For their state playoff game, Escalante saw a familiar face in the opposing coach.
Dusty Giles led Escalante to three state championships in 2012, 2014, and 2015, before he left the team in 2020 to move to Jal. Giles’ son, Austin, is a junior on the team, and is still friends with many of the Escalante players his age.
“As far as I’m concerned, he’s somewhat of a legend at our school,” Escalante coach Rico DeYapp said.
Escalante (5-6) lost their first-round playoff game to top-seeded Jal (11-0) on the road Nov. 4, 49-0.
“I just told the boys how proud of them I am,” said first-year coach DeYapp. “This was a goal of ours, to get in the playoffs, and play a playoff game. I thank our seniors, our coaching staff, and everyone involved with the program. We played a lot better than I expected us to.”
The trip to Jal is only slightly closer to Tierra Amarilla (more than 400 miles by car) than Salt Lake City.
The Panthers fully overpowered Escalante in the trenches on both sides. Offensively, their line opened up gaping holes for rushers, who constantly gashed the Lobos for chunk gains — though Escalante was able to prevent any extremely long runs; five of Jal’s seven touchdowns were from within the 5-yard line. Jal’s defensive line pushed into the backfield on seemingly every play.
But DeYapp was proud of the way they “scrapped” on defense.
“I’ve been around this for a pretty long time now,” DeYapp said. “And that’s one of the better high school football teams, as far as a small school goes, that I’ve ever seen.”
The Lobos finally found a bit of momentum and gained positive yardage later in the game. Their first 12 rush attempts all went backwards, for minus-26 yards. But a drive at the end of the third quarter to early in the fourth recorded three first downs, all with rushes, and went into Jal territory before ending with a lost fumble. Their last drive gained 19 yards on the first two plays to reach midfield, but ended with another fumble.
Quarterback Trey Archuleta did complete all three of his pass attempts for 10 yards, and finished the day with 33 rush yards on 13 carries.
Jal scored in three plays from scrimmage and one penalty on their first drive. A good return by the Lobos was brought back by a holding, and they punted. Escalante forced a turnover on downs on Jal’s second drive, showing some bend-but-don’t-break in their defense.
“They went out there and they didn’t quit,” DeYapp said. “They went out there and they got hit in the mouth, but they hit them in the mouth back. We fought for any and every little thing that went our way.”
Jal continued to pile on points, scoring 14 in the first quarter, 14 more in the second, and 14 more in the third.
DeYapp said that before the game, players were worried the game would be over at a 50-point margin by halftime — something Jal had done several times this year, including against the defending state champions in Eunice. Holding Jal under 50 points for the entire game, and not suffering the mercy rule, was exciting.
The Panthers will continue on to play No. 4 Eunice, who won a 35-34 thriller over Estancia in the first round, and remain a heavy favorite to win the state title.
Escalante loses three important seniors from the team, but should retain everyone else, including Archuleta and running back/safety Luka Torrrez.
“We’re excited about the group we have coming up,” DeYapp said. “We’re excited about next season. I told the boys … I’m going to do everything I can this offseason to get better, and they need to do that.”