Tough go for Santa Fe High

Santa Fe High’s football team was hanging in there, on the road at Wilson Stadium and facing District 5-6A opponent Albuquerque Sandia.

The Demons, who arrived at 5-1 overall and 1-1 in the district, trailed 14-13 in the final ticks of the first half. But with little time remaining, a quartet of plays changed a close game into a disaster for the visitors in what became a 55-28 setback to the Matadors.

At fourth and goal at the Santa Fe High 3 yard line, Sandia lined up behind the ball, the clock showed 15 seconds, and what do you know, the Demons were whistled for being offside even though the ball had not been snapped.

Worse, the infraction occurred right after Matadors’ quarterback Dalen Moyer had thrown a 3-down pass into the corner of the left corner of the end zone even though there wasn’t a single player in the area. So the Demons coaches argued that it was grounding, but the official in the vicinity informed Santa Fe High head coach Andrew Martinez that the Sandia player ran the wrong route.

While both teams should have retired to their locker rooms with the same score, it was the Matadors getting a reprieve as running back Malachi Thomas

bolted in the end zone from a yard out and with 8.3 seconds to go and upped their lead to 21-13 after the PAT was kicked.

There was more damage to the visitors in such a very short time. They waited for the squib kickoff and fumbled it at their own 36. Then, believe it, Moyer decided to add to the advantage when he flung a Hail Mary reeled in by receiver Andrew Hill, who then bulled his way into the end zone, and just like that, the first half ended with Santa Fe High now behind 28-13.

What a difference a few seconds can make?, well, there you had it, and it was  now a more disappointing walk to the locker room for Martinez’ team and a happier bunch of Matadors.

Now with three weeks to go in the regular season, Martinez was fuming after the game, saying his team just isn’t physical enough, and that it must get tougher in the tilt at home against Clovis, on the road at Albuquerque La Cueva, which is 6-1, and versus visiting Albuquerque High. The Wildcats, in fact, won their initial contest by edging the Bulldogs Friday night.

At this time, Santa Fe High is dealing with stellar senior running back Martell Mora with a tender ankle injury that he said was “burning him.” So without one of the state’s leading rushers, the Demons were without about five starters who were either sick or just out of town.

And this gave Sandia, now 2-4 overall and 1-1 in district, a big advantage as its quarterback Moyer found time to complete 14 of 21 passes for 239 yards and three touchdowns. Then there was his running back Thomas who carried the ball for 145 yards and a pair of touchdowns in leading a 255 rushing attack.

After those final damaging seconds of the first half, the Matadors just kept finding pay dirt with 27 more points to the Demons’ total of 15. Before this, it was looking like a game that wound up as a route.