Back to Earth
Demons’ lose to Bernalillo a week after beating reigning state champs
ABERNALILLO ndrew Martinez called Monday “Game Day” for the Santa Fe High Demons.
That’s because Friday wasn’t much of one in the eyes of Martinez, the Demons’ third-year head coach.
Coming off perhaps its biggest win in several seasons by beating reigning Class 4A champion Taos last week, Santa Fe High hurtled back to Earth with a thud. The Bernalillo Spartans were more physical, better prepared and more opportunistic in fashioning a 20-6 win that wasn’t as close as the final score indicated.
The Spartans defense, which Bernalillo head coach John Cobos nicknamed “Goons,” held the Demons to just 54 yards of offense and took away just about everything Santa Fe High wanted to do. And when Santa Fe High had no
Spartans defender Cuentin Romero, right, leaps for the ball in front of Santa Fe High receiver Zach Martinez. other recourse than to rely on sophomore quarterback Luc Jaramillo to pull off the comeback, Bernalillo overwhelmed him with pressure from just about everywhere.
“We’re a bunch of goons,” Cobos said. “We’re swarming, we have each other’s back. … My defensive coordinator Jarmaine McChriston and assistant coach Rob Robinson did a helluva job with the game plan for this.”
Part of that game plan involved bottling up Jaramillo, and it worked. He completed just one of his 12 pass attempts for 20 yards, and that came in the fourth quarter as Santa Fe High tried to comeback from a 14-6 deficit. The completion to Nico Martinez put the ball at the 50-yard line with less than 6 minutes left, but all momentum was wiped away two plays later.
Jaramillo tried to hit receiver Joel Rodriguez on a second-and-7 play at the Bernalillo 47, but Spartans linebacker Ayden Madrid dropped back in coverage and picked off the pass. Madrid returned it 64 yards for the clinching touchdown and underscored what had been a horrendous day for the Demons.
Coach Martinez said it was one of the first times he could say his team came in overconfident for a game.
“We’re a team that is still young,” he said. “They are still learning that, if you get a big win, you got to come out the next week and play
football and refocus. I saw it, [the coaching staff ] saw some of it this week, and we’re going to learn from this. It brings us down to Earth, but we’re going to start from square one and just regroup.”
If there was a warning sign the Demons were still living off of last week’s 30-15 win over the Tigers, it came on the first play, when Bernalillo quarterback Adam Salazar just missed an open Isaiah DeHerrera downfield for a long gain.
It set the tone that the Spartans were going to be the aggressors, and they capitalized on that during their second drive, when Salazar did connect on a deep pass — this one to Tristen LudiHerrera for a 43-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead with 3:55 left in the opening quarter.
“It was really big,” Salazar said. “It set the tone right away.”
That it did. Bernalillo had 143 yards of offense in the first half, while Santa Fe High had just 21. The Demons also had no first downs and had the ball for just 7 minutes, 6 seconds as they struggled to keep the Spartans’ defense on the field. If anything, it seemed like the visitors were going through the motions.
“I don’t think we were that mentally ready to play at all,” Santa Fe High junior linebacker Matthew Maestas said. “There was no hype or energy at all before the game, and that was a big problem.”
To change that, the Demons came out to start the second half and ran the ball seven straight times. They went 37 yards to the Bernalillo 26 when momentum changed in a series of plays.
First, Bernalillo was called for roughing the passer when Jaramillo tried to hit Maestas on a rollout. Jaramillo lost his helmet and went out for a play, leaving the play call to backup Zach Martinez. In his haste, he botched a handoff to Maestas, who fell on the ball for no gain. Jaramillo came back into the game, but the rhythm was off. The Demons gained one yard and turned the ball over on downs.
The next series, though, led to Santa Fe High’s lone score when Salazar bobbled a low snap in his own end zone, raced to his right and lost the ball against an oncoming rush. Demons lineman Jesus “Chewy” Guzman fell on top of the ball for a touchdown that trimmed the margin to 7-6 with 4:59 left in the third.
As quickly as Santa Fe High’s defense regained momentum, the “Goons” took it back. After stopping Bernalillo on its ensuing drive, Santa Fe High had a second-and-5 at its own 36 when Jaramillo lost the shotgun snap and Spartan linebacker Jamielee Long scooped it up and returned it to the Demons 23.
Three plays later, Salazar floated a pass that Madrid leaped and caught for a 7-yard touchdown and a 14-6 margin with 11:55 left.
“It was a little too far,” Salazar said. “But he’s an athlete.”
And athletes make plays on “Game Day.”
It’s a lesson the Demons would be wise to follow.