Taos hopes to keep momentum going
With better fundamentals, Taos hopes to maintain winning momentum throughout season
ATAOS beautiful dream unfolded for a half, only to be interrupted by a bizarre nightmare. When the Taos Tigers looked back at the 2017 football season, they pointed to the Oct. 6 District 2/5-4A game against St. Michael’s as the turning point of their season. After coming off a tough 33-20 loss at Las Vegas Robertson a week earlier, the Tigers appeared to have rebounded and had the Horsemen on their heels when Taos took a 14-6 halftime lead.
“We had them by the throat,” Taos senior Aiden Lelanc said.
Everything was going according to plan — until the news at the half that quarterback Jude Suazo suffered a rib injury that kept him out of the game. Already bereft of backup Justin Good, who had an injured collarbone, Taos turned to third-string signalcaller Noah Armijo. St. Michael’s sacked him three times on the first two drives and held the Tigers to just three total yards on their first four
drives of the second half.
Meanwhile, the Horsemen scored 35 points in a 6-minute span to secure a 41-21 win and cast a pall on the rest of Taos’ season. After a 5-1 start and
a No. 2 ranking in Class 4A by that point, the Tigers went 3-3 in district and finished in fourth place. Oh, but what could have been. “It came to all those minor mental
mistakes that cost us in the end,” senior lineman Dominic Lopez said. “I don’t think those teams were better than us, and we weren’t better than them. It just came down to who made fewer mistakes, and some luck.”
Still, the win total was the most for the program since the 2013 team won 10 games and reached the state semifinals. Taos head coach Art Abreu Jr. said the difference between the program he inherited in 2015 and now is in the details — the kinds that prevented the Tigers from achieving their goal. One area that needs
2017 record: 8-4 overall, 3-3 in District 2/5-4A. Lost to Portales, 41-11, in the Class 4A quarterfinals. Head coach: Art Abreu Jr. (fourth year) Key players: Justin Good, senior, 5-foot-7, 150 pounds, QB/DB; Jonathan Garcia, senior, 5-7, 165, RB/SS; Aiden Leblanc, senior, 6-4, 215, TE/ DE; Dominic Lopez, senior, 6-1, 300; OT/DT; Tyler Gomez, senior; 5-11, 230, C/DT. Outlook: The Tigers were oh so close to a breakthrough season and a district title, but the breaks didn’t go their way. They led or tied Las Vegas Robertson, St. Michael’s and West Las Vegas at the half, but lost all three games thanks, in part, to 16 turnovers in those contests. The new 4A brings new district foes, but it appears that the district title will be decided in an Oct. 20 battle against Abq. St. Pius X. Regardless, Taos should be one of the favorites in 4A and make a deep run into the playoffs
2018 SCHEDULE
Aug. 25 — at St. Michael’s, 1 p.m. Aug. 31 — Los Alamos, 7 p.m. Sept. 7 — Aztec, 7 p.m. Sept. 14 — at Santa Fe High, 7 p.m. Sept. 28 — Capital, 7 p.m. *Oct. 5 — at Grants, 7 p.m. *Oct. 12 — Española Valley, 7 p.m. *Oct. 20 — at Abq. St. Pius X (Milne), noon *Oct. 26 — Pojoaque Valley, 7 p.m. *Nov. 1 — at Bernalillo, 7 p.m. *denotes District 2/5-4A game