Capital high school wins over Moriarty

To play or not play, that was the question. There were concerns over the coronavirus pandemic that has been an issue all over the planet, there were a shortage of referees that became a recent issue here in New Mexico.

Well, they played. Up early and on the field for the 10 o’clock non-district football game were Moriarty at Capital Saturday morning, and it resulted in a tight 35-34 overtime win for the Jaguars of new head coach Joaquin (Wax) Garcia.

It was a back-and-fourth tilt in which Capital rallied twice, then pulled out a dramatic victory in the overtime. It was for Garcia quite a difference from his first two games after returning as a head coach for the first time in 20 years.

His Jaguars opened at Grants in non-district play and returned by winning handily 55-20, but game two at St.Michael’s became a nightmare for Garcia as he returned this time, but on the visitors sideline at Christian Brothers Athletic Complex where he was previously, like present Santa Fe High head coach Andrew Martinez, an assistant coach under Joey Fernandez.

But Capital had no answers on the road in a 60-8 Horsemen rout.

But now he’s at 2-1 and will welcome Martinez and the unbeaten Demons to Jaguar Field Friday night. At stake is the city three-school championship that St. Michael’s usually owns, but now it can turn it over to undefeated, 3-0, Santa Fe High.

But that’s what looms ahead, for the excitement over the Saturday morningthriller remains.

After the Pintos scored first in the overtime, back came the Jags as their quarterback Julian Munoz capped a remarkable morning performance by tossing a 6-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Solis to get within 34-33, and now Garcia had a decision to make.

“We were here to win it right there,” he said, “and we were putting the ball in Munoz’ hands no matter what.”

So they went for the two and the win instead of the point-after kick. Munoz took the snap and raced to the pylon in the front corner of the end zone. He and a Moriarty linebacker converged on that spot at about the same time. The shifty Munoz extended the ball inside the pylon as he took a hard hit while traveling at full speed.

The impact sent him tumbling 15 yards out of bounds with the ball still tucked under his right arm. Game to the home side via a one-point triumph.

Said Munoz: “I saw the hit coming, but I knew I was going to get there.”

He must have been tired after rushing for three touchdowns and passing for two more in the first four quarters. He engineered the offense as it fought back from a 21-7 gap in the first half.

One big lift came down the stretch when he took the team on a 62-yard drive that included conversions on third and fourth downs to finally force a 27-all tie after the successful PAT with eight minutes remaining.

Both teams had chances to win in the waning minutes of regulation. Pintos’ quarterback Andrew Gonzales took his team on a drive that eventually stalled at the Capital 39 with a minute left. The Jaguars used the last 33 seconds of regulation to get as far as the Moriarty 36.

Then came the extra session where the Pintos scored first, but where Munoz continued his big game that brought the victory his head coach went for.

For Capital, Francisco Diaz did a masterful job on both sides of the ball, as a linebacker helping to slow down the Moriarty running game, and as a running back carrying the ball 17 times for 98 yards. Munoz rushed 14 times for 119 yards and passed for 192 yards and two touchdowns.

He was picked off twice and the Jags had two costly turnovers deep in Pintos; territory that ended big drives in the first half that saw the visitors lead 21-14 after two quarters.

“Those mistakes,” Garcia said, “I put those on Munoz at halftime because this is his offense, and when you put your team in a position to get down there and score, the quarterback is the leader and you want him to take charge. At the half we challenged him with that and he really came through.”

The game was originally scheduled for Friday night, but was moved to Saturday morning due to a referee shortage. The same officiating crew that worked Friday night‘s Santa Fe High 19-7 win over St.Michael’s at Ivan Head Stadium was also assigned to the Saturday morning contest.

Then came word on late Friday night that Moriarty was facing a potential COVID-19 exposure to one of its players. And so the status of the game was still in doubt even after the Pintos arrived at Capital two hours before the kickoff. But the game was later approved as both teams took pre-game warm-ups.

And it brought success for Garcia and his young, inexperienced squad when he made that decision in overtime. He has only three seniors, but they are learning more each time out.