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Impressive, well-earned 17-0 win by the Capital football team

If you’re the Capital football team, Friday night was one to celebrate.
Not only did the Jaguars improve to 3-2 by shutting down visiting Albuquerque Academy, 17-0, in a non-district contest, but they also got a plug during the Friday night scores, with the commentators declaring that Capital gets game of the day with its quality win.
The Chargers had come in with only one defeat in four starts, losing to Bloomfield, but the usual Academy offense couldn’t find its way as the Jags reigned supreme from the outset before a happy home crowd.
Already motivated by a perceived lack of respect before the opening kickoff, head coach Joaquin (Wax) Garcia confirmed they had heard some unflattering things being said about his team all night.
Senior Ernesto Valencia was the ringleader. “They called me a few Mexican slurs, and me being the proud Mexican that I am, I just got pissed off. And I kind of had something to prove because this was my first start other than special teams.”
So with a collective chip on its shoulder, Capital’s defense smothered Academy junior quarterback Andres Rivera. It sacked him six times and allowed only 107 yards of offense. A drop back passer who was playing without leading rusher Cole Conway, Rivera completed only 12 of 28 passes and was hit several times while delivering the ball.
Three of the sacks were by defensive end Kristopher Trujillo, a junior who recently had two toenails fall off after an issue with his footwear, but he said he also spent the entire week studying the Chargers offense on film. As for Valencia, he played both ways, a tackle on defense and a tackle and nose guard along the offensive line.
The Jaguars quickly gained the advantage, scoring all the points they needed in the first two minutes of the opening quarter. After a stalled drive, Academy tried to get off a punt on its initial possession, but a bad snap sailed over the head of kicker Carter Speegle and Capital pounced on it at the Chargers 15. It took sophomore running back Juan Munez only two plays before he reached the end zone on a 5-yard run at only 10:55 of the quarter.
It became 14-0 at the half when the Jags picked up a 13-yard scoring run from senior quarterback Julian Munez midway through the second quarter. In the fourth quarter, Angel Gonzales closed out the scoring with a 25-yard field goal, and on both sides of the ball, it ended with the home side simply dominating and frustrating the visitors.
Academy managed just a minus 2 yards rushing and didn’t have a single drive that that reached Capital territory in second half. The Jaguars defense did its share by recovering two Chargers fumbles, forced a pair of punts, and had made five fourth down stops.
Garcia said the build-up to this game involved scanning Twitter and reading posts that were deemed disrespectful.
“Our kids took it personally,” he said, “we were like underestimate us and we’ll hit you in the mouth, and that’s what we did, we applied the pressure on them to shut down wide receiver Kellen Gehres and shut down their quarterback, and I thought we did that tonight.”
Julian Munez had his typical aerial game with 10 completed throws for 109 yards and he mixed in his running game to bring his team 147 yards and the two touchdowns, one by his brother Juan.
Hopefully, Capital can move up in the 6A rankings. It plays again Thursday nightagainst Albuquerque Atrisco Heritage at Community Stadium in Albuquerque. Then it is home to Los Lunas and Albuquerque High, followed by a visit to Clovis and the regular-season finale at crosstown rival Santa Fe High. But then the Jaguars should know if they are a playoff team.
“Look, we may be smaller and, you know, a little bit weaker, and don’t have the fancy equipment,” Valencia said, “but we do have heart and that’s all it takes to win at football.”

SCORES
CAPITAL 17
ALBUQUERQUE ACADEMY 0
ESPANOLA MCCURDY 40
SANTA FE INDIAN SCHOOL 12
SANTA FE HIGH
ABUQUERQUE MANZANO
(NO FINAL SCORE)
AZTEC 14
SILVER 28
FARMINGTON 41
ALBUQUERQUE HIGH 18
DORA 57
ANIMAS 26
PORTALES 32
ALBUQUERQUE ST. PIUS X 0
ALAMO NAVAJO 0
PINE HILL 53
RAMAH 33
NAVAJO PINE 12

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