Bears roar back to stun Eagles
Overcome a 28-7 halftime deficit, score 10 in final 3:18
Best estimate, there were a hundred ingredients in this stew that led to a crazy come-from-behind victory by the La Cueva Bears on Friday night.
These two are as good a place to start as any: The game-tying touchdown pass was thrown by a third-string sophomore quarterback, and the game-winning points were delivered by a sophomore kicker.
Starting with the latter, Dominic Camacho nailed a 33-yard field goal with 58.4 seconds to go, the difference in La Cueva’s unlikely 38-35 victory over Eldorado in the Class 6A football quarterfinals at Nusenda Community Stadium.
“It’s all about the technique,” Camacho said. “I was nervous to be sure, but I did what I do every day.”
The Bears (10-1) will face Cleveland or Hobbs in the semifinals. La Cueva is fortunate to be playing another game at all, since it trailed 28-7 at halftime.
“It was going to be a really hard fight to get back, and we knew that,” said Reece Wilkinson, who caught a third-quarter TD pass for the Bears and later became the second of three La Cueva quarterbacks.
Game-changing plays? There is hardly enough time or space here to catalog them all properly. It is worth noting, however, that La Cueva’s final 17 points were scored on fourth-down plays.
Austin Smith, pressed into duty after starter Dylan Summer hurt his knee early in the fourth quarter, and taking over from Wilkinson, was the QB on two crucial throws in the waning moments.
The first was a screen pass to Grant Giesler, on a fourth-and-9 from the Eldorado 38 and the Bears trailing 35-28. Giesler worked hard and got the first down by the length of the football.
Later, on a fourth-and-goal from the 10, Smith threw a swing pass to D’Andre Williams. He charged toward the end zone, but went airborne at the 2, reaching out with both hands to stretch the ball over the goal line (with 3:18 left in the game) before an Eldorado defender could cut the legs out from underneath him.
“That’s exactly what I did,” said Williams. That was the third of his three scores, which included a 69-yard TD reception from Summer in the first quarter and a 57-yard run during the pivotal third quarter in which La Cueva outscored the Eagles (7-5) by a 21-0 margin. “It was just an instinct to jump, but I knew I had to get in.”
Eldorado controlled the first half, manhandling the La Cueva defense. Eagles quarterback Gabe Smith threw a pair of touchdown passes to Grayson Hertrich, and Richard Gallegos ran for a pair of TDs as Eldorado — paced by its power ground game — led 28-7 at halftime.
“Their game plan was one of the best we’ve ever seen,” La Cueva coach Brandon Back said.
Eldorado rushed for 149 yards in the first half — but just 55 after halftime. By contrast, La Cueva churned out a meager 36 rush yards in the first half, then caught fire after halftime with 279 on the ground. Williams finished with 149 yards on 18 carries.
Summer left the field on crutches. He said he heard a “pop” in his right knee at the end of an 18-yard scramble. The extent of the injury is unknown, Summer added.