Oct. 8—Yards are nice.
Points are so much better.
Santa Fe High's problem wasn't moving the ball Friday night. A leaky defense and turnovers were the Demons' problems. Clovis rumbled for
243 yards on the ground and had three interception returns for touchdowns that highlighted the Wildcats' 53-0 win in a District 5-6A game at Leon Williams Stadium.
The game ended late in the fourth quarter when Clovis cornerback JD Burton secured his second pick-six of the night, a 24-yard return of an Andrew Allen pass that ended homecoming night for the Wildcats.
The Demons (1-6 overall, 0-1 in 6-5A) were the main course, and the Wildcats (2-6, 2-0) gorged themselves almost from the start.
They scored on all four first-half drives and turned a pair of Demons drives into scores, to boot.
The back-breaker was Kash Roberts' 87-yard interception return with Santa Fe High deep in Clovis territory to produce a 21-0 lead with 1:22 left in the opening quarter. The turnover thwarted a 70-yard drive that highlighted the running of junior Alex Mora, who had 33 of his 81 rushing yards on the drive.
Demons head coach Andrew Martinez said the play was emblematic of the team's biggest problem all year — poor execution at the worst possible time.
"We moved the ball all game, but we shoot ourselves in the foot," Martinez said. "It's been the story of our season."
The Demons had 163 yards of offense, but only 31 came after the half. A running clock after Clovis took a 41-0 halftime lead was a big reason for that, but Santa Fe High also had turnovers on two of its three possessions after the break.
The Wildcats also used a second pick six in the waning minutes of the first half to invoke the 35-point mercy rule — running game clock — as Roberts' 41-yard TD interception return gave Clovis a 41-point margin with 2:37 left in the first half.
That capped a 10-second spurt in which the Wildcats scored two touchdowns, as Brian Weiss scored from 12 yards out to make it 34-0. The drive was buoyed by a roughing-the-passer penalty on Wildcats quarterback Jett Stone on a fourth-down incompletion at the Santa Fe High 27-yard line.
"It's like Murphy's Law: What can go wrong will go wrong," Martinez said. "That's where we're at. But the kids are sticking together, they're staying positive. They're not giving up."
If there was a silver lining, it was Santa Fe High's defense making a goal-line stop on Clovis' final drive.
The Wildcats got to the Demons 2-yard line before getting pushed back and Roberts missed a 27-yard field goal that would have ended the game.
The downside was Allen's third interception return for a touchdown two plays later.
The Demons defense offered little in the way of resistance for the Clovis triple-option offense, which rolled up
307 yards. A trio of Wildcats led the ground attack, as Brian Weiss had 72 yards on just nine carries with a pair of touchdowns.
Clovis quarterback Jett Stone had a 62-yard touchdown pass on the game's second drive and was 2-for-6 for 66 yards on the night. He added 65 yards on the ground with the game's opening touchdown — a 1-yard run just 1:27 into the opening quarter.
Meanwhile, Santa Fe High moved the ball, but could not sustain any of its six first-half drives. The Demons moved the ball into Clovis territory on three of their first four drives, but had nothing to show for it — other than regret.
"No one wants to lose like this, and the kids don't obviously," Martinez said. "Like I told them [after the game], 'Go back to the lab and figure it out.' "
Santa Fe High gets no rest, as district co-leader Los Lunas comes to town Oct. 14. Meanwhile, the Wildcats get a two-week break to prepare for Capital in a game that could have playoff implications for both teams.
That game will be played Oct. 20 in Clovis.
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October 08, 2022 at 10:05PM
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Santa Fe High clobbered 53-0 by Clovis' defense, running game - Yahoo News
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