If exposure to playoff-type football is what McCurdy head coach Robert Nevarez wanted by scheduling Class 3A power Cobre, that is exactly what the Bobcats got Saturday at Chic Martinez Field.
Unfortunately, McCurdy ended up on the short end of a 30-26 season-opening decision in a hot, hard-fought tussle, but Nevarez saw many positive things to build on in 2024.
In 2023, the Bobcats, despite a 6-3 record, were on the outside looking in on the Class 2A playoffs, so Nevarez scheduled an opening game with the Indians, a 2023 Class 3A New Mexico Activities Association state playoff semifinalist and No. 4 MaxPreps ranking in the state, to begin this season.
“We wanted this type of game,” Nevarez said. “It was a playoff-type game. There was a lot of hard hitting for both sides. We wanted this type of dogfight and for the preseason (non-district play) it was a slug fest and could’ve gone either way. We did give up four touchdowns, but also scored four and when our offense is running right we should be able to win a game when we give up four touchdowns.”
Bobcat talented senior Jeremaya Roybal had his way with Cobre in the first half, rushing for three touchdowns and 85 yards, but Cobre did a better job limiting the quarterback to 68 yards rushing in the second half — 38 of which came on one run — but more importantly, the Indians kept Roybal out of the end zone.
McCurdy’s only second-half score came on a nifty 13-yard, fourth-down pass from Roybal to Ryan Montoya in the corner of the end zone.
“We were getting killed on the outside in the first half (by Roybal),” Cobre head coach Jerry Martinez said. “But we changed the edge and kept our defensive ends and linebackers out a bit farther. We thought we were prepared for the single wing, but I give (defensive coordinator) Gary Garcia all the credit for that change. We told our kids that it was going to be a battle, but we stayed together.”
Cobre graduated 15 seniors from its team that made a deep 2023 playoff run, but Ayzik Jimenez led the Indians on both sides of the ball. Jimenez scored the game’s decisive touchdown with 6 minutes and 29 seconds to play on a darting 7-yard scamper.
And Jimenez brought down Roybal after a 13-yard run on the game’s second-to-last play. McCurdy’s final effort for a victory was a long, incomplete pass.
The Bobcats did have the ball twice, late in the fourth quarter, with a chance to erase its four-point deficit, but they fumbled a snap on a 4th-down play with 3:07 remaining and had to lay down on the ball.
On McCurdy’s final possession, the Bobcats were on the receiving end of a quizzical illegal man-downfield penalty on a play where Roybal didn’t pass and had ripped off a 12-yard run to mid-field.
“One or two (officials’) calls wouldn’t have changed the outcome (Saturday),” Nevarez said. “But Jeremaya (Roybal) didn’t even attempt to pass. We ran that play to see what kind of coverage Cobre was going to play if we had to pass on the next play or later.”
The man-downfield call turned first down at midfield with 1:05 to play into first-and-16 back at the McCurdy 31 situation.
“We had a couple of chances to win it,” Nevarez said.
McCurdy now has an early season bye week before hosting Tucumcari Sept. 7 and the Bobcats’ goals don’t change.
“If we want to be a playoff team, we have to stretch the field more,” Nevarez said. “If we work on that and do that, we might be almost unstoppable.”
McCurdy’s Montoya caught four passes for 44 yards including a touchdown and 2-point conversion, but by the end of the game the Indians were double-teaming him on every Bobcat pass attempt.
“That’s what we have to work on,” Nevarez said of getting other McCurdy receivers involved in the passing game during the off week. “I was very pleased with how our young offensive line hung in there and despite the heat, cramping didn’t really occur until late in the third quarter. Tucumcari will be another tough test.”