SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
Well, the distance got shorter for Raton, whereas last week’s trip to Thoreau in the first round of the state high school football tournament was 335 miles, it’s now a shorter hop for the Tigers Saturday.
Seeded 9th, now Raton travels I-25 South for the 173 miles for the 1 p.m. tilt against No. 1 St. Michael’s in Class 2-3A. Last Saturday, the Tigers made the trek to Thoreau and carted off a 35-8 triumph.
Now, with a 5-6 overall record and 2-3 in district, the Tigers make a return to the Christian Brothers Athletic Complex after losing a tight 27-24 test versus the now 8-2 Horsemen back in September.
And so, put won-lost records aside and perhaps another tight tussle will be played this time.
The previous one played a scoreless first quarter, then St. Michael’s led 13-12 at halftime, 20-18 after three quarters, and it remained close until the final whistle. One reason that Raton fell short was that while the Horsemen and Tigers turned in four touchdowns each, Raton went 0-4 in extra points and St. Michael’s made good on 3 of 4 tries. That was it.
For the Tigers, long trips are nothing new. They are the only school based a distance for the district, the others being St. Michael’s, Las Vegas Roberton, Santa Fe Indian School, and West Las Vegas.
There’s been a lot of Waltons on the Raton roster through the years, and this time the main man on the offensive lineup is junior Cannon Walton, a 6-foot-1, 187-pound big game player. He currently has 13 touchdowns and has rushed for an average of 60.7 yards per carry.
Wide receiver Wyatt Berry is a junior who has paved the way with receptions. He has been 43.4 yards per catch and has tallied eight touchdowns.
Senior Jacob Mattorano is the starting quarterback and he plays linebacker, same as Berry and Walton going both ways. He goes 6-feet, 180 and has played in 11 games, and has completed 222 passes for 1617 yards, an average of 13.9 per throw and an average of 147 yards.
He has brought 17 touchdowns, has been intercepted 15 times, and Walton has been one of his targets, but Walton has done most of his damage along the ground with 113 carries for 607 yards, with the longest of 35 yards.
The Tigers will try to slow down the Horsemen’s running game powered by senior Matthias Duran, junior Soren Annon, and junior Cole Sandoval. Senior Lucas Gurule is one of the team’s finest wide receivers, and the starting quarterback is junior Reed Bass.
The Horsemen also welcomes back versatile junior Sabiani Rios-Guevara, who goes at safety, wide receiver and cornerback. And 6-1, 172 freshman Ryan Hunt has been very impressive early on in tackles and sacks. He is the brother of girl’s two-time state cross country champion Raylee.
In rushing, Matthias Duran leads the way with 507 yards on 58 tugs. In passing, Bass has completed 87 of 155 throws for 1027 yards for average and has been hit by only seven interceptions.
