In the history of Class A football in New Mexico, only one team north of Interstate 40 has won a state championship. That distinction belongs to the McCurdy School Bobcats, who accomplished the feat in 1962 against Melrose and in 1976 against Clayton.
Now, 32 years later, McCurdy has another chance to advance to the Class A championship game. They defeated Jal 49-36 in the Class A quarterfinals Nov. 8 at McCurdy. It was the Bobcats’ first victory in a state playoff game since their 1976 championship.
McCurdy running back Devin Duran, who played the entire game with a broken right hand, had a key interception during the first half.
“I caught it with my left hand and pressed it against my right,” Duran said.
During the game’s first half, neither McCurdy nor Jal could open up a significant lead. Jal was up 22-21 at the half.
But McCurdy came roaring out of the locker room and scored on its first drive. With the help of bad snaps and penalty calls, the Bobcat defense put a stop to a long and promising Jal drive. But the momentum shifted again when McCurdy freshman quarterback Louie Martinez took a rough hit and fumbled the ball. Jal returned it for a touchdown.
“The coaches told me just to pick my head up and forget about the past,” Martinez said. “I did that.”
The Bobcats answered on their next drive. Martinez tossed a huge pass to Kevin Redman, who later carried the ball in for a touchdown.
“We’ve been preaching all year to them that they need to have short memories,” coach Eric Vigil said. “With our offense, we feel like we can always come back.”
At 35-30, McCurdy began pulling away and ended the third quarter on a key fumble recovery. The Bobcats returned from the sidelines still on fire, and it took them less than a minute to score again.
With McCurdy up 43-30, Jal used its punishing running attack one last time to drive down the field and score on a two-yard run by Kevin Soto.
But Jal never got the ball back for the opportunity to tie the game. McCurdy ran out the final seven minutes on a single drive that culminated with a one-yard touchdown pass from Louie Martinez to Redman. It was Redman’s fourth touchdown of the game.
Redman, a senior, finished with eight catches for 210 yards.
“I was double-teamed and that opened up the field a little bit,” Redman said. “Jal hit hard and didn’t make it easy.”
In return, Jal coach Jimmy Samaniego praised the gutsy play of the 130-pound Martinez, who took hit after hit.
“That little quarterback runs that offense pretty well,” Samaniego said. “He got back up after we popped him.”
Samaniego said coach Vigil deserves the credit for McCurdy’s win.
“We just couldn’t catch a break and when you get that on the road, it’s tough.” Jal coach Jimmy Samaniego said. “We made some plays but McCurdy came back and made some of their own.”
The Bobcats will travel to Fort Sumner to take on the top-ranked Foxes Friday at 7 p.m. Fort Sumner has won three straight Class A championships and beat McCurdy 55-0 Sept. 20 at McCurdy. The Foxes are 9-1; their only loss was a hard-fought 7-6 battle against Class AA Santa Rosa.
“They’re beatable, but we have to work hard,” Redman said of Fort Sumner. “They’ll run everything to perfection and that’s what we have to do.”
Vigil said it will be a different game from the Bobcats’ blowout loss early in the season.
“Jal has a reputation as a tremendous defensive team, and Fort Sumner beat Jal 29-0,” Vigil said. “To do what we did today and put 49 on (Jal) is pretty impressive.”
Jal lies in the extreme southeast corner of New Mexico and is a seven-hour bus ride from McCurdy. The last time the two teams faced each other, in the 1996 state quarterfinals, Jal won 62-0 at home and knocked McCurdy out of the tournament.