The Escalante High School Lobos’ football game, Oct. 13, against the Santa Fe High School Demons will go down in the history books, not because the game finished at midnight on Friday the 13th.
And not because the Lobos were three hours late to their game scheduled for 7 p.m. at Santa Fe High’s Ivan Head Stadium.
The game made history because this was the first time that a 2A school has defeated a 6A school. In other terms, a team from the lowest division of New Mexico football had never beaten a team from the highest division until the final whistle blew into the first minutes of Oct. 14.
Escalante came away with a 39-6 victory over the Demons. The Lobos beat a school that has 15 times more students than they do.
The unprecedented match-up came about due to a rare combination of one overachieving team and the other, underachieving.
This season, the Lobos have refused to back down to any challengers, no matter the size of school. They have already beaten 5A Española Valley High School and 4A Pojoaque Valley High School, so far, this season.
The Demons hoped that the Lobos would not be able to handle a team from the 6A class and they would be able to break their seasons-long losing streak, which stretches to 32 consecutive losses, after Escalante.
For Escalante senior wide receiver Anthony Paul Martinez, the win was sweet.
“It’s especially nice when they talk trash that you’re short and then you score two touchdowns,” he said.
Although, after the game, the 5-foot-2 Martinez and the rest of the Lobos gave no indication that this was anything other than a routine win.
Escalante head coach Dusty Giles had a typically modest reaction to his team stepping up four divisions.
“We’re really pleased with the results,” he said. “We do have to get better at some things. We had a little bit of confusion out there in that first half, but outside of that, I thought we played a pretty good ball game.”
After last week’s mercy-rule win against McCurdy Charter School, Giles aimed to start this game against the Demons with a greater sense of urgency than with the Bobcats, after playing two consecutive games, which started with low energy for the Lobos.
Before they even reached Santa Fe, they literally ran into a roadblock.
“We were all kind of excited for the first hour,” Martinez said. “Then it turned into five hours. So, we were kind of just tired after that. Then we got into Santa Fe, and then we got excited again.”
The Escalante team bus was stuck in a traffic jam caused by a fatal car accident on the U.S. 84/285 just south of Pojoaque. The drive normally takes around two hours, but the Lobos waited on the bus for six.
Despite the lengthy stay on the bus, the Lobos came out with purpose.
With two plays, they were already on the scoreboard. Quarterback Cody Russom, in his second game starting ahead of the injured Esteban Archuleta, sealed the Lobos’ first six points with a long run.
The Demons tied the game shortly after Russom’s touchdown, with a near 50-yard touchdown pass. After that, the Lobos’ defense shut down the Demons, while their offense continued to roll.
Russom had another touchdown, then Martinez scored off of a sweep, before running back Anthony Ulibarri ended the scoring for the first half. At halftime, the Lobos had a 26-6 lead.
Martinez scored next for Escalante, beating his man to catch a deep 30-yard pass from Russom. The two connected with Russom accounting perfectly for Martinez’s speed.
“We have to just get that timing and chemistry,” Martinez said. “It was so good with Esteban (Archuleta), and now we just have to get that same connection with Cody (Russom). And he’s doing good. He’s improving a lot week-by-week.”
Ulibarri capped the night of scoring, breaking free on a 25-yard run down the middle of the field. After that, Giles put away his headset, knowing that his team had already secured the win.
“We definitely started with some urgency this time,” Giles said. “Like I say, today was more some mental mistakes, things like that. We can get corrected, we just have to. It’s getting to be that time of year where it is do or die.”
In two weeks, the Lobos will face Fort Sumner High School, who are their primary obstacle toward holding a state championship. The game should set the tone for the 2A playoffs, as those two are the clear favorites to face off in the finale.