Stunning win a game of inches
Capital stops Moriarty twice in final quarter with smallest margin of error
On paper it was a blowout. If one were inclined to have a weekly office pool for high school football games, this one was one of those nobrainers complete with max confidence points assigned to the favorite.
Good thing games aren’t actually played on paper or determined by rubbing the proverbial crystal ball.
In one of the biggest upsets of this prep football season, Capital — the same struggling Jaguars team that was rocked in losses to St. Michael’s and Miyamura — took down previously undefeated and (depending on which poll you’re looking at) top-ranked Moriarty, 14-7, on Friday night on Santa Fe’s south side.
That’s the same Capital squad that had off-the-field distractions, injuries to key players and lopsided losses that seemed disproportionate to the talent on hand. Coming in it seemed as though the Jaguars were just trying to salvage their season, not score a shocking upset.
That’s the same Moriarty team that rolled over St. Michael’s just two weeks ago, one that looked downright scary in its wing-T offense and brutally physical on defense. It’s the same team that came in 4-0 and then proceeded to outgain Capital nearly 3-1 in total offense. So what gives? “I’m not really sure,” said Jaguars quarterback Cisco Leos when asked how to explain it. “We came in ready to play this game. That’s all I can really say. Maybe it was mental.”
Here’s a better try: Capital landed a couple of haymakers early on with a pair of touchdowns from Lucas McNatt — one on a 27-yard catch, the other a 55-yard scoop and score fumble recovery — and survived a number of close calls as Moriarty rallied in the second half, then benefited from an officials’ ruling in the closing seconds.
That ruling came on fourthand-goal with 10 seconds left and the Jaguars clinging to a 7 point lead. After a lengthy discussion, the officials spotted the ball down at the 6-inch line (if there were such a thing) after Pintos quarterback Dylan Tapia dove for the goal line.
Before those wild events and the start of Moriarty’s rally was a critical fourth-down stop by Capital’s defense, one that halted a drive at the Jaguars’ 16 three minutes into the fourth quarter and the Pintos driving for what felt like an inevitable tying touchdown. Tapia miraculously evaded a sack on the play, scrambled around like Fran Tarkenton, then threaded a pass that came up literally a fraction of an inch short.
The side judge on the officials’ crew said the ball was shy of a first by the width of a card.
Capital’s offense then had its best drive of the season, one that covered a mere 33 yards and ended in a punt, but one that picked up three first downs and chewed 5 minutes, 39 seconds off the clock. It was capped by a punt that landed at the Moriarty 15, which was then pushed back to the 10 because of a penalty.
Needing to cover 90 yards in
the final 2:56, the Pintos drove 89 yards, 2 feet, 6 inches. The final half-foot was left to a debate between the referees when Tapia lunged into the end zone as he was tripped from behind. He and the ball were over the goal line, but one official overruled the other and said Tapia’s knee was down before the ball broke the plane.
“This is a game that can turn things around for us,” said McNatt, a high-jumping specialist for Capital’s track team but a relative stranger to the football field this fall.
He suffered a badly sprained ankle in the season opener at Goddard and was making his first appearance since then on Friday.
What a crazy night it was for him, too. He made a miraculous touchdown catch on a Leos pass in the first quarter to snap the scoreless tie, then had what was a tailor-made touchdown pass threaded right to him moments later when Leos evaded pressure and heaved the ball about 50 yards into the end zone to McNatt.
With no one within 15 feet of him, he had the ball go right through his hands.
“Couldn’t believe it,” he said. “It was just one of those games where I could have won it or lost it with one play. I had a chance to do both a couple of times, I think.”
That, he did. On the aforementioned fourth-down stop early in the fourth quarter, he had Tapia dead to rights for a sack. Instead he just shoved him with both hands, allowing Tapia to escape and nearly pull off a huge first down.
“I thought I heard someone saying the ball was away,” McNatt said. “I didn’t want to get a flag for bringing him down, but that’s the kind of play I’m talking about. I mess that up and maybe we lose.”
To Moriarty’s credit, they made the most of a dire situation. The Pintos lost all-state candidate Matt Smith to a torn knee ligament a week ago. The senior who tore that same ACL in a win over Capital last year was a dominant force on both sides of the ball, particularly at running back in the Wing-T.
Moriarty still rushed for 268 yards and outgained Capital 352-130. Pintos running back Marvin Encinias rushed for 160 yards and had his team’s only score, a 66-yard touchdown in the third quarter.
Capital got 62 yards on the ground from Luke Padilla but no one else had more than nine yards. Leos passed for 44 yards and didn’t turn it over a single time.
“Just a big, big win,” Leos said. “I think, for us, it’s about preparing and always moving on to the next play. Always the next play.”