Santa Fe High defeated the Horsemen, 19-7

It’s step by step for the Santa Fe High football team after first taking care of business at home Friday night.

It was a long time since the Demons turned back their Siringo Road neighbors from St. Michael’s, and in head coach Andrew Martinez’ fifth year as head coach, the annoying losing skein of 12 games finally came to an end when his well-prepared Demons downed previously undefeated 3A St. Michael’s, 19-7, at Ivan Head Stadium.

For now, it stands as an abrupt finish to the Horsemen’s domination of 6A Santa Fe High, and whatever the future brings, it’s Martinez, his coaching staff, players and the fans who helped bring approximately 3,500 to the long-time rivalry and celebrated at midfield when the final whistle sounded.

So this was step one, and on Friday nightthe Demons take step two when they head over to cross-town rival Capital with hopes of also winning the city series of the three schools, and It’s also been a long time that this occurred.

And step three is already underway after piecing together their third straight victory and playing their best ball. Yes, unbeaten sounds good, and after meeting up with the Jaguars (1-1), they can turn to the District 5-6A Albuquerque schools, Eldorado, Manzano, Sandia, La Cueva and Albuquerque High, as well as distance opponent Clovis.

It is not one of the better big school districts and as it appears now, Santa Fe High fits right in as a contender.

Martinez, who had been an assistant coach under Joey Fernandez, echoed the same feelings.

“All I’m going to talk about,” he said, “is beating St. Mike’s. “These guys, the coaches, worked their asses off, and that is all I care about. The rest we’ll fix later.”

Fixing later on his list is no doubt the mistakes his team made. Otherwise, the one-two punch of senior buddies Luc Jaramillo, the four-year starter at quarterback, and running back Martello Mora, who has done the same, and both of them did what had to be done to achieve this.

Mora, whose sophomore brother, Alex, scored the Demons second touchdown, had another big night. The 5-foot-9, 180-pound hard-charging, shifty speedster, carried the ball for 94 yards and returned a first-quarter punt 69 yards and into the end zone. Five times he had rushes of at least 13 yards.

“I’m just trying to get whatever yards I can,” he said. “and if it means trucking someone or giving a juke, I’ll do it. “This game, it meant everything to us. The emotions were high, and as the seniors, we’ve been working towards this for quite some time.”

St. Michael’s, which rolled over Taos, 30-2, on the road, and overwhelming visiting Capital, 60-8, had put together 90 points and allowed only 10. It’s main strength came from its balanced running game and the versatility of senior  starting quarterback Lucas Coriz, who became a starter his freshmen year.

But on the opening drive, down went Coriz with a gruesome knee injury that could sideline him for the remainder of the season. So Fernandez had to turn to his back ups, junior Jacob Katko and senior Devin Flores, who also plays

wide out, linebacker, cornerback and runs back punts and kickoffs. Flores operated the position the longest, but with him no longer the main receiver, it also cut short the offense.

But the Demons defense had already prepared for the Horsemen rushing attack. After giving up 81 yards along the ground in the first quarter, they allowed only 35 the rest of the way, and it included just 77 total yards.

But without Coriz, pre-game plans weren’t a factor, and the visitors struggled to find offense without him, and he could only watch from the sidelines the rest of then contest instead of heading to the locker room.

On bended knees, the Santa Fe High players and some staff members joined up at midfield and let the emotions hang out.

“It’s such a rewarding feeling,” said Demons’ senior linebacker Santiago Ortega. “Once I saw the clock hit zero, I don’t know how to describe it, but i never felt this way after a game. All I heard through the years was how they kicked our butts.”

The Horsemen, who play at non-district opponent Los Alamos Friday night, scored first when senior Daymon Lujan ran the ball in from a yard out, and girls soccer goalkeeper Milena Keene, kicked the point-after.

But Santa Fe High’s PAT try failed after Martell Mora’s long punt return, and it trailed 7-6 late in the first half. But Jaramillo engineered an 82-yard touchdown drive in the waning minutes, connecting on three key passes capped by a 12-yard TD run by the younger Mora with 34 seconds left.

In the third quarter, St. Michael’s had chances, and when the home side fumbled away the opening kick, it set the Horsemen up at the Demons’ 24-yard line. That’s when Flores took over for Katko. He got his offense to the Santa Fe High goal line, but officials ruled that he fumbled the ball into the end zone before breaking the plane.

Behind 19-7, St. Michael’s drove 61 yards on its final drive in the fourth quarter, but when it reached the Santa Fe High 19-yard line, the Demons forced a turnover on downs.

“I said since the beginning we’re a different team,” said Santa Fe High senior linebacker Adam Chavez. “We got a different drive, we have a different type of chemistry, and all our fans have helped us focus a lot.”

There were a number of turnovers in what was a physical, hard-hitting contest, and in Martinez’ case, he said he was still not happy with the ones made by his team, but will deal with it later. He was also upset when his defense didn’t line up in the proper coverage, but was almost helpless when he had already used his time outs in the third quarter.

The second half was a combination of emotions for Martinez and his team. At times he struggled to get the attention of his players when calling in the defensive formation, which sometimes led to players being out of positions.

He didn’t say so, but the loud crowd of both sides might have caused some of  these problems. No face masks were required, so the stadium was loud from start to finish.

Fernandez, a St. Michael’s graduate now in his 20th season, was truly upset with the loss of Coriz.

“He’s a leader,” Fernandez said. “I mean, he wanted to go back in. He was sitting there telling these guys to put the knee joint back into place. He refused to leave the sidelines. He’s a warrior out there and he’s big for this team.”

Lujan, one of three-four stellar running backs for the Horsemen, was hobbled most of the night after getting his calf stepped on in the first half.

There were probably other injuries to both teams, but for the Demons, it was finally over, as they said in unison, “We finally beat those guys.”

It was Santa Fe High’s first win over St. Michael’s since 2008 at Christian Brothers Athletic Complex, the last Demons win over the Horsemen at Ivan Head Stadium was in 2004 when most of the current players were not even born yet.

While St. Michael’s has dominated the three-school city rivalry, Santa Fe High can win it this time in a long time by upending Capital, now head coached by another former Fernandez assistant Joaquin (Wax) Garcia.