In Friday night high school football, surging St. Michael’s is back

St. Michael’s is back to staying with its ground game, putting the ball in the air, playing aggressive defense, and looking for a big stretch run after losing 4-year quarterback Lucas Coriz for the season with a knee injury that occurred in the season opener.

After that the Horsemen pieced things together with sophomore Zachery Martinez taking over as the new starting quarterback, senior Devin Flores is still the tip-top receiver. and they still own a balanced rushing attack that includes four quality ball carriers.

Their next stop is Friday night at District 2-3A Santa Fe Indian School. The Braves, under new head coach Bill Moon, got away to a 5-1 start before losing big last Friday, 53-0, to visiting district foe Robertson, which ranks 1 and 2 with St. Michael’s in 3A.

But Indian School is now in its tough four-game district schedule that now includes undefeated Raton as a contender, along with West Las Vegas, the Cardinals and Horsemen. The Braves are learning, playing with a bravo spirit, but they are young and no match for 5-1 St. Michael’s.

Santa Fe High is also in a district test versus visiting Albuquerque Clovis, and it may be better for the Demons after the last place Wildcats won for the first time in six starts last week, 25-24 over district opponent Albuquerque High. And no doubt, it’s an advantage playing home instead of traveling to the Las Cruces Wildcats.

And so maybe it will develop into a close encounter after Santa Fe High lost at Albuquerque Eldorado, won a tight one at home over Albuquerque Manzano, then made back-to-back miscues just before halftime to lose 55-28 in a blow-out after being down only 16-14 in that 5 to 7-second span.

Clovis has scored 71 points allowed 196. It is led by senior quarterback Mike Acosta, who has passed for 773 yards on 58 of 124 completions that brought five touchdowns and five interceptions. He has rushed 39 times for 157 yards.

His leading running back is senior Angel Chavarcia, who has carried the ball 61 times for 216 yards and ran for four touchdowns. He has also scored once via the air in 14 receptions of 98 yards. The all-purpose player with 412 yards is junior Robert Nora, and he has scored via the run four times with 324 yards on 13 carries, and has reeled in 88 catches of 304 thrown his way.

Two-way end, sophomore Will Jordan, is one of the more versatile players and goes 6-foot-4, 205 pounds. Then there’s two-way tackler, 6-foot, 240 junior Nathan Cichon, and two-way senior guard Payton Reymin, tips the scale at 265 and stands 6-feet.

The Demons are hoping their 5-9, 180-pound senior running Martell Mora is able to contribute after suffering an ankle injury last week. He has been one of the leaders rushers in the state, with several outings over 200 yards. The quarterback is senior Luc Jaramillo and he and Mora are the big offensive threats for head coach Andrew Martinez’ team in this his fifth season.

In a non-district tilt, Capital is all even at 3-3 and welcomes Piedra VIsta, which is 4-3. The Panthers will have to contain Jaguars’ versatile junior quarterback Jullian Munoz, who leads his team in rushing (72.8 per game), passing (123 a game), and No. 18 also has the most total yards (200 a game) and has tallied six times.

Piedra Vista has come away with 126 and has yielded 130. It mixes up the run-and-pass game behind 6-2, 180 junior Logan Howell, whose favorite target is 6-3, 165 senior Payton “Kyle” Miller, who also plays safety on defense.

The Panthers don’t have the much size, but you have to include 6-2, 220 junior guard Kaden Peace to go with a number of teammates who are quick on defense, and an offense that likes to mix it, with 6-1 junior Jacob Ramsted its leading rusher.

Capital is young, inexperience and under new head coach Joaquin (Wax) Garcia and his staff, have made progress each time out. It does have a District 4-5A 64-0 triumph over windless Albuquerque Rio Grande, and when Munoz is on, he’s difficult to keep up with. He runs the offense well, can hit receivers and get the ball away on 3rd-down plays or keep it himself.