This season, the Pojoaque Elks earned just their second trip to the Class AAA state football playoffs in school history. But just like the first time, the Elks ended their season in the first round.
The 12th-seeded Elks were beaten by the fifth-seeded Albuquerque Academy Chargers 59-13 Nov. 14 in Albuquerque.
Pojoaque’s senior quarterback Michael Garcia stood on the field with watery eyes after the game. He had led the Elks to a school record six victories and their first winning season, but there was no sense of accomplishment in his words.
“It sucks,“ he said. “We didn’t finish it.”
Garcia completed his first seven passes against the Chargers and led Pojoaque to touchdowns on its first two possessions of the game. Pojoaque even led 13-7 at 6:55 of the first quarter. Then Academy scored 52 unanswered points to win going away and advance to the quarterfinals Nov. 20 at Bloomfield.
“We came out right away and executed,” Pojoaque coach Quevin Redding said. “We start things, see we can play with them, then it seems like that’s enough for us.”
On the opening kickoff the Elks’ Nick Zamora ran the ball back to the Chargers’ 40-yard line. Two plays later, Garcia threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Luke Salazar to put the Elks on the board just 22 seconds into the game. Matt Cowen’s extra point gave Pojoaque a 7-0 lead.
Academy answered with a 70-yard drive that ended with a 2-yard run by Cassidy West-Santos. Pojoaque came right back and scored on a 58-yard pass from Garcia to Salazar. The extra point kick failed, and Pojoaque held a 13-7 lead.
“I wasn’t surprised,” Academy coach Kevin Carroll said. “I knew Pojoaque passes and catches the ball very well.”
Academy drove down the field and West-Santos scored again. Phillips’ kick gave the Chargers a 14-13 lead. The game was shaping up as a shootout with each team marching up and down the field. Pojoaque started shooting blanks on its next possession.
The Chargers came after Garcia with a vengeance and sacked the Pojoaque quarterback twice, forcing a punt. Academy took over on their own 46-yard line and scored on a pass from Kevin Clauss to West-Santos from 14 yards out, giving the Chargers a 20-13 lead.
Pojoaque was still in the game, but the Academy pass rush harassed Garcia, and he threw his first and second incompletions of the game, forcing Pojoaque to punt again. Clauss took Cowen’s kick at his own 34-yard line and an escort of red Chargers’ uniforms erected a wall of blockers down the left sideline allowing Clauss to race untouched into the end zone. The two-point conversion gave the Chargers a 28-13 lead and the rout was on.
The back-breaker came when Academy recovered a Pojoaque fumble as time was running out in the first half. Despite the zeros on the clock and Redding’s vigorous arguments, the officials put two seconds back on the clock and Phillips booted a 32-yard field goal as time expired to give Academy a 45-13 lead at the half.
“I just asked them how they could put two seconds back on the clock,” Redding said.
The Chargers scored two more touchdowns in the second half. After completing his first seven passes, Garcia was just 5-of-18 for the rest of the game, finishing 12-of-25 for 198 yards. He was sacked nine times, and Pojoaque finished the game with minus 45 yards rushing. The Chargers finished with 366 yards on the ground.
“We wanted to establish the run early,” Carroll said.
Academy started to take a knee on every down with 3:30 left in the game. Pojoaque got the ball back with 1:48 left to play, but Garcia’s last pass was intercepted.
After starting the season 6-1, the Elks lost their last four games to finish 6-5 on the season.
“I can’t put my finger on it,” Redding said about the season-ending losing streak. “We watched film of Wingate (a 70-14 Pojoaque win) and Robertson (a 40-7 Pojoaque loss) — same kids, same uniforms, but they’re really not the same kids.”
Redding finished his second year at Pojoaque and if he returns for his third season would give him the longest tenure as coach since the program began in 1996. He thinks there is still work to do if Pojoaque is to continue its success.
“We hit some goals, but we don’t have a sense of satisfaction, “ Redding said. “It really just takes time and consistency from the coaches. I feel like we did turn things around but we won’t know until next spring.”