The first half ended poorly for the McCurdy Bobcats in their Oct. 31 District 1A showdown against Escalante.
The Bobcats’ sophomore quarterback Louie Martinez had been injured on a hit after the whistle in the first half and had sat on the sidelines during McCurdy’s final possession. And the Bobcats trailed the Lobos 18-13 at halftime in a game that would determine the district runnerup spot.
After the game, Martinez was still feeling the pain as he sat on the trainers table in the McCurdy locker room. However, he was smiling. He had led the Bobcats to a 35-18 comeback victory at home and an automatic berth in the Class A state football quarterfinals for finishing second in district play.
“I didn’t want to let down my team,” Martinez said. “I wanted to win.”
McCurdy coach Eric Vigil acknowledged the role of his standout signal caller, who rushed for 93 yards and two touchdowns. Martinez also threw for three touchdown passes, two of them in the second half to senior Ryan Bustos.
“(Martinez has) developed into a tremendous leader,” Vigil said. “He’s not a vocal leader, but you don’t have to be in our no-huddle offense.”
Despite the loss, Escalante was chosen as one of two at-large teams in the state to advance to the state quarterfinals as the sixth seed.
The visiting Lobos drew first blood. Escalante Quarterback Justin Atencio hit wide receiver Eric Belser on a slant pattern over the middle, and Belser broke two tackles on his way to a 60-yard jaunt into the end zone. The Lobos led 6-0 at 7:36 of the first quarter.
The Bobcats answered on their following possession. With Martinez and running back Jed Cordova shouldering the load, the Bobcats ground their way 85 yards to a touchdown. Martinez finished the drive with a five-yard run and Ron DeVargas’ extra point made the score 7-6 in favor of the Bobcats.
“We decided to run because we could, even though they had six or seven men in the box,” Martinez said. “Our line did a great job.”
The Bobcats added a second score in the second quarter on a fourth-down pass from Martinez to Lucas Akes that gave McCurdy a 13-6 lead. Martinez had suffered his injury two plays before the touchdown pass, but he would not leave the game until the Bobcats’ next possession.
Lobo junior running back Isaiah Maldonado silenced the cheering McCurdy fans on Escalante’s next possession. He took a pitch from Atencio, cut upfield and left McCurdy tacklers sprawled on the ground behind him on an 85-yard touchdown run. On its next possession, Escalante took the lead 18-13 with Maldonado doing most of the damage on an 80-yard drive that he finished off with a four-yard touchdown run. Maldonado finished the first half with 180 yards rushing.
“We knew they came to play,” Martinez said. “We had to step up.”
The McCurdy defense came up with big plays on third down on the Lobos’ first two possessions of the second half. The Bobcats answered each defensive stop with a touchdown. The first score was a three-yard run by Martinez and a successful two-point conversion gave McCurdy a 21-18 lead. The second came at 11:06 of the fourth-quarter when Martinez rolled left and fired a six-yard strike to Bustos, who made a diving catch in the end zone. McCurdy took a 28-18 lead.
“Those two touchdowns came at us real quick,” Escalante coach Diego Brusuelas said. “The momentum got away from us, and we couldn’t run the ball near as much as I would have liked.”
Martinez recovered a fumble by Maldonado at McCurdy’s 9-yard line to stop an Escalante scoring drive on the Lobos’ next possession. Two plays later Martinez broke the Lobos’ back with a 72-yard touchdown strike to Bustos, giving McCurdy a 35-18 lead.
“McCurdy came to play,” Brusuelas said. “That’s a good football team.”
The victory secured a Class A state playoff berth for the Bobcats.
“I told the team all week we were fighting for our lives,” Vigil said. “Their intensity and focus got better as the game went on and they rose to the occasion.”
Fourth-seeded McCurdy will host fifth-seeded Jal Saturday in a Class A state playoff game. Last year, McCurdy beat Jal 49-36 in the state quarterfinals.
Escalante will play Saturday at 1 p.m. at third-seeded Fort Sumner, the defending state champions.