Makeshift officiating crew saves Mayfield-Manzano football tilt
Plenty to unpack and digest after Week 1 of the prep football season, so let’s get steppin’.
OFFICIALLY: “It happens every year.”
These words came Saturday afternoon from the mouth of Al Baca, one of the men who serves as an assignor for high school football games in the central region of the state, which includes the Albuquerque metro area.
In light of Friday night’s breakdown that saw no officiating crew sent to the Mayfield-Manzano game at Wilson Stadium, it was necessary to try to get some clarification on where the error occurred.
According to Baca, the problem was two-fold.
First, the game was not plugged into the computer system that is used to list games, a list that assignors in each of New Mexico’s five regions use to schedule crews for games in their area. Baca said he didn’t immediately know why it was omitted from the master list.
The second problem was that apparently nobody from Manzano, or Albuquerque Public Schools, noticed that the game wasn’t on the list. New Mexico Activities Association executive director Sally Marquez said, “we tell our athletic directors to check (the computer) and make sure their games are there.”
In the meantime, at Wilson, at close to 6:45 p.m. Friday, it was becoming obvious to everyone that no crew was coming.
Baca was free to find a crew because the game he was going to officiate,
Del Norte-Atrisco Heritage, had been canceled. From his house, he began frantically calling around to see who might be available to wear the stripes on short notice. One thing in his favor: a few other games around the state had already been wiped out because of COVID-19 and there were more officials free in the metro area than might otherwise have been in a normal season.
One of the five men who ultimately worked the Mayfield-Manzano game, Mickey Shortencarier, was already at Wilson Stadium, in street clothes. He technically retired two years ago but is still certified. Baca asked him to go home and get his gear.
Baca said he had to go to about a dozen other officials to find the other members
of the five-person crew. There were several options for referee, he added.
As these men prevented a bad situation from getting even worse, it’s only right that we name them today and give them credit for bailing everyone out.
The other men, according to Baca:
Marcos Griego served as the referee, with Eliseo Gomez, Joe Garcia and Joe Romero also working the game. One of them, Baca said, was mowing his lawn when the call came. The others, fortunately, were not otherwise occupied. All of them were en route to Wilson Stadium by about 7:15 p.m.; the game eventually began at 8:11 p.m., 71 minutes late.
HIGHLAND: As of late Saturday afternoon, there was no official word on whether or not the Hornets will play Albuquerque High on Thursday night as scheduled.
Highland coach Philip Lovato referred a Journal inquiry Saturday to athletic director John Barnhill and principal Marco Harris. Neither immediately returned a text message seeking an update. Albuquerque High coach Tim Johnson said he did not know if the game against Highland was going forward.
Harris told the Journal last week that the school would evaluate its situation on a weekby-week basis, due to the low participation numbers — and the high number of players who don’t have any tangible high school experience — with the football program.
FEEL THE STING: One of the most impressive performances on Friday night was that of the Farmington Scorpions, who took the nearly six-hour bus ride to the Wool Bowl and whipped Roswell High — the 2018 and 2019 Class 5A state champion — by a 42-6 count.
According to the Farmington Daily Times, the Scorpions hadn’t beaten Roswell in over 70 years, spanning eight meetings.
It was also the debut for new Farmington quarterback Brandon Furbee, the highprofile transfer from Grants.
“(He) was good but not consistent yet,” Scorps coach Jeff Dalton said. “5A is a different feel. He was close to being really good. It will take a few weeks to settle in fully.”
Meanwhile, Farmington’s Week 2 home game against Belen, which originally was set to be postponed due to a COVID situation in Belen, is back on for this coming Friday. Belen is returning to classes this Monday instead of Aug. 30. TO THE WIRE: Arguably the best game anywhere in New Mexico on Friday night was the Class 4A battle in Bloomfield between the Bobcats and
St. Pius. And this was most certainly a possible playoff preview.
Bloomfield quarterback Ryan Sharpe’s 7-yard touchdown run with 1:01 remaining lifted the Bobcats to a 29-26 victory over the Sartans.
St. Pius had taken a 26-21 lead earlier in the quarter. What Sartans coach Dave Montoya said truly killed his team’s chances to close it out was a holding call that erased a thirdand-10 play that gained a first down with under five minutes remaining, St. Pius leading by five, and the Sartans inside the Bloomfield 25.
BY THE NUMBERS: Hobbs’ 21-0 victory on Friday night at Leon Williams Stadium in Clovis had Eagles coach Ken Stevens asking a question on Saturday morning: when was the last time a Hobbs football team won in Clovis?
That answer was not immediately known, but the answer to this question was:
When was the last time Hobbs shut out the Wildcats? Stevens knew this one.
It was 1970, he said, a 31-0 victory.
Defensively, Stevens said, the Eagles limited Clovis to just 103 yards of total offense.
■ This incredible-but-true nugget is courtesy of the Santa Fe New Mexican:
Santa Fe’s 34-8 victory at home Friday night over Robertson was the first time in 23 years that the Demons won their season opener.