Casillas, defense lead Belen over Roswell
Eagles reach Class 5A final against perennial power Artesia
BELEN — Belen made three big defensive plays, and running back Diego Casillas gained more than 300 yards rushing and scored four touchdowns as the No. 2 Eagles defeated No. 3 Roswell 27-20 on Saturday afternoon in the Class 5A football semifinals.
The victory sends Belen (12-0) to its second state title game in the last four seasons, against the same opponent the Eagles faced in the 2014 championships game — No. 1-seeded Artesia. The Bulldogs improved to 10-2 on Saturday afternoon, dispatching No. 4 Farmington 47-22 in the Four Corners to set up next weekend’s 5A title clash, which will be played at Bulldog Bowl in Artesia on Saturday at 1 p.m.
The Bulldogs are striving to win their 30th state championship in school history and third in the past four seasons. Belen is attempting to win its first football state title in school history in its fourth championship game. Six Belen teams finished the regular season without a loss, but none has completed a season undefeated.
“Like we’d been saying all week, this was a completely different Roswell team. That’s the Roswell we know and respect,” said Belen coach Greg Henington. “They had opportunities, but we stopped them to finish the game. Diego rushed for 302 yards. We knew it was going to be a grind.”
Casillas scored on two short runs and two long runs, including an 80-yard run in the second quarter that gave the Eagles a lead at 12-7 that they would not relinquish. Casillas, who plays both ways like several of his Belen teammates, also made his mark on defense, along with mainstays Rowdy Robinson, Jaron “Bubba” Markland and Kameron Baca, whose key interception in the first half killed a promising drive and set up Belen’s first score.
The Eagles limited Roswell to 75 yards rushing in the second half and kept the Coyotes’ big running back, Gabe Najar, largely in check. The Roswell senior finished, unofficially, with 101 yards on 20 carries. Senior quarterback Michael Ponce had a productive day, finishing with 207 of the Coyotes’ 379 total yards and a touchdown pass. But he was also victimized by the Belen defense, which picked off a pass in the first half and recovered a fumble on Roswell’s final play from scrimmage on a bad exchange.
Trailing 12-7 at halftime and 27-14 with just over 2 minutes left in the third quarter, Roswell appeared to have cut the lead to seven points with a 69-yard touchdown pass. But Ponce threw the pass after going beyond the line of scrimmage, triggering an illegalforward-pass penalty. The Coyotes punted on the next play.
Belen drove into Roswell territory afterward, but the drive stalled at the Coyote 13 and the Eagles gave up the ball on downs. Roswell drove the length of the field and score to cut the lead to 27-20 with 7:19 left in the fourth quarter. Belen was unable to move the ball on its next possession and the Coyotes appeared to have the momentum to tie the game on the ensuing drive, until Belen came up with the game-sealing fumble recovery.
Artesia is playing its first title game at Bulldog Bowl since the Class 4A title game in 2010, when the Bulldogs defeated Aztec 45-34. The Bulldogs played at Belen in 2014, defeating the Eagles 49-21, then defeated Centennial 42-34 at Field of Dreams in Las Cruces in 2015. Last season Artesia fell to St. Pius 34-24 at Nusenda Community Stadium.