SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
The scoreless first quarter showed signs of a tight tussle looming at Wilson Stadium in Albuquerque Saturday afternoon.
After that, it was not. There followed poor execution on the offense of visiting Santa Fe High added to a mixture of pass-run offensive displayed by Albuquerque Eldorado that brought two touchdowns each in the second and third quarters on the way to the Eagles’ hanging a 28-12 loss on the Demons in the District 5-6A football tilt.
In hopes of carting off a victory in the district, it was an unsatisfying performance by previously undefeated Andrew Martinez’ team as it dropped to 4-1 and Eldorado advanced to 3-2.
It was not how Santa Fe High had played before, and nothing like it showed in practices. Its usually competent offense that featured a good line, a hard-charging, speedy senior running back Martell Mora, and four-year senior quarterback Luc Jaramillo did not make the trip a successful one.
Not much worked. For Jaramillo, it was pass dropped, pass incomplete. It was short throws, long throws added to plenty of dropped ones. It was frustrating and became worse early on when the Eagles moved sophomore Brandon Olivas, all of 5-foot-8, 124 pounds, to quarterback and made regular senior quarterback Elias Franco his favorite receiver.
It worked wonders, as it did for 6-1, 196-pound senior running back Aiden St. John as he constantly mowed his way past defenses, shifty broke would-be tackles, and added enough power runs that frustrated Santa Fe High on both ends of the ball. He carried the ball 24 times for 147 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Martinez first addressed his offensive misuses.
“I haven’t seen double-digit drops, and I never expected double-digit drops,” he said. “That kills us because people want to load the box on us, and our passing game has been progressing every single week. I thought this week we were going to be on point with it, but obviously it didn’t work out.”
No it didn’t. Jaramillo did not have a good day. For the first three quarters, he made good on only 9-of-27 passes for only 28 yards and one interception. He finished by completing but 13-of-39 throws for 83 yards, did make good on a pair of touchdowns, and just the one interception.
As for the 5-9, 190-pound Mora, he had been the No. 1 rusher for Santa Fe High with his hard-charging speed, but this time he could pick up only 72 yards as the Eagles bottled him up.
“They slowed Martell down,” Jaramillo said. “and we dropped passes, I threw some poor ones, and this led to some of our defense tiring in the second and third quarters because of quick drives.”
Eldorado had started Franco every game, but it thought it could do more with the stronger-armed Olivas, and he made Franco his favorite target midway through the opening quarter. He continuously found Franco and the Demons continuously lost him.
The Olivas to Franco combo was awesome and totally unexpected by the visitors. Olivas completed 21-of-26 passes for 249 yards, and found Franco 10 times for a 213 yards and a pair of second quartet touchdowns that brought a 14-0 lead at halftime. In the third quarter, the home side added two more TDs, and upped the advantage to 28-0 before Santa Fe High found the end zone.
But it was too little and too late for the team that has its homecoming next Friday nightagainst district foe Albuquerque Manzano, probably the district’s weakest team.
Martinez called the start of the second half very crucial, but his team went 0-for-3 and Eldorado responded by upping the lead to 21-0 on a 1-yard TD from Olivas with eight minutes to in go the third quarter.
But the Demons also put points on the scoreboard. They found the end zone early in the fourth quartet, and on the second one Jaramillo came up with a fancy 35-yard hook-and-ladder pass to senior tight end Patrick Gardner, who lateraled it to a streaking Martell Mora and he ran it in with 3 minutes to go. Both times Santa Fe High failed to make the two-point try.
Martinez later said he did not want to hear about the upcoming Manzano game at Ivan Head Stadium. Apparently, he first wanted to address the dropped passes and inaccurate throws, as well as both lines having to perform better on both sides of the ball.
NM HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL SCORES:
THURSDAY:
Santa Teresa 42, Valencia 22Gadsden 47, Alamo 13Deming 50, Albuquerque Valley 0FRIDAY:Santa Fe Indian School 40, Espanola McCurdy 34Roberson 54, Espanola Valley 0Pojoaque 50, Thoreau 0Albuquerque La Cueva 35, Albuquerque Sandia 0Albuquerque Volcano VIsta 30, Albuquerque High 0West Mesa 55, Albuquerque RIo Grande 0Albuquerque St. Pius X 21, Portales 20Albuquerque Hope Christian 69, Grants 29Albuquerque Academy 42, ClaytonLos Alamos 51, Gallup 0Rio Rancho Cleveland 70, Artesia 29Santa Rosa 55, Tucumcari 0Las Cruces Centennial 35, Albuquerque Atrisco Heritage 12Las Cruces 35, Mayfield 15Taos 53, Shiprock 0Socorro 20, Estancia 0Moriarty 7, Bernalillo 6Los Lunas 26, Cibola 19Bloomfield 28, Miyamura 14Cloudcroft 48, Pine Hill 22Belen 20, Piedra VIsta 14Denver City (Colo.) 35, Lovington 7Tohatchi 25, Cuba 25Roswell Goddard 30, Hobbs 27Eunuce 35, Dexter 7Farmington, 38, Durango (Colo.) 17Roy/Mosqueros 55, Northwest 0Logan 52, Navajo Pine 0Animas 56, Carrizozo 6Ruidoso 28, Cobre 12NMMI 41, Hot Springs 12Farwell (Tex.) 56, Texico 34Mountain View 47, Hatch Valley 0Ramah 64, Elida 19Ignacio (Colo.) 53, Navajo Prep 52Bayfield (Colo) 46, Aztec 25Fort Sumner/House 56, Magdalena 18Pagosa Springs 27, Kirtland Central 14Capitan 20, Loving 0Crownpoint 12, Newcomb 0Mesilla Vally 64, Menual 14SATURDAY:Albuquerque Elodrado 28, Santa Fe High 12Rio Rancho 61, Organ Mountain 7Clovis Christian 53, Floyd 0
