The Four Corners is where the Grants High School Pirates traveled to last Friday as they took on the 1-4, 0-2 Kirtland Central Broncos and defeated them 28-19.
“This win was huge for us,” said GHS Head Football Coach Steve Brown. “After a threegame losing streak we really needed this to carry us forward—-we know we are a better team than we have shown to this point.”
What did the Pirates focus on for this win?
“We tried to utilize our run game as much as we could to get Andres Lazos going in a positive direction,” said Brown “We had yet to be able to do that so that was our focus”.
That focus hit pay dirt as senior running back Lazos was able to break out and make two of his three touchdowns rushing through the lanes created by the line in the crucial third quarter.
Prior to Lazos and his back-to-back touchdowns, in the first quarter, Quarterback Tristin Fernandez was able to find Cadenio Chavez for a touchdown. The Broncos matched Pirates and both teams were tied at a touchdown and extra point a piece to make the score 14 all at the end of one.
KC managed a touchdown but no extra point before halftime to give them a 13-7 lead going into the locker room.
“Our O-line coach, Ben Willcox, made some minor adjustments to our run blocking to give our running backs a better opportunity to succeed,” said Brown of adjustments made at the half.
The Pirates' adjustments opened up enough lanes for Lazos to score his two rushing touchdowns to make the score 21-13 at the end of the third quarter.
Opening up those rushing lanes also created new opportunities passing where Pirate Quarterback Tristin Frenandez found Lazos with a pass in the fourth quarter for his third touchdown of the night. KC was able to make a touchdown also in the fourth, however the extra point attempt was no good–giving the Pirates a much needed 28-19 win.
Notable for the Pirates were junior quarterback Tristin Fernandez who had 20 attempts for 202yards.
Lazos had 27 carries for 139 rushing yards and three touchdowns. Chavez had three receptions for 56-yards and one touchdown.
Coach Brown had praise for Isaiah Aldaz and Shad Merayo,” ...who played pivotal roles on offense— they move the sticks—making it possible for others to score.”
The Pirates advance to 2-3, 1-1 and are sixth in the new eight team district 1 4A.
Leading that district are a trio of undefeated teams including Bloomfield at 4-0, 2-0, the Espanola Sundevils at 5-0, 2-0 and Bernalillo Spartans at 4-0, 1-0. Taos comes in 4th in the district with 3-1, 1-0 followed by Grants then Moriarity at 2-3,0-2, Kirtland Central 1-4, 0-2 and Aztec at 0-4, 0-2.
The Pirates will host Aztec this upcoming Friday at 6:00pm at the Port of the Pirates.
“Aztec will come to Friday night very hungry,” said Brown. “They will see our win and loss record and be very prepared for a dogfight.”
Brown foresees some challenges this week, “Their ability to throw the ball down field will be our biggest challenge—they have played some very good opponents–we will have to be ready for a battle.”