The Escalante High School Lobos football team took the ball from their 1-yard line to the opposing 1-yard line, in a 99-yard drive that took up most of the fourth quarter.
The Lobos were tied with Española Valley High School at 6-6, and with 40.7 seconds left in the game, Escalante managed to put the ball in the back of the Sundevils’ end zone, quieting the home crowd.
From the 1-yard line, Escalante quarterback Esteban Archuleta threw a quick pass to Cody Russom, slanting inward from the left side.
“It was do or die — 0-0 and we knew we had to punch it in and dig deep,” Archuleta said.
The Lobos had some difficulty throwing the ball throughout the game and the pass came as somewhat of a surprise. Archuleta had already been intercepted once before, on a play that led to Española’s only points of the game.
“We actually had a run play called,” Escalante head coach Dusty Giles said. “But they brought the extra guy into the box and vacated the slot receiver. It is part of our offense, that is what makes our offense work.”
Escalante missed its two-point conversion, but the 12-6 score was too much for the Sundevils to come back from, with less than a minute left on the clock.
They had trouble pushing the ball down the field with just seconds remaining, as their offense typically relies on short-gain runs.
Sundevil quarterback Arlen Garcia was injured with 11 seconds left in the game, taking a big hit off of a botched long snap, and back-up quarterback Jacob Trujillo entered the game at a crucial moment.
He could not find a look, and was sacked, forcing a fumble. Escalante recovered the fumble to put the final nail in Española’s coffin, ending the game at 12-6.
“I was really pleased,” Giles said. “It was kind of similar to the game we had with them last year … It was a real defensive struggle. This one was the same. I was really proud. When you’re outgunned by about 125 pounds a man (sic) on the offensive and defensive line, for those guys to do what they did, I thought it was excellent.”
Until Escalante finished its 99-yard drive, Española appeared to hold the upper hand, carrying most of the momentum.
The game was a defensive struggle, and Española was pounding the Escalante defense with heavy runs from Nicolas Martinez and Damian Velasquez to break through with consistency.
The Sundevils tied the game at 6-6 in the beginning of the third quarter.
Garcia snagged an interception from a pass that Archuleta hurriedly threw into double coverage. That interception put Española on Escalante’s 23-yard line. Martinez made an initial two runs that brought him minimal gains.
He then found enough space for his his 265-pound frame, and he ran the ball into the end zone, dragging a couple of Lobo defenders with him. The Sundevils’ two-point conversion was then intercepted, so they did not take the lead.
Martinez finished the game with 96 rushing yards to his name. Garcia passed for 25 yards.
After that, the Española defense played with some renewed verve.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, a well-placed punt positioned the Lobos’ offense to start at the one-yard line, for a drive that would come to define the game.
“Our defense started tackling and getting some big hits,” Española head coach Jesus Maes said. “And they were tackling for a loss and they were getting them to go three and out. You could just see the confidence in the defense picking up. That was huge.”
Escalante’s long drive came from a combination of strong runs and penalties on the Sundevils.
Running back Anthony Ulibarri pulled the majority of the load for the Lobos, gaining consistent five-yard runs and breaking out on occasion.
Archuleta, though, had the run that put Escalante within scoring range. When Garcia, at safety for the Sundevils, bit on his coverage and matched up with a receiver on the line, Archuleta found a massive hole that took him from around the 30-yard line to the six.
The Lobos did all of this with a significantly smaller team, not only in average size, but also with numbers.
“That’s the thing about Escalante football,” Archuleta said. “We’re not very big, but we’re fast and we play with a lot of heart.”