After 13 years of being dominated by St. Michael’s, West Las Vegas decided that was enough in nipping the visiting Horsemen, 14-13, in District 2-3A play Friday night

By Arnie Leshin

Enough. That’s the message turned in all week by West Las Vegas, and being it was a home game Friday night, it was seen all around the school grounds.

With St. Michael’s visiting, the Dons were in quest of their first win over the Horsemen since 2003. They lost the other 12 times.

It was a struggle. It was a game won in the final minutes, and WLV got what it wanted, a 14-13 victory over the program that dominated it for so long. In 2003, the Dons handed the Horsemen their only loss of the season in which it finished at 12-1 and won the state championship.

That was nice, but the 91-0, 66-0, and 44-6 embarrassments, weren’t and the home crowd saw its team improve to 5-3 overall and 2-0 in District 2-3A, which now makes its upcoming test on Nov. 2 in the regular-season final against first-place, cross town rival Robertson a clash for first place.

As for St. Michael’s, the road to the state tournament becomes bumpy as it fell to 4-4 overall and 1-1 in district. It still has Robertson at home and Raton on the road. So it might be a struggle to gain the familiar post-season

for head coach Joey Fernandez.

Most everything was long. The Dons scored first on a 98-yard touchdown sprint by running back Antonio Bustamante. The Horsemen matched it on freshman quarterback Lucas Coriz’ 56-yard TD pass to senior Luke Kastendicek with 3:35 remaining in regular. Late in the first half, Coriz also found Sebastian Alcarez on an 11-yard toss into the end zone.  

Overtime almost took over, but West Las Vegas junior quarterback John Balizan made sure it wouldn’t with a 17-yard touchdown throw to Omar Gallardo with only 21 seconds left.

At the time WLV was trailing 13-7. But following an interception by Horsemen senior Dominic Morgan, the visitors had the ball late in the fourth quarter, But the Dons’ defense did what it had to do, stop St. Michael’s from running out the clock. Then, with 2:54 to go, Coriz was intercepted by Devin Tenorio.

WLV then got behind Balizan and drove 86 yards in 10 plays with just one timeout. He kept the drive alive on a short 4th down keeper in the final minute. Gallardo made the catch as he slid to the ground just across the goal line. It tied the game at 13-all, but Bustamante’s wobbly extra point just made it after he had gotten a bad snap.

Coriz had 274 yards through the air, but he was picked off five times and fumbled twice. The Horsemen were also guilty of 14 personals and eight turnovers.

Balizan passed for 252 yards, completing 17 of 32 to five different receivers. The teams combined for 817 yards total offense and there were a total of 15 yellow flags that covered 252 yards. Plus two TDs were called back due to flags, as well as several other plays of 20 yards or more.

It was a wild a wooly contest, but for the Dons nothing else mattered but finally getting past St. Michael’s.