up the scoring for the home side. The Jaguars weren’t conceding yet as Leos went back-to-back on touchdown passes late in the game. Leos was also sacked three times and intercepted twice.

Gabaldon was also sacked three times, but he shrugged this off as he did on escaping plays of 2nd and 20, 2nd and 18, 3rd and 13, and 4th and 5, maintaining the ball and staying on the same offensive road. And no doubt letting it be known that he has other targets, and not only Fernandez.

Fernandez, a two-way All-State candidate, cramped down at one point and his teammates carried him to the sidelines. He was attended to by St. Michael’s head athletic trainer, Tom Fagan, and was back on the field 10 minutes later once he felt better.

Two plays later, he made an outstanding stop on Leos running wide, bursting in and throwing for a 7-yard loss.

Capital came in pumped up and huddled at the softball field dugout prior to the game. But even an impressive start couldn’t keep it in the game, for the Horsemen had just a bit too much even though the Jaguars did match them in size.

Two-way senior starting lineman Lincoln Barker was still sidelined for St. Michael’s after injuring his right elbow in a practice last week. It’s a day-to-day circumstance and he’s hopeful of being back to face Moriarty.

Down the sidelines dashes Fernandez before being stopped.
Photo Taken By KURT KASTENDIECK
Fernandez about to step into end zone.
Photo Taken By KURT KASTENDIECK
Horsemen’s Luke Kastendieck races for a TD after intercepting a pass.
Photo Taken By KURT KASTENDIECK
Kastendieck picks off a Capital pass.
Photo Taken By KURT KASTENDIECK
St. Michael’s Israel Chavez about to bring down Jaguars’ quarterback Cisco Leos.
Photo Taken By KURT KASTENDIECK
Chavez holds off defender after making a catch.
Photo Taken By KURT KASTENDIECK
Capital defender Jacob Jiron (22) lines up as St. Michael’s Dominick Morgan (left) gets ready to snap the ball,
Photo Taken By KURT KASTENDIECK

 

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