McCurdy’s football schedule looked like it would be a challenge. Every game on the schedule comes against a tough team with a recent history of winning. While the Bobcats look to build a program that had its first year last year after a three-year hiatus.
To start the year, McCurdy lost 48-8 to Hope Christian to start their season. On an overcast and drizzly Saturday at Albuquerque’s Community Stadium, McCurdy was stuck in the mud most of the day against a bigger opponent.
“We saw what ‘right’ looks like,” McCurdy coach Robert Nevarez said. “Our goal is to become a program like Hope Christian.”
Last year, Hope Christian was one of the top teams in the 3A classification, reaching the state quarterfinals before losing to the top seed, while McCurdy finished 2-6 in 2A. All seven of McCurdy’s non-district games come against larger 3A and 4A schools, many of them strong programs.
“It’s our first game, we’ve got to learn,” said wide receiver and cornerback Ryan Montoya. “Next game, we’ll come out and have a better mentality.”
Nevarez blamed the final score on mental mistakes; missed tackles constantly haunted the Bobcats, extending plays and defensive drives.
“I couldn’t be happier with the effort,” Nevarez said, pointing to multiple players who were in for every play the entire game.
The Bobcats continued off of last year’s run-first offense, but the offense was limited throughout the day.
When the Bobcats did pass, they were largely successful. Lucas Martinez completed 9 of 12 passes for 96 yards, with one third-quarter interception. On the last drive, Martinez was 4-for-4 for 64 yards before the clock ran out. Montoya caught four passes for 52 yards in the game. Jeremaya Roybal caught two passes for 35 yards on the final drive.
Outside of that one run, McCurdy ran 18 times for just 11 yards, never finding any momentum in the ground game. Yet the big majority of plays remained run calls throughout the game.
Nevarez said he expects the passing calls to grow. Early injuries to offensive linemen limited what they could do, and Nevarez wanted to “get the offense in sync” for their first game. Without a preseason scrimmage, the Bobcats needed a first week to learn to play together while getting hit by opposing players.
“I know our outside receivers are great receivers,” Nevarez said. “That’s probably the strength of our offense right now, the speed we have on the outside.”
Hope Christian had little trouble scoring on their first drive on five plays. McCurdy drew pass interference to reach Huskies territory, but ended with a turnover on downs.
The Huskies went ahead 14-0 in the first quarter, and were down 35-0 at halftime. An interception to start the third quarter led to a 42-0 score.
On their seventh drive of the game, McCurdy finally broke through. Wide receiver Montoya took a reverse handoff and found space down the left side. Great downfield blocks finished the deal for a 77-yard touchdown run.
“Once I got the ball, I saw an open field and I took it,” Montoya said. “It felt good, I’d never done that, really.”
“We’d been pushing to that side, pushing to that side,” Nevarez said. “And then bringing Ryan back on the backside to set that up.”
Martinez ran in a two-point conversion, briefly stopping the running clock.
On the final drive, McCurdy went from their own 23-yard-line down to the 26 of Hope Christian before time expired.
The Bobcats had just seven first downs in the game: a pass interference on the first drive, one first-quarter pass, a third-quarter short pass, Montoya’s touchdown run, and three on the final drive.
McCurdy hosts New Mexico Military Institute on Saturday (the game will be played at Española Valley High School), facing another strong 3A opponent. NMMI beat Mescalero Apache 43-13 in their first game, and last year won 28-0 over McCurdy early in the year.
“I’m looking for us to have that dog in us,” Montoya said. “Learn from this game, come back next week and come out better.”