SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
Quite a hike for 9th-seeded Raton in the first round 2/3A state football tournament this past Saturday.
Led by junior running back Cannon Walton, the Tigers (5-6) were forced to travel 335 miles to higher-seeded No. 8 Thoreau because the Hawks had the better overall record, 7-4, but it wound up as a victorious trip as Raton returned home with a romp-like 35-8 success in the Colfax County to the Conventional Divide trek.
Walton, one of the glowing list of Walton Tigers through the years, with Brock Walton now as head coach, turned in all of Raton’s five touchdowns on runs of 11, 24, 18, 45, and 19, and in all he totaled 167 on an even dozen carriers. He also reeled in four passes for 37 yards and picked off a pair of Thoreau passes.
That was that and now the Tigers return to play top-seeded St. Michael’s at the Christian Brothers Athletic Complex, where in an earlier meeting, the Horsemen hung on to a back-and-fourth 27-24 triumph.
It was a clash that came with a scoreless first quarter, that became 13-12 St. Michael’s at halftime, 20-18 Horsemen after three quarters, and wound down with the Tigers just missing. In all, the difference was St. Michael’s four TDs with three extra points, and Raton with four TDs and not a single extra point.
Before the Tigers arrived, Thoreau had won three of four at its home field. But Raton, despite the losing record, has turned in 306 points and allowed 213. It quickly got away to three touchdowns and the same point-after to go up 21-0. Then it added a TD each in the second and third quarters, and added 5-of-5 extra point kicks.
On last Friday’s schedule at Santa Fe Indian School, St. Michael’s had a no-contest romp over the offensive absent Braves, who dropped to 1-9 overall, winless in district, and had on the ground only 29 yards on 30 carriers. The Braves fumbled in the early minutes and it was quickly 14-0 on short rushing touchdowns by junior running backs Soren Annon and senior Mathias Duran.
Annon wound up with three touchdowns along the ground and added another via a pass reception. He concluded with 137 yards on seven rushes and added 33 yards on two aerials, while Duran added one TD along the ground. Junior quarterback Reed Bass threw for 106 yards, one of which went for a touchdown, and he was minus interceptions to bring his current to 16-8 on touchdowns-Interceptions.
No sacks for freshman defensive lineman Ryan Hunt and he remains just a sack behind the school’s all-time leader, defensive end Isaiah Dominguez, who had 11.5 sacks in 2013.
But Raton, which wasn’t very concerned about Thoreau’s won-lost record, can either feel it’s up to it again in Santa Fe or could run into a more interested and better Horsemen this time. But St. Michael’s must not forget this latest Walton.
Yup, 5-6 Raton against 8-2 St. Michael’s in Santa Fe and these Tigers, if the Horsemen take them lightly, it could well turn into a royal battle.
This put St. Michael’s at 8-2overall, 3-1 in District 2-3A, have scored 262 points and yielded 154, and have been 3-1 at Christian Brothers Athletic Complex, and 5-1 on the road.
