A winning combination

Family bonds, stellar play key in overwhelming win by Robertson over St. Michael’s for state title

Football and family seem to go together like Thanksgiving and turkey.

They can bond father and son, like they do Leroy and Ace Gonzalez, who also happen to be a part of the Las Vegas Robertson football team.

They can create legacies, like the family of Cardinals senior Matthew Gonzales, who had a pair of brothers play for Robertson, and two more who are current teammates.

When you put football and family together, they can create an awesome bond that breaks barriers and brings home a piece of glory. Such was the case when a pair of families and a group of Cardinals combined forces to create some championship revelry. Matthew Gonzales was the engine that drove Robertson with a Class 3A state title on the line Saturday afternoon against St. Michael’s. He ran for 301 yards and three touchdowns, while also collecting three interceptions that were vital in a 28-7 win for the program’s fourth state title, and its first in five tries over the past six years.

While he was the star of the afternoon, he couldn’t have done it without the offensive line play, led by junior center Ace Gonzalez, that opened wideenough holes for the 5-foot-6 Gonzales to squirt through and do some damage.

The younger Gonzalez said it was just a matter of the Cardinals playing like they had been there before — like some of the seniors were as freshmen.

“We just had to stay calm,” Ace said. “We knew it was going to be a tough one. They’re here for a reason. We just got to do our job and stay true to our technique.”

Then there was the bread-and-butter defense that coach Gonzalez created and has cultivated for most of the past 20 years at the school. It took away the Horsemen run game and put all the pressure on junior quarterback Zach Martinez. The result was five interceptions by Martinez, and some of them were momentum-breakers that eliminated the precious field advantage the St. Michael’s defense worked hard to get.

For Gonzalez, he was grateful for families — especially his own.

“There is nothing like winning a state championship with your son,” Leroy Gonzalez said. “I won a baseball title with Ace [in 2019] and a football one now.”

Meanwhile, Matthew Gonzales was trying to add to a family legacy, and he was determined not to let this moment slip through his fingers. The final 26 minutes of the game attest to that.

St. Michael’s plan to contain and corral the signal caller worked incredibly well through most of the first half, as Matthew had just 32 rushing yards and 18 passing while throwing a pick. All it took was one play for the execution to dissolve.

When the quarterback rushed over the left side and cut to the sideline, he found a sliver of open space and sped away from the rest of the Horsemen for a 47-yard touchdown that broke a scoreless tie with 2:15 left in the half for a 6-0 lead.

After the Cardinals defense stopped a Horsemen drive at the Robertson 27-yard line with 22.6 seconds left, Matthew was a one-man 2-minute drill,