Robertson heads for Santa Fe again Saturday afternoon after disposing of visiting Raton, but now it’s the quarterfinals of the 3A quarterfinals

By Arnie Leshin 

Was Robertson looking ahead?

“Some others also asked me that,” said its head coach Leroy Gonzales. “No, we came to play, but even when we beat them up at their place, Raton gave us a tough night.”

Whatever, the W is all that counts and that’s what the Cardinals did as they sent the 12th seeded Tigers home with a 21-6 setback. But when you look at the statistics, 5th seeded Robertson didn’t have to do all that much before its rematch with District 2-3A winner St. Michael’s Saturday afternoon.

And if the Cards (9-2) were looking ahead, their thoughts were on the 39-6 defeat by 4th seeded St. Michael’s in Santa Fe in the previous clash between the rivals.

Now they head for Christian Brothers Athletic Complex again and this time in the quarterfinals of the state tournament. Also in the bracket is 6thseeded West Las Vegas, which turned in an identical 21-6 win over 11th seed Cobre and now plays at 3rd seed Socorro Friday night.

Robertson would like to make its fourth-straight trip to the finals. St. Michael’s would like to continue its turnaround after losing its first three starts.

Cardinals’ quarterback Brandon Lucero threw only eight passes. He completed five for a measly 37 yards. Along the ground is where they that got their two touchdowns, the other coming when defense lineman Estevan Marquez scooped up a Tiger fumble and took it 60 yards into the end zone.

That brought Robertson a 13-0 lead, with the first TD run in from six yards out by Santiago Gonzales to break a scoreless tie in the second quarter. The Cardinals added another touchdown in the third quarter and their three conversions made it 21-0 after they converted all their extra points.

The Tigers, who reached Robertson territory several times, finally scored late in the third quarter. So Raton wasn’t so much of a threat, but it did hang around and not allow the visitors to run it up.

But even the Cards’ rushing game wasn’t all that impressive with 132 yards on 36 carries.

Now it will try to keep the Horsemen from dominating again.

“And now we can look ahead,” Gonzales said.