SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
St. Michael’s took care of business up at Raton, and at Ivan Head Stadium it was the Luke Padilla show as he helped Capital run it up over Santa Fe High on Friday night.
The Horsemen recovered from a 0-3 start to win their final six of 10 outings to clinch first place in District 2-3A by turning back the Tigers, 21-6, while West Las Vegas lost, 28-6, to visiting Robertson.
This created a three-way tie for the top spot, all at 3-1, but the Horsemen (6-4) earned first place based on the point differential. At home last Saturday afternoon, they routed Robertson, 39-7, following a 14-13 defeat to West Las Vegas.
St. Michael’s did enough on offense and contained Raton (5-5) on defense. It took a 14-0 lead at halftime, increased it to 21-0, and the Tigers closed out the scoring, but are probably out of getting an bid to the state tournament, while Robertson and West Las Vegas will probably get the 5th and 6thseeds and the Horsemen possibly the 3rd or 4th, which brings a first-round bye.
Then there was Padilla. Last week he carried the ball 32 times for 319 yards in the win over Los Alamos. This time, the sophomore ran for 269 yards and scored four touchdowns in a 40-0 District 5-5A rout over the Demons.
It was the 23rd game of this cross town rivalry and the Jaguars won their third-straight and have now won 11, one less than Santa Fe High.
The outcome was never in doubt. There were numerous penalties flags for both teams,something like 22, but Capital also took advantage of Demon turnovers that included three interceptions by freshman quarterback Luc Jaramillo.
Padilla had scoring runs of 3, 37, 33 and 40 yards, his final one bringing the Jags a 34-0 advantage with seven minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Capital also received a good game from sophomore quarterback Max Vargas as he did well through the air, scrambled a few times, and was instrumental in the Jaguars finishing at 3-6-1 overall and 2-1 and second place in district.
The Demons went 2-8 overall and were winless in three district starts. They did move the ball several times into Capital territory, in fact in six of their first seven drives that included getting inside of the 20 four times, but they failed to come away with any points.
Albuquerque Dell Norte won the district by winning all three games, although it was 4-6 overall, but won its last games, including Friday night’s 70-20 rout of Los Alamos up on the hill. The Hilltoppers placed third in district, and will not receive an invitation to the state tournament.
In other results, Taos rolled over Bernalillo, 35-16, to win District 2-4A, Roswell won its district by edging previously undefeated city rival Goddard, 24-21, on a late field goal, and Ruidoso won handily over Moriarty, 36-8.
There was Portales blewing out Lovington, 48-6, Socorro won a tight one, 19-12 over Hatch Valley, Dexter topped Tularosa, 38-14, and top-ranked unbeaten Rio Rancho Cleveland wiped out city rival Rio Rancho High, 42-7.
