Friday night, Capital heads for Lovington, St. Michael’s plays at Bloomfield, and Santa Fe High travels to Espanola Valley

Jaguars looking for more than a tie this time, Horsemen need to do some scoring, Demons out to finally gain a win

By Arnie Leshin 

The football teams from Capital, St. Michael’s and Santa Fe hit the road Friday night and that could spell trouble, except that the Demons have a chance to end their 35-game losing streak up at Espanola Valley.

Both are winless, but this is one that can go Santa Fe’s way. The Sundevils have had but one winning season in over a decade, and they started this one with a 42-0 home loss to Albuquerque Hope Christian, followed by a 57-12 defeat at Los Alamos.

Okay, Santa Fe High has also dropped two, but with each setback, head coach Andrew Martinez’ team has met with frustration each time, and each time it keeps in mind that a win will come soon.

Whereas the Demons opened with a loss at Robertson, followed by another at Moriarty, they are used to traveling, and in this case, traveling down the field and stepping into the end zone would do just fine.

The Sundevils have not been drawing well, and Martinez is hoping that Santa Fe High supporters will take to I-25 north to cheer on his visiting team.

“Sure, we have a good chance to win this one,” said Martinez, “but we have to get together and stop making mistakes, and we need to score.”

So the head coach is thinking in terms of a confident ride to be followed by a celebration heading home. But thinking doesn’t bring the final result, only showing up to play can do that.

Then there’s Capital, now 1-0-1 after a home field rout over Pojoaque and a 14-14 tie with visiting Deming when the game was called with eight minutes remaining,

Now Lovington awaits. The Wildcats began with a 49-10 home win over Chaparral, but then lost a 56-14 contest at Roswell. But they get great fan support at home, and don’t lose there too often.

The Jaguars have played them twice in recent years and split. So Bill Moon’s ballclub has mixed up its attack, especially letting sophomore Lucas Padilla carry the ball most of the time, and relying on the pass when needed. On defense, Capital always plays aggressively.

St. Michael’s has dropped its first two games, losing in a 57-12 rout to visiting Taos, and then losing at Moriarty. Not as bad, but the Horsemen have trouble moving the ball. They have scored 24 and allowed 80.

Meanwhile, Bloomfield has won its first two starts, a 20-6 triumph at Colorado’s Montezuma-Cortez, and a 71-21 no-contest romp at home over Escalante.

The key offensive threat for the Bobcats is senior quarterback Rogelho Gonzales, who last week passed for 380 yards and rushing for 107. He likes to hand-off to senior Josh Maestas, who has carried the ball for 438 yards and gathered in 41 yards of pass receptions. He’s all of 5-foot-5, 160 pounds.

Elsewhere Friday night, there’s Portales at West Las Vegas, Robertson at Santa Rosa, Socorro at Raton, Los Alamos at Pojoaque, Bernalillo at Hope Christian, and Aztec at Taos. All kickoffs are at 7.

Saturday afternoon, Santa Fe Indian School takes its 0-2 record to Espanola McCurdy. Kickoff is 1 o’clock.