In a light week for local high school football, both teams playing took care of business quickly and efficiently, getting victories that ended early on the mercy rule.
Pojoaque Valley 52, Santa Fe Indian School 0
The Elks (4-3) wasted no time Friday in a non-district tune-up against the Braves, ending the game in the third quarter.
“This week was more about fixing the little things we saw on film,” coach Zeke Villegas said. “Fixing the missed and blown assignments we had the previous week. And getting our defense going a little bit more, getting more aggressive.”
The defense had six quarterback hurries, including two each by Joshua Gonzales and Joseph Garcia and Michaelangelo Leapingwolf added a sack. The defense also caused three turnovers, with Elijah Gonzales and Jaden Leyba-Moya each coming down with a pick.
“That’s one area we’ve been trying to improve the last couple of weeks and I think we have,” Villegas said. “Having three down linemen and coming at the quarterback the last two weeks, this time we had four or five guys putting pressure. That’s something we worked on.”
Offensively, the Elks were efficient, with just three passes attempted and two completed, both of which Leyba-Moya caught for 99 total yards.
And even though Pojoaque only had 16 rushing attempts, it piled up 269 yards and six touchdowns. Jonah Villegas had four carries for 107 yards and three touchdowns, while Leyba-Moya, Matthew Romero and Jeremiah Ortiz each added a rushing score.
“We spread it around like we always do,” the coach said. “That’s what we’ve done really well this year, get the ball in a lot of kids’ hands and be successful. That’s what really helps our offense.”
Even special teams contributed, with the Elks converting four of six point-after attempts.
All of which made for a strong showing going into the final stretch of the regular season.
“Kids that had blown assignments the week before, they were able to fix that,” Zeke Villegas said. “We did really well; a lot of good blocking for the running backs. We were able to execute on all their plays.”
Escalante 50 Clayton 0
The Lobos (7-2, 4-0 in District 2) showed no mercy Friday to the Yellowjackets and former Escalante coach Dusty Giles.
“We executed our run offense well,” Lobos coach Carlos Casados said. “We only had one passing play the entire game. We scored on every possession, which is always our goal and didn’t turn the ball over.”
Julio Lujan, Tristen Ulibarri and Braylon Emery each had two rushing touchdowns and Jacoby Valdez had a rushing touchdown and converted two two-point tries.
Defensively, Emery and Joel Valdez each had an interception and Joe Cordova recovered a fumble.
What’s more, on the defensive side of the ball, Escalante was able to adjust to an unexpected Clayton offensive scheme and dominate.
“On the defensive side, (the Yellowjackets) came out in an entirely different offense than we’ve seen them,” Casados said. “Their first drive they began moving the ball but we were able to make the needed adjustments and stop them on downs. After that we managed to recover three turnovers on consecutive defensive series.”