Sophomores lead Horsemen scoring

The underclassmen took care of the offense Friday night, while the seniors did their part on defense.

The formula worked to success for the St. Michael’s boys soccer team as it secured a 3-0 win over Monte del Sol in the opening day of the Sangre de Cristo Classic at Eco Park in Taos. A host of sophomores took care of the scoring, as Esteben Rigales, Berkley Reynolds and Santiago Lucero each had a goal. For Rigales and Lucero, it was their first varsity goals, and Lucero also recorded his first varsity assist.

Meanwhile, seniors Sam Baca, Wyatt Hoyle and Matthew Legits patrolled the back line and kept the Dragons (0-1) in check. St. Michael’s head coach Mike Feldewert said it was a good performance considering the lineup juggling the Horsemen went through over the past week.

Graham Gesten is out for most of the season with a fractured kneecap, while Kevin Furry gained eligibility just before the match against Monte del Sol. Baca, Legits and junior Justice Johnson all played through injuries.

“They played really well defensively, they were just solid,” Feldewert said of his back line. “We got good goalkeeping from Isaiah [Vigil]. It was a good day since we didn’t know how we were going to do with all the shifting around with Graham out of there. It worked pretty for us [on Friday].”

St. Michael’s (1-2) will play two matches on Saturday, starting with what amounts to a championship battle with East Mountain at 9 a.m. The Timberwolves beat their second District 2-1A/4A team in as many matches with a 1-0 win over Taos in Friday’s final match.

After that, the Horsemen take on the host Tigers at 12:30 p.m.

VOLLEYBALL

SANTA FE INDIAN SCHOOL 3, ESTANCIA 1

The Lady Braves did enough to outlast the Lady Bears in the opening round of the Moriarty Invitational’s silver bracket, winning 25-13, 23-25, 25-19, 30-28.

SFIS (2-0) finished third in its pool-play bracket, splitting a pair of games with St. Michael’s before getting swept by Texico and sweeping Valencia.

Even though the Lady Braves showed a balanced attack, head coach Brian Gurule felt his team lost its edge after dominating the first game.

“We were in control of the first game pretty good, then we started getting into a different game instead of just being aggressive,” Gurule said. “We just need to be aggressive, bottom line.”

Leanna Lewis led SFIS with 15 kills, while Sierra Shoals added 12, and the trio of Danielle Jackson, Teya Ruben and Camilla Lewis each had six. Marlena Yazzie had 20 assists and a pair of aces, while Ruben dished out 15 assists and a pair of aces. Myra Begay collected 10 digs.

FOOTBALL

ESCALANTE 12, ESPAÑOLA VALLEY 6

The Lobos needed a 1-yard touchdown pass from Esteban Archuleta to Cody Russom with 1 minute left in the game to beat the Sundevils for the second straight year, this time at Sundevil Field.

Escalante improves to 2-0 on the season, while Española dropped to 1-1.