Demons win delayed game
SFHS tops Moriarty 27-13 as lightning delays game; Demons host nemesis Horsemen this week
Santa Fe High coach Andrew Martinez knows Horsemen-Demons week begins Monday, and he already has his talking point.
St. Michael’s visits Ivan Head Stadium on Friday having won the last 11 football games against Santa Fe High, and the Horsemen have a 22-game win streak against the Demons and fellow city rival Capital. The Horsemen rolled past the Jaguars 60-8 on Saturday.
“They own us, man,” Martinez said. “I don’t care. They own us. Until we prove otherwise, we have the most to prove.”
For Santa Fe High, after Friday night’s underwhelming, storm-shortened 27-13 win over Moriarty, Martinez also has a few more talking points — especially for his defense. He called it one of the less noteworthy performances he has seen during his five-year career at Santa Fe High.
Martinez credited the Pintos’ offensive line for out-executing the Demons’ defensive front and finding creases to extend drives. Even though Moriarty only scored one touchdown, the Pintos kept Santa Fe High’s offense on the sidelines for significant periods.
“I feel that was one of our worst defensive performances,” Martinez said. “I was really disappointed in how the defense played.”
Meanwhile, he heaped praise on the Demons’ offense, which was hitand-miss in a 34-6 win over Las Vegas Robertson on Aug. 20, but much more efficient against Moriarty.
That much was clear when senior running back Martell Mora scored on a 52-yard touchdown run on the second play of the game to take a 7-0 lead. Mora ran for another 180 yards, scored all four touchdowns and had more than 200 yards of total offense.
Santa Fe High showed an explosiveness that has been lacking, and Martinez said it bodes well for the future. He said senior quarterback Luc Jaramillo was very accurate throwing the ball. He and Mora connected on the Demons’ final score — a 65-yard touchdown pass in which Jaramillo got the ball to Mora in the flat, and the 5-foot-10, 180-pounder did the rest.
“I was really happy with the way Luc threw the ball last night,” Martinez said. “He took a big step forward last night, and our receivers caught the ball.”
Martinez said the thunderstorms that led to two delays and eventually the premature end of the game also could have played a role in his team’s reversal of fortune. However, he added, a senior-dominant team should be able to adapt to a change in its routine, like a 70-minute delay to start the game.
A second delay occurred around 9:45 p.m. for an hour. When the teams were ready to take the field, another lightning strike within a 10-mile
perimeter set by the New Mexico Activities Association led to another 30-minute delay. Martinez said both teams elected to stop the game after that.
If anything, Martinez said the Demons were almost too excited for the start of the game after the initial delay.
“They were like kids out during recess,” Martinez said. “I feel we were like that. I felt like we were sloppy because they were cooped up and didn’t deal with it well.”
Martinez cautioned that it could be a similar situation for the Friday game against St. Michael’s. The National Weather Service forecasts a 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms.
“If we have to start at 9 p.m., then so be it,” Martinez said. “We just have to be ready to go.”