visiting Robertson put an end to St. Michael’s undefeated 6-game win streak

No longer led on the football field by 5-foot-5, 120-pound graduated bundle of versatility Mat Gonzalez, the Robertson football team still had enough answers when it arrived for Saturday afternoon‘s District 2-3A test at the Christian Brothers Athletic Complex.

Of late, the Cardinals have had the upper hand versus their rivals off of I-25. They came off last year’s 28-7 win over the Horsemen in the state championship game, and now have won five-straight after their 28-20 victory this end brought an end to the home team’s undefeated streak. It dropped to 6-1 overall, 0-1 in the district, while Robertson, with one Gonzalez replacing the other, is now 5-2 overall and 1-0 in its district opener.

The other Gonzalez is now Ace Gonzalez, the head coach’s son, who put on a show in and out of the rain that kept the usually crowded stands at the Santa Fe school less than half filled, and that includes the usual rowdy Robertson fans who stayed home. He’s a lot bigger than Matt at 5-10, 225, and paved the way along the ground, which is what the visitors stuck to instead of going through the air.

Ace carried the ball for a team high 95 yards and also passed for 65 yards on 3-of-6 completions for his finest offensive output of the season, and individually it was his best rushing game since a 114-yard effort against Cobre in week 2.

The Horsemen scored first on the slippery wet field on a rather large drive on their initial possession, but as the game wore on, their rushing attack that was averaging 175 yards a contest, wound up with only 36 on 21 attempts this time. After St. Michael’s missed the point-after kick, back came the Cards to tie things at 6-6 after it, too, failed to make the PAT.

The Robertson lead then became 20-12 after three quarters. It was 13-12 at halftime, its point-after was twice good, and

this time the Horsemen failed to make the two-point conversion. Led by Ace and his sophomore brother Jesse, and also Matt’s younger brother, pieced together the ground game and kept the ball away from St. Michael’s.

The Horsemen offense was led by senior quarterback Zach Martinez, who in last year’s title game, was picked off five times, but this time he was able to score the second touchdown just before the intermission with 74 yards on four-of-seven passes. But after the Cardinals broke the 20-20 deadlock with a fourth quarter drive along the ground that had Ace contribute 43 yards, and his team made it tougher for the home side when it added the two-point conversion.

Now down 28-20, the Horsemen got behind senior running back Marcus Leyba to get to midfield, but a pair of penalties pushed them back. Then Martinez hit senior Creed Chavez with a sideline pass of 13 yards. Then, with the ball around the 37-yard line, it became fourth and eight, another penalty didn’t help, and Martinez’ attempted throw to Chavez fell short in the end zone.