GRANTS, N.M. - Julian Fernandez rushed 155 yards and scored 4 touchdowns in a crucial district game leading the Pirates offensive charge last week in a crucial district game last Friday at home on Senior Night.
“The Bernalillo win was a big one for us!,” said GHS head football coach Steve Brown. “We needed to get back into the win column and not just for the playoff seedings but also to rebuild our confidence.”
Did they ever rebuilt their confidence? After losing senior quarterback Tristin Fernandez a couple of weeks ago and losing two tough district games to Taos and Moriarty the Pirates have regained their footing with this win over Bernalillo.
“In the Bernalillo game our defense really showed up and came to play Senior Night,” said Brown. They led the charge by simply shutting them down and holding them to only 1 touchdown” Brown later added,”They did get a kick return for a TD but it was not the fault of the defense.”
Brown was very generous in his praise of his defensive staff, Josh Baca, Rosendo Jaramillo, Ben Willcox and Gene Reidinger for preparing the defense. Brown added,”We were physical and fast–which made it very difficult for them to have any success.”
Brown also praised his offense, “We were able to run the ball better than we have all season— led by Julian Fernandez on the ground.” Brown was quick to note that his offensive line did a great job creating the openings for Fernandez and others.
“Our offensive game was sound and had to be tweaked a little at halftime to allow our QB, DJ Chavez the ability to execute his passing game.” Brown was also praising Chavez for taking hits and kept coming back and played “like a warrior.”
Bernalillo is fifth in District 1 and scored 14 points in the first quarter. They held Grants to seven points. However, in the second quarter the Pirates scored 12 points and then in the second half scored seven points in the third and six points in the fourth for the win.
DJ Chavez at the helm completed eight of 17 for 104-yards and threw two interceptions. Chris Archuleta scored the fifth TD for the Pirates.
Next up for the Pirates is the number one ranked team in 4A, the Bloomfield Bobcats.
“This is another big game for us,” said Brown. “We will continue to work this week in preparation for Bloomfield and keeping him (DJ) out of harms way—we are definitely facing the toughest squad we will see all year in Bloomfield,” said Brown.
“We are excited for the opportunity and anxious to see where the cards fall for the tournament.”
Brown added, “This will be three years the in a row the Pirates are in the playoffs—the best since 2004 when Maxpreps tracked seasons,” said Brown.
The Pirate at 6-3,4-2 are currently third in the district and third in the state rankings. First in the rankings in 4A are Bloomfield at 8-1, 6-0 and St. Pius ad 7-1, 4-1.
The Pirates play Bloomfield at 7 pm at the Port of the Pirates this Friday on Halloween night.