GRANTS, N.M. - The Pirates had a tough loss in a close district game to Moriarty last Friday in Moriarty.
“The loss really stings,” said Grants High School head coach Steve Brown as he summed up the one points loss.
The first quarter looked promising as senior Coudy Melonas had a pick six, however the extra point attempt came up short leaving the Pirates with a 6-0 lead. The defenses went to work in the second quarter and both teams remained scoreless at the half.
The Pintos regrouped and scored 13 points in the third quarter while holding the Pirates to 0 points for a 13-6 lead.
The Pirates had their shot in the fourth quarter with a quarterback sweep by Cardenio Chaverz, however the two-point conversion also scored by Chavez was called back on backfield hold. The Pirates were unable to “punch it in” after the penalty was enforced leaving them one point shy.
The Pirates went with senior Cardenio Chavez at the helm as QB, replacing injured starting QB Tristin Fernandez in this game. Fernandez suffered a severe knee injury last week.
Though his passing stats were not spectacular, Chavez was able to run a solid run game on offense to make the Pirates viable in a very crucial district game.
Chavez completed three of 11 for 26 yards passing. Chavez did have 66 yards rushing.
Julian “JuJu” Fernandez led the pack with 11 carries and 120 yards and 5 carries for 10 yards.
For Moriarty Mario Romero and Noah Wold scored TD’s for the Pintos. “We knew we had a solid game plan–we just came up a bit short,”said Brown as he summed up the game. “We are healthy and have to see them again in the playoffs–it will be a different game.”
The Pirates record drops to 53, 3-2 and also drop to 4th in the district behind Bloomfield, Taos and Moriarty. The Pirates are currently 7th in the 4A state rankings and in the most recent NMOvertime. com coaches poll the Pirates dropped to 10th place.
Next up for the Pirates will be Bernalillo (6-2, 3-2) on the road this Friday.
CIBOLA COUNTY SPORTS ROUND-UP
The Lady Pirates volleyball team split their district games last week. They defeated Highland 3-1 (0-17, 0-3) and then lost to Belen(25-14, 17-25, 17-25) by a score of 3-0.
Next up for the Lady Pirates are the Lady Jaguars of Valencia (13-5, 2-1) on October 23rd in an away match. On October 28th they will host St. Pius (13-3, 3-0). The Lady Pirates are ranked 4th of out 5 games in their district.
The GHS boys soccer team is 3-16, 1-6 and will have their final regular season match on October 21st at home. It will also be senior night. Three seniors are on the GHS boys soccer team, Carlos Fernandez, Xavier Pena and Damen Paiz. The Lady Pirates are 1-8, 0-7 and will also have their senior night on October 21st. The Lady Pirates also say good-bye to 3 seniors, Anyssia Perez, Allison Hobbs and Ameila Torres are those seniors.
The Laguna-Acoma football team is 3-4, 1-2 after a recent 16-7 district loss to Newcomb (2-6, 12). Laguna-Acoma is 4th in their district and will play Hozho Academy on October 24 in a district game. Hozho is will come into that game with a 6-2, 3-1 record.
Franklin Romero - CC Franklin Romero - CC