Academy Charges Past Pirates 35-7
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Cibola Sports -
In this file photo the Pirates regroup on the field at a recent home game. The Pirates after receiving an eighth seed to the NMAA state 4A football tournament were defeated last Friday by the ninth seeded Academy Charges by a score of 35-7. 'I can truly say that the coaches and players believed we could make the playoffs---in the end it was awesome for the kids, the coaches and the community,' said coach Brown. Franklin Romero - CC
The Pirates’ state football run came to an end this past Friday at the Port of the Pirates as the 9th seeded Academy Charges defeated 8th seeded Pirates by a score of 35-7.
“We knew that Academy was going to be tough and that their record did not do justice to the kind of team we knew they were,” said GHS head coach Steve Brown. “They play in a very tough district—they out sized us in almost every position”.
The Pirates were able to score first with five minutes left in the first quarter as sophomore quarterback DJ Chavez completed a 35-yard pass to receiver Isaiah Ortega for a touchdown. The extra point attempt by Noah Lundstrom was good for a 7-0 lead for the Pirates.
The Academy Charges rallied back with seven minutes left in the second quarter with a three-yard pass from Charger quarterback Gage Conway to receiver for a touchdown and the extra point was good tying the game up 7-7.
The Chargers then scored a safety with 6 minutes to go to make the score 9-7. Conway then kicked a 17-yard field goal to make the score 127 Chargers on top with three minutes left. In the final moments of the second quarter Chavez connected a long pass to Ortega to put the Pirates on the Academy 46-yard line, however, they failed to capitalize and turned the ball over on downs.
With under minute left in the second quarter Conway kicks a 12-yard field goal to make the score 15-7 at the half.
In the third quarter, with three minutes to go, Dalton Davis, 5, kicked a 15-yard field goal to make the score 15-7 Chargers with the lead. The Chargers scored another safety with under three minutes left in the quarter to make the score 20-7. With under a minute Conway connected with the same receiver for a touchdown and extra point to take a 26-7 lead at the end of the 3rd quarter.
With seven minutes to go Conway had a oneyard rushing touchdown and the following extra point was good to make the final score 35-7.
“It’s hard to say that anything worked well for us when you look at the lopsided score but out defense was able to get some stops and hold them to field goals several times in the games,” said Brown “Our offensive plan was solid but their defense was a bit too much to overcome in the end” Brown concluded, “We told the team going into the week that the playoff atmosphere is different and the finality of it makes it so–we had some good practices during the week but in the end—it wasn’t enough—there were a lot of emotions at the end of the game.”
CIBOLA COUNTY SPORTS ROUND UP
Two Grants Pirate cross country runners placed at the district 5/4A cross country meet held at Belen High School over the weekend. Laila Martinez, a sophomore, placed first in the girls 5000-meters with a time of 20:15.49 and is the district champ, she bested the second-place runner, Brooke Kelly of St. Pius High school, by five seconds (20:21.73). John Paul Miller, a junior, placed sixth in the boys 5000-meter run with a time of 18:06.37.
The Lady Pirates volleyball team are currently 9-12, 2-5 after a recent 30 win over Highland High School (1-7,0-6) in a district home game. They will play their final district game on Tuesday, November 7 at Belen High School (9-11, 3-3). The lady Pirates are 4th out of 5 teams in district 5/4A. St. Pius, Valencia and Belen high schools are the top 3 teams in the district with Highland High School in 5th.
The Laguna-Acoma boys cross country team had four runners place in the top 10 in district 1A/2A 5000 meters district race. Lucas Williams placed first with a time of 20:16.27 and fellow teammate Topoya Pedro placed 2nd with a time of 20:18.31.
Xavier Lorenzo placed 5th with a time of 21:53.09, Sheldon Cheromiah placed ninth with a time of 22:36.01. Jordan Victorino placed 11th with time of 22:49.66.
The Lady Hawks cross country team had four runners place in the top ten. In first place was Mia Smith with a time of 24:14.68 followed by Tayla Vicente who placed fourth with a time of 27:08.00. Alessia Cheromiah placed 6th with a time of 27:48.25 followed closely by Justina Brown who placed seventh with a time of 27:49.02.
The Lady Hawk volleyball team is 16-5, 4-0 after defeating Dulce High School by a score of 3-0 on November 4. The Lady Hawks are on top of district 1/2A followed by Rehoboth Christian (119,3-1), Dulce High School (8-1,2-3) and rounding out the district Navajo Pine at 3-9,0-5). They will play Rehoboth Christian on the road on Tuesday, November 7.