A homecoming win was sweeter than normal Sept. 19 for the Pojoaque Elks.
Pojoaque beat the Taos Tigers 31-8 to extend its unbeaten streak to four games, tying its best start to the season in school history. The Elks were 4-0 to begin the 2000 season, but that team faltered and finished 4-6 on the season. This year’s Elks team expects more than just tying records and is looking to become the first Elk team to finish with a winning record.
“We want to get the respect that those teams in the upper echelon get,” Pojoaque coach Quevin Redding said. “We’re moving toward that, but Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
Despite the record-setting win, the postgame celebration was subdued.
“We didn’t play as good as we can,” Elk quarterback Michael Garcia said. “We didn’t bring the intensity.”
Garcia threw for 405 yards and two touchdowns. He scored Pojoaque’s first touchdown on a five-yard run that finished off a 50-yard drive at 5:01 of the first quarter.
After Garcia’s touchdown, the Elks’ Lee Abeyta recovered a Taos fumble at the Tigers’ 19-yard line. Four plays later, Garcia found receiver Rob Vigil open in the end zone and hit him with a four-yard touchdown pass. Matt Cowen’s second extra point made the score 14-0 still in the first quarter.
The Elks dodged a bullet when Taos returned the following kickoff for a touchdown, but the play was called back because of a block-in-the-back penalty. Both teams moved the ball well in the middle of the field, but neither could convert again in the red zone until Cowen connected on a 22-yard field goal with 5:23 left in the first half.
The Elks struck quickly in the second half. Garcia tossed a 47-yard touchdown pass to Luke Salazar with just 1:19 gone in the third quarter, and the Elks led 24-0 after Cowen’s point after.
The Tigers got on the board in the fourth quarter with an 80-yard drive after Cowen missed a 50-yard field goal that had the distance but went wide right. Taos quarterback Dakota Swinehart hit Anthony LaBella with a 9-yard touchdown pass and the same combination added a two-point conversion to make the score 24-8 with 11:07 left in the game. Taos recovered the ensuing onside kick and was driving toward another score when the Elks’ Joshua Ortiz intercepted a Swinehart pass and returned it to Pojoaque’s 30-yard line to stop the drive.
“Coach tells us to keep our head on a swivel and read the quarterback’s eyes,” Ortiz said. “I kinda knew where he was throwing and it came right into my hands.”
Awakened by the Taos’ threat, the Elks drove 70 yards for the game’s final touchdown.
The Elks travel to McCurdy Saturday to play in McCurdy’s homecoming game.
Pojoaque joins District 2AAA rivals Raton and St. Michael’s among the teams in Class AAA that are undefeated this season.