The Last Time Española Beat the Hilltoppers was in 2002
A friendship forged in fourth grade at Española Elementary proved to be a difference in the Sundevils’ football team, ending a long-losing streak to rival Los Alamos High School.
It’s a streak that started before Española Valley High School seniors Nick Sandoval and Victor Parra, or any other Sundevil on the team, for that matter, was born.
EVHS last defeated the Hilltoppers in 2002.
That all evaporated Friday night at Los Alamos’ Sullivan Field as the Sundevils controlled both lines of scrimmage behind Sandoval and a bruising offensive line. It was a 21-18 victory where Parra rushed for almost 200 yards in his first start at running back.
“We’ve been wanting this every year,” Sandoval said, whose excitement was radiating as he stood next to his fourth grade friend. “We dug deep down. This showed our heart. But this is just one. The job is only started, not finished. There are nine more (regular-season) games to go.”
Sandoval led the blocking on Parra’s nifty 43-yard touchdown run with 8 minutes, 58 seconds to play in the third quarter, giving Española Valley (1-0) a lead it would not relinquish.
“I was more patient on that play,” Parra said of his scoring burst. “I need to run patiently. I made my reads on that play.” Parra had several chunk-yardage runs on the same play, but he timed his burst correctly on the 43-yarder and left several Los Alamos defenders in his wake.
“It was his first start at running back,” Sundevil head coach Tylon Wilder said. “He was our X-receiver lined up on the line of scrimmage for the past two seasons. He had more touches (Friday night) than all of last season.”
While the offensive line was so strong that the Sundevils didn’t attempt a forward pass, the defense closed out the contest.
Junior Cody Coffeen, who had scored an Española Valley touchdown earlier on a 24-yard reverse, intercepted a Kyle Evenhus pass, snuffing out one third-quarter Hilltopper drive and when Sandoval and Matthew Martinez led four Sundevil defenders chasing Evenhus out of bounds on 4th down at the Hilltopper 31 yard line with 4:11 to play, the game was effectively over.
“You saw, we were aggressive defensively all night,” Wilder said. “We want to be smart and super aggressive. We brought pressure (defensively) all night.”
The Sundevils needed to be aggressive defensively to try and shut down Los Alamos’ best player Akim Leija.
After an Española Valley penalty moved a second-quarter kick off back to the 25-yard line, Leija brought the ensuing kick back 84 electrifying yards to cut the Sundevils’ lead to 14-6.
He also scored on an 18-yard swing pass and a 34-yard screen pass to start the third quarter and give the Hilltoppers a brief 18-14 advantage.
“He’s shifty and fast,” Wilder said of the 5-foot-7, 150-pound Leija. “Los Alamos is a big and fast team.”
Ironically, Leija’s sideline scoring screen turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Española Valley as the senior tweaked a hamstring, essentially ending his evening. Leija spent the remainder of the game on the Los Alamos sideline, seeing if he could run with effectiveness. He only returned as a decoy on the Hilltoppers’ final offensive play of the game.
After that turnover on downs, not surprisingly, a 16-yard third-down carry where Parra bounced the play outside gave the Sundevils a critical late first down. It was followed by 225-pound fullback Zeke Cuevas carving up a couple of bruising runs for another first down, forcing Los Alamos to use its final timeout with 1:40 to play.
“He’s built for that,” Wilder said of Cuevas, the closer. “We’ll get him a little lower and running behind his pads a little more and he’ll even be better. He’s a fullback and he may have only had 41 yards, but he never lost yardage and never got stopped for zero yards. He got us important yards.”
Wilder then got to call the favorite play in football — the victory play. Despite being on the Los Alamos 2-yard line, the Sundevils took a knee twice as victory was assured.
“We don’t need to score there and we don’t need to have a play where a fumble gets brought back for a touchdown,” Wilder said. “I’m most proud that we fought every play. I know the kids wanted this (streak-ending victory) bad. It’s just the first hurdle, but being against LA, it means a little more.”
The Sundevils host Cuba (0-1) for homecoming Friday night and Wilder cautions Española Valley to not suffer a letdown.
“There’s a lot of things going on this week,” he said. “We have to remain focused. We know that this will be a big game for Cuba.”
The Rams dropped their season-opener, 20-18, to Santa Fe Indian School.