ST. MICHAELS AT RATON

Raton senior Cayden Walton, highly recruited and perhaps the most dynamic running back in the state, turned it up over the first two quarters as visiting St. Michael’s took the field after the almost 2 and one-half hour trip at the Tigers with a 15-point halftime deficit.

This was a key District 2-3A matchup Saturday night and the 5-foot-9, 180-pound Walton had a dandy first half by rushing for 177 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He had carried the ball for 7,014 yards in his fourth year and for 2,166 rushing yards this season, and is fourth all-time in both and will move to No. 1 to overtake leader David McGee of Laguna-Acuma.

And it appeared at halftime before the usual Tigerland full house that Raton was again relying on the older Walton to send the Horsemen home, that is until St. Michael’s head coach Joey Fernandez lashed out at his players at the intermission.

It was enough to overcome the gap and turn things around as the Horsemen rallied to come away with a 28-21 triumph that made them 7-1 overall and 2-1 in district in what has become the trio of St. Michael’s, Raton and defending state champion Robertson as the district frontrunners.

“We were lackluster in the first half,” said Fernandez, “The Walton kid was running it up on us and we had to contain him better, tackle him lower instead of higher and maybe slow him down. We came together and it showed”

True, in the second half Walton rushed for only 54 yards that stalled his offense, and it was the Horsemen comeback that dropped these Tigers to 7-2 overall and 2-1 in district, and at the same time Robertson with two weeks remaining in the regular

season, is 6-2 overall and 2-0 in district after turning back St. Michael’s, 28-20, the previous Saturday in Santa Fe, and will play host to Raton Saturday.

This one was 7-0 Tigers after one quarter and 21-12 at halftime, but the last two quarters belonged to the visitors. After failing on a pair of two-point conversions in the second quarter, the Horsemen made back-to-back 2-pointers after touchdowns in the final two quarters and their defense shut down the home side that included Walton.

St. Michael’s senior quarterback passed to senior receiver Creed Chavez in the third and senior running back Marcus Leyba ran into the end zone in the fourth to cap the scoring from 17 yards out.

For the fired-up Horsemen it wasn’t a Knute Rockne-type halftime brought by Fernandez, but it was certainly enough to turn the game around,