Escalante football coach Rico DeYapp somehow agreed to a deal with the team: if they scored a defensive touchdown, everyone on the team gets free Subway.
“I guess I agreed to it, according to all 30 of them,” DeYapp said. “So, that’s how it’s going down.”
So, when senior Dominic Arellano scooped up a bad snap on a punt and saw no one in front of him, there was just one thing on his mind.
“I was like, ‘There’s Subway!’” Arellano said.
And the rest of the game, with a lead over 40 points, was spent with chatter on the sideline about what players planned to order. Quarterback Trey Archuleta likes turkey and bacon, and Arellano said “cold cuts are where it’s at.”
The upcoming free sandwiches will cap a celebration of the Lobos’ (5-4, 2-0 in district) 50-0 smacking of McCurdy (3-6, 0-2) in Tierra Amarilla on Oct. 14, and Escalante will look to bring that momentum into a battle at Santa Rosa (7-2, 2-0) on Friday for a district championship.
“Just executing the gameplan,” DeYapp said. “We had a real good week of practice, they were focused up, and they executed.”
The rout started from the very beginning. Archuleta ran 40 yards on the first play from scrimmage, leading to a touchdown. Escalante immediately recovered an onside kick, and a few long leds led to a second touchdown drive. Down 14-0 without touching the ball, McCurdy was already sapped of any momentum they could potentially have mustered.
“We played under our potential,” Nevarez said. “I really don’t know what happened tonight. Escalante just lives in our heads.”
McCurdy has not beaten Escalante in any varsity sport — football, volleyball, boys and girls basketball — since 2019; only current seniors know anything other than defeat at the hands of the Lobos.
Nevarez said both execution and effort were lacking in the game, but confidence was the biggest missing piece while missing multiple starters on defense.
The Lobos were up 22-0 at the end of the first quarter, 30-0 at halftime and 44-0 at the end of the third, before ending the game with eight minutes left on the clock with a mercy rule. Escalante lost a fumbled snap late in the first quarter, and turned the ball over on downs deep in McCurdy territory shortly before halftime, but outside of that, and a drive that ended at halftime, the Lobos scored on every drive.
Archuleta had a fantastic game in commanding the offense. He had missed two games, and was limited in the prior week’s win over Laguna-Acoma (3-6, 0-2). For the first time in a month, he was fully healthy and able to make an impact on both sides of the ball.
And the numbers show his success. Passing-wise, he went 7-for-11 (more attempts than usual for the run-first offense) for 100 yards and a pair of touchdowns. On the ground, he added 191 yards on 20 carries and three more touchdowns.
DeYapp said that receivers told him they weren’t being covered, so he became more aggressive in the passing game and found more success.
Running back Luka Torrez ran eight times for 89 yards and a touchdown. And Arellano led the receiving crew with 69 yards and a pair of touchdowns on four catches, giving him three total scores on the day.
“I don’t get a game like that every day,” Arellano said. “So, it felt nice.”
Meanwhile, McCurdy had practically no success on offense, not picking up a first down all game. The running game gained a total of eight yards on 12 attempts. Jeremaya Roybal was the leading rusher with 12 yards.
DeYapp said the Lobos succeeded in staying disciplined on defense and reading the interior offensive line, not cheating into the backfield.
The Bobcats will finish the season on the road at Laguna-Acoma, looking for a repeat of last year’s 64-52 win and end on a positive note.
The Lobos are right on the cusp of a postseason berth, currently ranked No. 8 on MaxPreps rankings. But they will have their hands full with Santa Rosa, a top-three 2A team. Nevarez knows how big a challenge the Lions are after their 61-6 loss, but thinks Escalante can make it a game.
“I think they can hang with them,” Nevarez said. “You might say that Santa Rosa might be a slight favorite. But, I like the discipline, I like the mentality that Escalante has. Whether they’re an underdog or not, they believe that they’re in every single game, and that they can win every single game.”