Taos routs Lovington to advance
The Taos Tigers showed up and played controlled, commanding football Saturday, and there was nothing anyone else could do about it.
At least, the Lovington Wildcats couldn’t. The third-seeded Tigers overwhelmed No. 6 Lovington and bottled up junior quarterback Casey Perez in a 55-7 rout in the Class 4A quarterfinals Saturday at Anaya Field. Taos (10-1) advances to a semifinal matchup against No. 2 Portales, and will travel to Eastern New Mexico on Saturday for a 1 p.m. kickoff.
From the Wildcats’ opening drive, the Tigers defense gave them no room to maneuver. Constantly under pressure, Perez spent the game dropping back into the pocket and dodging Taos defenders. When he did have time to throw, he could not connect with his receivers, who themselves were usually tightly covered. Perez did get Lovington on the scoreboard with an 8-yard touchdown run three minutes into the second quarter, but the Tigers led 21-7 by that point. Taos took its opening drive after a Lovington punt and drove 48 yards before quarterback Justin Good scored on a 1-yard touchdown run for a 7-0 lead with 9:01 left in the opening quarter. Good used his right arm on the ensuing drive and hit Angel Limas for a 31-yard touchdown strike to make it 14-0 at the 4:45 mark of the quarter.
It took the Tigers just 46 seconds into the second quarter to pad their lead when Brian Moraga powered his way to a 51-yard touchdown run for a 21-point lead. It was the first of two touchdowns for Moraga, who had a 1-yard touchdown run later in the quarter that made it 42-7 entering the locker room at halftime.
Taos senior running back Jonathan Garcia had a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter as the Tigers exploded for 28 points in the period.
The Tigers take on a Rams team next week that beat Grants 64-32 in its quarterfinal game, and is a rematch of a 4A quarterfinal game last year that Portales (8-3) won 41-11. Taos head coach Art Abreu Jr. said the location didn’t matter much.
“We’re ready to go wherever we need to go,” Abreu said.