Late sack sinks Demons’ hopes of ending misery
Santa Fe squanders chance to tie on final drive; big plays burn Demons’ defense
LOS ALAMOS — “Five-second memory” became a necessity rather than a suggestion Friday night.
Neither the Los Alamos Hilltoppers nor the Santa Fe High Demons played crisp, sound football in a nondistrict game at cold, cloudy and then rainy Sullivan Field. In fact, it seemed that the team which made the last mistake would be the one to pay the price in the form of a loss.
That’s when Dylan Irish used the Los Alamos credo to his advantage. “We have to have 5-second memory,” said Irish, the Hilltoppers senior quarterback/linebacker. “We have to shrug it off because we have the next play to make up for it.”
It was Irish’s sack of Demons quarterback Zach Russell on fourth down with 58.9 seconds left that preserved a 21-14 win for the Hilltoppers’ homecoming festivities. The play negated what appeared to be a burst of penalties that helped the Demons (0-6) creep along a 2-minute drive to try and tie the score and possibly force overtime.
Two personal foul penalties — roughing the passer and pass interference calls on consecutive plays — moved the ball from the Santa Fe High 38-yard line to the Los Alamos 32 with 2:06 left in the game. Just when it appeared Santa Fe High was about to throw off the chains of 29 consecutive defeats, it was the Demons’ turn to shoot themselves in the foot.
An errant snap off the wet turf to Russell on third down forced Demons running back Steven Romero to fall on the loose ball at the Los Alamos 36 to set up a 4th-and-14 desperation play. Santa Fe High had to throw the ball, and the Hilltoppers (4-2) knew it.
Leave it to Irish to thwart those plans. He blitzed from the left side and came in almost unabated as he took Russell to the ground to preserve the win.
While Irish made the big play on defense, it was his backup on offense who infused Los Alamos with the needed momentum to answer the Demons.
Santa Fe High tied the score at 14-all late in the third quarter, using a 13-play, 55-yard drive that ate up 5:32 of the clock. It ended on Marcos Acuna’s 3-yard touchdown run as he stretched into the end zone with a Hilltopper defender draping him to the ground.
On Los Alamos’ first play from scrimmage after the kickoff, Irish took a hard hit to his chest on a keeper and left the game momentarily. Enter Kayden Rivera.
The senior needed two plays to make his mark, as he hit a wide-open Wyatt Seagar for a 71-yard reception and the Hilltoppers’ lone completion on the night. The play worked because Los Alamos simply ran and ran and ran the ball to the tune of 198 yards on 30 carries. When Rivera went back to pass, Santa Fe High’s safeties moved toward
the line of scrimmage to meet the impending ball carrier. He never came. “I read the defense and I saw that they didn’t have a strong safety in the middle,” Rivera said. “I just took that opportunity with Wyatt Seagar as my receiver and just lobbed it up there.”
Two plays later, Cade Yost took a counter handoff through the middle of the Demons defense for a 21-14 lead with 11:19 left in the game.
It was the last of two touchdowns for Yost, as he opened the scoring in the second quarter with an 82-yard touchdown run down the left sideline as he found the open edge and scooted past the defense untouched with 10:40 left in the first half. Yost finished with 110 yards on just six carries to lead the Hilltoppers.
“That’s 153 yards on those two plays,” Santa Fe High head coach Andrew Martinez said. “Those are game changing plays. We don’t give up those plays, we win the ball game. But we’re going to work at it, and we’re close to turning this around.”
The Demons responded like a team desperate for a win. They methodically went 65 yards in 10 plays, and Russell’s leap into the end zone on keeper around the right end from 1 yard out tied the score at 7-all with 7:01 left in the half.
Late in the first half, fortune briefly smiled on Santa Fe High as Irish threw an interception right to Russell that the senior linebacker returned to the Los Alamos 12 with 1:04 before the half.
An unsportmanlike penalty placed the ball at the Hilltoppers 6 and set the stage for the Demons’ first lead of the season.
They had it for two brief moments — when Russell ran in for a 4-yard touchdown and when he hit Jonah Baca for a 16-yard touchdown. Neither score counted, though, as Santa Fe High penalties negated both scores.
Russell then threw an interception to end the half, leaving the score tied and the Demons wanting yet again.
“I don’t know about you, but if you were about to score and have a lead, it would be crazy, but it would crush me and hurt,” Irish said. Oh, it did. “We’re still battling the turnovers and the 15 yard penalties,” Martinez said. “I think we’re getting better at it. We just got to take advantage of every opportunity we have.”
A good 5-second memory would be helpful, too.