Going against a strong team from a higher classification, the Escalante Lobos kept the game close. Much closer, it seemed, than the final score would indicate, but the game was lost at the margins with missed opportunities for Escalante.
“They played hard,” Escalante coach Rico DeYapp said. “That’s always going to be the most important thing to me, is, they don’t quit.”
While Escalante put up a strong fight in their season-opener at West Las Vegas, a bigger school with more depth, three turnovers and poorly-timed penalties kept them off the scoreboard in a loss on Aug. 18. But the 27-0 football game was seemingly much closer than the score indicated.
“Compared to last year, we weren’t communicating, stuff was getting confusing,” said lineman Jeremiah Martinez. “This year, we’re back and we’re talking to each other and trying to get where we need to go.”
Quarterback Trey Archuleta led the Lobos’ offense with 57 rushing yards on 22 attempts. He threw for 34 yards, completing three of his 10 passes, with one interception. Braylon Emery was the leading receiver with 24 yards on two catches.
Escalante’s first drive took more than nine minutes off the clock as they ran 13 plays and marched down to first and goal. But two false starts near the goal line set them back, and ultimately resulted in a turnover on downs. And on their next drive, a holding penalty wiped out what would have been a long run into West Las Vegas territory, and led to a punt.
“Penalties were killing us,” lineman Ramon Martinez said. “We just need to fix those things, think we’ll be good.”
“We shot ourselves in the foot the whole beginning of the game,” DeYapp said. “We’ve got to clean a lot up.”
And in response, on both of the Dons’ first two drives, they scored short-yardage touchdowns on fourth-and-goal. The differences on those goal line plays proved critical to the game.
After that, though, Escalante’s defense buckled down. Despite their third drive ending in a lost fumble deep in their own territory, the Lobos stopped West Las Vegas on four goal-to-go plays, and a Ramon Martinez sack led to a turnover on downs. And they forced a punt to start the second half.
“The defense really stepped up,” Ramon Martinez said. “I think our defensive line did really good once we got a good talk from our coach.”
But driving deep into Dons territory in the third quarter, Escalante lost another fumble. And after forcing another punt, DeYapp appeared to lose track of the down, calling a short-yardage play on fourth down that resulted in a turnover on downs to his surprise.
Another punt led to one last chance for the Lobos to get into the game, but it ended two plays later with an interception, and the Lobos were ultimately shut out.
“I felt like we moved the ball okay,” DeYapp said. “We just never punched it in. We never finished a drive.”
Finally, the Lobos ran out of juice, and the Dons scored on a long screen pass that included multiple broken tackles, putting them ahead 21-0 with five minutes remaining. They got the ball back late in the game and scored once again, and nearly added to the lead when the Lobos failed to recover a squib kickoff.
With two minutes left, down 21-0, DeYapp opted to punt on 4th-and-11, and the Lobos never got the ball back. DeYapp said they were looking to improve on punt coverage with the game out of reach.
“Obviously we’re trying to win,” DeYapp said. “But, we’re trying to improve, also.”
West Las Vegas quarterback CJ Perea, projected as one of the top talents in northern New Mexico, diced up the Lobos defense at times. He ended the game with 331 yards on 14-for-19 passing and three touchdowns, though much of that production came in the closing minutes.
Escalante should have the return of services of Greysen Horan starting next week, their second-leading receiver from last year, who should inject more action into the passing game
The Lobos travel next week to Tohatchi for a rematch of a game that the Lobos went up 28-0 at halftime after a long rain delay, and the Cougars left at halftime.
“Sucks to not come out on top,” Jeremiah Martinez said. “But we did our best.”