SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
Getting tired of the frustration of his players, his staff, and the Santa Fe High supporters, head coach Andrew Martinez didn’t care who his football team would play. He just wanted to play an actual, put his team on the field.
And so when Rio Rancho offered to come up I-25 and play the Demons at Ivan Head Stadium, he didn’t hesitate.
“I figured I finally had a game to play,” he said. “If was Rio Rancho or anyone else, it didn’t matter, and my team and my coaches were happy to at lest start the season.”
Except that problems had greeted him, injuries, a lack of practices, and at game time Saturday afternoon, he even had to scratch fourth string quarterback Andrew Allen off the junior varsity when his first three players at that position came down with injuries. Starting quarterback Luc Jaramillo, a junior and 3-year starter, was limping around, but in the third quarter, with his team down 42-0, he injured his knee and heading off the field.
But that time the mercy-rule was a chance for Rio Rancho to either keep running it up or head for its bus and party on the way home. On the way up, it must have partied anyway.
End of this no contest, the scoreboard read 57-6, but only the visiting team cared.
There was a limited turnover of about 1,000, but to the home team, it wasn’t much fun. With the one-sided tilt in front of them, it was also an overcast. chilly, windy afternoon, and perhaps they were even rooting for the clock to run down and the mercy-rule to take percipient. Santa Fe High managed only 48 yards of offense and had no answer for the Rams’ high-powered offense, which midway through the third quarter, already had marched up and down the filed for 334 rushing yards.
With the clock at 8:48 remaining in the third quarter, the Demons’ Nico Martinez had his punt blocked, and that brought a safety and upped the lead to 44-0. Not long after, the clock ran down and the mercy-rule prevailed.
Santa Fe High figures to have an easier time when it heads up to Los Alamos Friday, with the Hilltoppers coming from a 55-7 rout by Capital at the Jaguars Field also on Saturday afternoon. But the injuries might continue to be a problem, but then again, the Los Alamos roster that listed only 22 players, might have its own troubles.
Meanwhile, instead of Capital playing at Espanola Valley Saturday, it will instead be home and play Pojoaque Valley.
