Taos Tigers dominate state quarterfinal against Lovington 55-7
Follow live tweets during events twitter.com/TaosAreaSports
The Taos Tigers showed up and played controlled, commanding football Saturday (Nov. 17), and there was nothing anyone else could do about it.
From the Wildcats’ opening drive, the Tigers defense gave Lovington no room to maneuver. Constantly under pressure, Wildcat quarterback Casey Perez spent the game dropping back into the pocket and dodging tackle.
He was unable to connect with his receivers who themselves were dogged by black Tiger jerseys. Though Perez largely kept his composure, and in spite of great efforts by Lovington’s receivers, the Wildcats couldn’t make the necessary connections.
The Tiger offense, however, ran like a machine. Every man doing his part, Taos made big plays, one after the other. Many of the 55 points Taos scored were from long runs to the end zone. The ball carriers were patient, watching for holes, and—thanks to the line—they got them.
Lovington stayed in the fight until the clock ran out. The loss marks the end of the Wildcats’
2018 season.
The Tigers, now 10-1, moves on to the semifinals where they will play the Portales Rams, who beat the Grants Pirates Saturday (Nov. 17) 64-32. The Taos versus Portales game is at
1 p.m., Saturday (Nov. 24) in southeastern New Mexico’s peanut capital.
Quarterfinal Game Details
The Wildcats received the kickoff, and the Tigers didn’t wait for an invitation to pounce. It was three up, three down for the first Lovington possession in a loud Anaya Stadium in Taos.
Justin Good brought the resulting punt to the Wildcats’ 48-yard line. The energy on the Tiger sideline was strong and focused, and it was expressed in their play throughout the game. The Tigers’ first drive set a tone they maintained: a 35-yard carry from Jonathan Garcia, a pass to Anthony Maestas for a gain of 11 yards, a 33-yard rush by Garcia to the 1-yard line, finished off with a 1-yard touchdown by quarterback Justin Good, to make the score 7-0 Tigers.
The Wildcats tried to rally. From their own 30 they converted one third down. Amid the homefield noise, they attempted to go long—and if they’d been successful, it might have been a Lovington TD, but Justin Good got in front of two Wildcats and knocked the ball away, and Lovington punted on fourth and long.
Taos was in the end zone again with a four-play drive that included a beautiful touchdown catch by Andre Limas.
Three pass attempts saw the Wildcats up and out again on downs. The Lovington fans noticed a lull in the hometown noise and roused themselves and their defense, forcing the Tigers to return the ball without converting on third and 11.
The first quarter closed with a long carry by Wildcat Brian Tapia. From there, the Wildcat drive ended with three incomplete passes.
Good’s kick return gave Taos nice field position. After a short gain by Garcia on the first play, Brian Moraga patiently waited for a path to reveal itself, found it and escorted the ball 57-yards down the field to the end zone,
21-0 Tigers. Lovington opened the next drive with a quick shuttle pass to Tapia, who was taken down by Taos’ Simon Torrez. A long carry, a completion to the
13-yard line, and a 5-yard penalty on Taos put Lovington at first and goal on the 8-yard line. From there, Lovington’s Perez ran it in for 6, and the extra point was good: Lovington 7, Taos 21.
Unfazed, the Tigers marched on. Garcia was involved in three of four plays in the subsequent drive, the last of which was a
58-yard Garcia touchdown carry, leaving the score 28-7 Taos.
And so it went. Consistent kicking by the Tigers meant that the Wildcats rarely started any drive much beyond their own
20. Wildcat quarterback Perez was cool under pressure, but there was simply too much of it. Lovington is primarily a passing team, and the Wildcats had no Plan B.
The big Wildcat defense wasn’t able to contain Taos. A
28-point Tiger second quarter contained a touchdown from Garcia, a long pass caught by Isaiah Martinez on the 8-yard line and carried in soon after by Moraga, and a sack by Tiger Aidan Leblanc for a 12-yard loss to the Wildcats.
Going into the second half with a 42-7 lead didn’t cause Taos any mental slippage. They received the ball at their own
19 and controlled almost half of the third quarter marching it down the field.
An interception by Wildcat J. J. Gutierrez on the 8-yard line gave Lovington the ball, but they could not get past their own 47. On fourth and 20, they went for it, and the Tigers nudged Perez farther and farther back. He threw the ball away to avoid the sack, and it only took Taos four plays to move it from the Wildcat 37 to the end zone, where Justin Good high-stepped through Lovington hands.
The Tigers went for the conversion but didn’t get it, making the score 48-7 at the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Brian Moraga blazed from the 33 for 6 more points, making it 55-7 Taos with the extra point.
With under seven minutes to go, Lovington poured their hearts into the next drive. When faced with third and 19, Perez scurried for 13 of the needed yards. Lovington then turned the ball over on downs when Perez couldn’t find anywhere to put the ball except the snowbank on the sideline.
A Garcia first down got Taos to the two-minute warning. From there, they took a knee a few times, allowing time to expire. The slot in the semifinals was theirs.
Triumph
The tenth Tiger win of the season felt good indeed. It must have been an especially sweet victory for head coach Art Abreu Jr. and his father, assistant coach Art Abreu Sr. It was Lovington that beat the Robertson Cardinals in the AAA state title game in 2001, the same Cardinals team for which Abreu Sr. was head coach and Abreu Jr. was an All-State tight end and defensive lineman.
The lasting bond of love, loyalty, and friendship that can be formed by teammates Nov. 21 - 28, 2018
was evidenced with Abreu Jr.’s urge to share the joy of Saturday’s win.
After the game, Abreu Jr. dedicated the win first and foremost to the program—his 2018 Tigers, and also to the Robertson seniors of 2001 and to the town of Taos.
Addressing his team, Abreu gave them 24 hours to enjoy their victory before getting back to work preparing to “go 1-0 again next week.”
What’s Next
At the oxygen-rich Portales elevation of 4,000 feet, the Tigers are likely to find temperatures near 60 degrees and an offense better balanced between the ground and the air than Lovington. Luckily, the season thus far indicates that the Tigers’ defense has the agility to divide its attention between the Rams’ running and passing games.
While the Taos offense conducts business as usual, the solid Taos offensive line will have to protect Good from Ram Romeo Gbassagee, who has 14 sacks this season, four of them in a single game against Albuquerque’s Pius X High School.
None of this will surprise Taos, who already knows this enemy.
The semifinal at Eastern New Mexico University will be a rematch of last year’s quarterfinal game against Portales that ended the 2017 Tiger season with a 41-11 loss. Coach Abreu was unfazed by the location announcement. “We’re ready to go wherever we need to go,” he said.
The winner of the semifinal will advance to the state championship the following weekend.