Undefeated St. Michael’s

In a tough non-district road game at Aztec, undefeated St. Michael’s had to call on its usual second half attack and leave with a 32-19 win, its fifth in a row Saturday night.

This was a wild game that featured four lead changes, the last coming with five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter when the Horsemen had to respond to a 19-18 TIgers’ lead, and erased it when they marched 75 yards on nine plays.

It was capped by a 1-yard touchdown run from senior Taven Lozada on his only carry of the contest, and that put the visitors ahead for good at 25-18.

But a late-game brawl caused a delay of seven minutes, and it included the ejection of three players and six offsetting sportsmanship conduct flags between the teams.

Said Horsemen head coach Joey Fernandez, now in his 20th year in his role at his alma mater: “We’ve dealt with some adversity all season long, but when you’re in a situation like this, it appears that we’ve had a pair of close games where in the fourth quarter, we decided to play.

“What it says about this team is it can play when it wants to, but also says we’re waiting a little too long.”

No matter, now St. Michael’s has a chance to be ranked No. 1 in 3A. Undefeated Socorro handily defeated previously unbeaten Raton on the road, Ruidodo is 4-1, and defending state champion Robertson is 2-2 and plays at the Christian Brothers Athletic Complex on the Oct. 8 afternoon tilt.

Before that, the Horsemen play at District 2-3A rival West Las Vegas followed by a visit up at Raton, a non-district game against visiting  Cathedral of El Paso, Texas., and the regular-season finale when Santa Fe Indian School pays a visit to neighboring St. Michael’s.

At Aztec, which dropped to 3-3 overall, on the ensuing Tigers’ possession, Horseman George Bass came up with back-to-back sacks to stall the home team. The second Bass sack came on fourth down and gave his team the ball at the Aztec 10-yard line.

On the very next play, senior Jacob Katko ran in a 10-yard touchdown up the middle to effectively end the rough road trip.

But Aztec didn’t give up. Running its no huddle hurry-up offense, it drove to midfield when a number of players engaged in a pushing and shoving match that drew immediate flags. Coaches from both teams ran on the field and the contest was halted for a few minutes as the referees attempted to sort things out.

When the dust cleared, two Tigers were tossed out, as was Horsemen defensive lineman Mathias Duran. And with the New Mexico Activities  Association ruling, Duran will be forced to sit out the upcoming game at West Las Vegas.

But the late tallies put his team in front after being ahead 18-10, and following Aztec going in front 19-18.

Putting in yet another stellar effort was senior quarterback Zack Marinez took to the ground came up with runs of 12, 20 and 6-yard scrambles to spark a run of 13 unanswered points to close out the game and bring a happy trip home from the 3-hour travel.

From the last quarter and a half, St. Michael’s outscored Aztec 24-6.

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