‘Big snowball of errors’ for Demons
Five turnovers sink Santa Fe High in shutout loss at Silver
Coach Andrew Martinez said the analysis of the last nine games in Santa Fe High football lore sounds like a broken record.
Poor execution and a lack of discipline equaled another loss.
Santa Fe High is nearing a calendar year since winning a game, and the trend continued Friday night on the road against the Silver Colts. Five turnovers proved to be too much for the Demons to overcome as Silver scored 21 points over the last 16 minutes for a 35-0 win.
With the loss, the Demons fall to 0-4 and suffered their ninth consecutive loss. Martinez said the frustrating part is the mistakes occurring against the Colts are much like the ones Santa Fe High made in the season opener against Albuquerque West Mesa.
“We don’t help ourselves and we try to justify it,” Martinez said. “That is just unacceptable for this program to justify those mistakes in Week 4 when they were the same ones we make in Week 1.”
Demons quarterback Michael Abeyta threw interceptions on the team’s first three drives. Colts defensive back Luke Sandoval returned the second pick for a 16-yard touchdown for a 14-0 Colts lead in the first quarter. Silver first scored on offense as quarterback Adan Jacquez made a touchdown on a run from 3 yards out to make it 7-0 with 8:13 left in the opening quarter.
Abeyta was the most consistent option Santa Fe High had for much of the night, as the running game continued to struggle.Yet he also short-circuited a potential scoring drive when he ran out of bounds after gaining five yards on a fourth-and-6 play.
The Demons moved the ball inside the Colts’ 30 in their last two drives, but failed to come up with points.
“I think it’s just a big snowball of errors,” Martinez said. “We just can’t overcome them, and we’re not that team that can do that. I don’t know many teams that can make those mistakes over and over
and over and be successful.”
The Demons also fumbled the ball in the fourth quarter on a drive deep in Silver territory.
It was a sloppy game, as Silver also turned the ball over three times and failed to score four times while on Santa Fe High’s side of the field.
As bad as it was, the Demons still had a chance to make a game of it.
With Santa Fe High trailing 14-0, Hank Clement picked off a Jacquez pass at the Silver 15-yard line early in the third and the Demons reached the Silver 7 before turning the ball over on downs.
The Colts finally wore down Santa Fe High by going 86 yards in 12 plays.
Jacquez scored his second touchdown on a 9-yard run to make it 21-0 with 4:17 to go. Diego Lucero added an insurance score when he scampered into the end zone from 5 yards out to make it 28-0 on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Jacquez added a 32-yard touchdown pass to Lucero to cap the scoring.
Santa Fe High has a chance to end its losing skid at home Sept. 15 against Albuquerque Manzano. The Demons beat the Monarchs, 38-6, on Sept. 17, 2022, for their last win.