The Grants High School football team is steaming through its opposition as another team falls to the powerful Pirate juggernaut.
The Pirates traveled to Aztec on September 27 and easily handed the Tigers their fifth loss of the season.
The Pirates jumped on the ball early and scored 28 points in the first quarter while the defense held its own and kept the Tigers scoreless. “We knew they were struggling so we went into that game with the mindset of working on some things we needed to fix and improve on,” said GHS head football coach Steve Brown.
“Things like a few new wrinkles in the offense as well as improving our coverages on the defense.”
Along those lines coach Brown also said he was able to get younger players involved and give them experience that may be “vital” in the coming games.
The Pirates added seven points in the second quarter to make the score 35-0. In the third quarter they put up 16 points to wrap up the game.
Senior quarterback Tristin Fernandez went seven of nine for 99 passing yards.
“I have not been overthinking anyone,” said Fernandez of the last two games. “We aren’t overlooking anyone until we have the blue trophy.”
Fernandez will be working on “improving” and “getting better” as the second half of the season approaches.
Scoring touchdowns for the Pirates were Julian Fernandez and Joe Clawson who scored two rushing touchdowns a piece. Fernandez rushed for 90 yards while Clawson had 24 yards in that game.
Senior Isaiah Ortega had 40 yards receiving and one touchdown while fellow senior Cardenio Chavez had 20 yards receiving and one touchdown.
With this win the Pirates are now 5-1 overall and 3-1 in district play.
The Pirates move up to second place in the NMPREPS 4A football state rankings and to third in NMOTSports.com coaches poll.
“We appreciate the respect and recognition for those who do the rankings—we want our kids to understand that the tough part of our schedule is now upon us,” said Brown.
The three district teams that the Pirates defeated, Espanola (54-0), Kirtland (66-14) and Aztec (54-0), are at the bottom of the district rankings. Currently the Pirates are second in their district behind Bloomfield (5-1,3-0).
“There is a lot of football left to play–we want our players to stay hungry and humble and not to settle or be satisfied.”
Brown likes for his team to think of themselves as “underdogs” and wants to keep that mentality.
Next up for the Pirates is another road trip to play a traditional tough team, the Taos
Tigers (1-4, 1-1).
“Taos will be our toughest game to date—Their record is deceiving as they play a very tough schedule,” said Brown.
As far as the rest of the schedule Brown said, “It will be the battle for us each week going forward,” said Brown. “Every team left on the schedule is beatable, but in return, they can also beat us if we fail to prepare.”
Game time is 7:00pm at Taos High School.
Cibola County Sports Wrap-Up
The GHS volleyball team is currently 6-8 after dropping their last two games. On September 25 they lost to Kirtland Central 3-0, (25-16, 25-11, 25-10). On September 27 they lost to Espanola Valley 3-0 (15-25,1625,16-25).
Next up for the Pirates are the 6-4 Aztec Tigers on September 30th on the road.
Both GHS soccer teams are in the midst of district play as September wraps up.
The GHS Lady Pirates soccer team is 1-12,0-2) after a 100 defeat by district rival St. Pius (8-4,2-0) on September 25th. Next up will be the Highland Hornets (8-4,1-0) on Tuesday, September 30th. The GHS boys soccer team is at 2-11, 0-2 after Franklin Romero - CC a 10-0 loss to St. Pius last week. (7-1-3, 2-0) on September 25th. Next up for the Pirates are the 49,1-0 Highland Hornets in a district matchup.
The Laguna-Acoma football team is currently 2-3, 0-1 after a 28-14 loss to Navajo Prep on September 26th. They will play the McCurdy Bobcats (3-2,1-0) on October 11th in a district match-up at McCurdy. The Hawks are 4th in their district just behind 3rd place McCurdy.
The L-A volleyball team is 6-6-1 and will host Legacy Academy (6-2) on Tuesday, September 30th, in a non-district match-up.