Espanola Valley rode a pair of power running backs to a hard-fought 13-6 victory over Santa Fe’s Capital High at Sundevil Stadium Thursday, completing its non-district portion of its schedule unbeaten.
Senior Zeke Cuevas carried 12 times for 103 yards and his first touchdown of the season, while junior Dylan Sandoval added 13 rushes for 80 yards, including a 10-yard blast late in the fourth quarter, that left two exhausted Jaguar on the Sundevil artificial turf.
Junior quarterback Irvin Primero scored the decisive touchdown on a 2-yard sneak immediately Sandoval’s blast, but it was the consistent yardage gained by Cuevas and Sandoval behind Espanola Valley’s powerful offensive line that dictated the tone of the rugged game’s second half.
“I knew they were going to keep feeding me the ball,” Cuevas, who also helped stop Capital’s attempt to take an 8-7 lead on 2-point conversion try with 10 minutes, 44 seconds to play, said. “But all the credit goes to the blocking running backs and the offensive line to keep setting (plays) up for me.”
Leonard Martinez’s sack of Capital quarterback Ace Bachicha, forcing the Jaguars to turn the ball over on downs with 1:40 to play, secured victory for the Sundevils (3-0).