BACK ON TOP
St. Mike’s ends a four-year district title drought.
It wasn’t a decadelong drought like it was for the Capital Jaguars, but four years without a district football title seems like a long time for St. Michael’s.
For the first time since 2013, St. Michael’s won the District 2-4A title with a 28-14 win over host West Las Vegas on Friday night at the Frank Herrera Athletic Complex in Las Vegas, N.M. The Horsemen finished the district portion of the season with a 6-0 record and a 9-1 mark overall.
It should be good enough for at least a top two seed, if not the No. 1 spot, when the Class 4A bracket is announced Saturday night. More important, though, is the two-week break St. Michael’s gets in the process.
“This is a rough district,” said Joey Fernandez Sr., Horsemen head coach. “We got a lot of bumps and bruises, and we had a quite a few guys sitting out tonight to give them an extra week to get them healthy.”
St. Michael’s looked no worse for wear after its opening drive, going 69 yards in eight plays before Joey Fernandez Jr. scored on a 2-yard touchdown run and added a 2-point conversion run for an 8-0 lead. The Dons responded with a 32-yard touchdown run from quarterback Antonio Bustamante that cut the margin to 8-6 with 4:46 left in the opening quarter, but it was as close as they got.
A 52-yard touchdown connection from Antonio Gabaldon to Fernandez Jr. made it 15-6, then Gabaldon had a 5-yard touchdown run in the second quarter to take a 21-6 lead into halftime.
Only turnovers prevented the Horsemen from making the margin bigger, as West Las Vegas forced four on the night. Two came on consecutive possessions in the second quarter that halted drives for St. Michael’s.
“We’ve been shooting ourselves in the foot a bit, especially in the big games,” Fernandez Sr. said. “It hurts us when we’re moving the ball so well, but out defense stepped up so well.”
The Dons (6-4, 4-2) had a chance to force a three-way tie for first with the Horsemen and Las Vegas Robertson, which beat Pojoaque 51-0, but will finish in third place, instead.
DESERT ACADEMY 3, RATON 1
The Lady Wildcats punched their ticket to the Class 3A State Tournament by upsetting the Lady Tigers 26-24, 25-21, 21-25, 25-21 for the District 3-3A Tournament title on the road.
The turning point came in Game 1, as Raton led 24-14 before Desert Academy scored 12 straight points to pull out an improbable win.
Volleyball is such a negative sport,” Lady Wildcats head coach Natalie Passalacqua said. “In order to score a point, somebody has to make a mistake, and for a team to rally for that many points when the other team needs just one is amazing.”
Desert Academy (10-10) will await its seed when the 3A bracket is announced on Sunday.
DULCE 3, SANTA FE PREP 1
The Blue Griffins were without senior Samantha Wilson, who was held out of the 2-3A tournament championship for undisclosed reasons, and missed out on a chance to beat the Lady Hawks on the road for the second time in a week.
Dulce won the tournament title with a 25-23, 25-23, 19-25, 25-19 win.
“We had something of a lead in the first two games, but we just got into a funky rotation where we became less aggressive and allowed too many balls to drop,” Prep head coach Kiran Bhakta said. “But the kids fought hard.”
Prep got strong performances from sisters Daisy and India Cunningham, as Daisy had 17 kills and three blocks while India dished out 34 assists. Raelyn Gonzales matched Daisy Cunningham in the kills department and added four blocks, plus a pair of aces.
Teslin Ishee had nine digs and an ace.
The Blue Griffins (13-9) will wait to hear their name to be called for the second year in a row. Prep missed out on the state tournament in 2016.
SANTA FE INDIAN SCHOOL 3, ABQ. BOSQUE SCHOOL 0
None. Zero. Nada. That’s how many errors the Lady Braves had in Game 1 of a 25-7, 26-24, 25-14 sweep of the Lady Bobcats in the 5-4A semifinal in the Pueblo Pavilion. SFIS heads to Albuquerque to play top seed Sandia Prep for the district tournament title, but Lady Braves head coach Brian Gurule continues to see encouraging signs from his team.
“We were on fire,” Gurule said. “Everyone was clicking. We were hitting, we were serving, we were passing. It was beautiful. If we can do that consistently, it would be wonderful.”
Junior setter Marlena Yazzie had 33 assists, six aces and eight digs to lead the way for SFIS. Danielle Jackson had 15 kills and two blocks to lead the hitting attack, while Leanna Lewis added 10 and Teya Ruben eight.