By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
The La Junta Tigers rumbled in the Jungle Friday night and simply had their way with Raton scoring 27 points with only two plays from scrimmage in the first quarter.
Out sized, out weighed a much smaller Raton team simply couldn’t handle the much bigger La Junta team. Raton went three and out on the first series and recovered a fumble on the punt return at the Raton 45 resulting in another punt that put the ball on the La Junta 22. La Junta quarterback Cole Bryant, a 6’2” 175 pound senior took the ball and broke a couple of tackles before scrambling 78 yards for six. Bryant kicked the extra point for a 7-0 ball game at 7:08 in the first quarter.
Raton netted six yards on their first series and posted a negative one gain after the fumble before punting the ball away. The next series Raton managed only three yards before quarterback Dustin Segura let one go that was intercepted by Dax Bender who took the ball to the Raton eight-yard line. From their Bryant simply plowed his way in for six more. He missed the PAT leaving it 13-0.
La Junta scored their next six when Jonathan Cabrieles, after a high snap from center, punted the ball off the side of his foot and Bender picked it up and ran it in for six. Carlos Triana took a pass for the 2-point conversion and a 0-21 ball game at 2:58 in the first.
Another three and out for Raton, Cabrieles put a foot into the punt but Apela Furtado-tom took the punt 48 yards for another six. Bryant missed the PAT again at 1:13 in the first.
Raton again punted the ball away to the Raton 45. Dyson Oquist took the helm for the La Junta Tigers and continued their solid running game as Joe Martinez scampered 19 and a play later Dax Bender takes it 22 to the Raton four yard line. Bender finally punches it through from the four and Bryant nails the PAT for a 34-0 score.
Another three and out for Raton, Cabrieles’ punt puts the ball at the La Junta 28. Again the solid running game of La Junta moves the ball down the field and ends with another six when Wyatt Buhr rumbles 37 yards to pay dirt. The PAT is good and leaves Raton down 41-0 at 4:31 left in the half.
A fumble ends the next Raton series on the second play from scrimmage and is recovered by Wyatt Buhr. The Raton defense holds the La Junta Tigers to end the half.
A running clock in the second half sped things along and the Raton defense came alive and prevented a score in the third when Jonathan Cabrieles picked off a Dyson Oquist pass. The Raton offense however still had problems moving the ball even with the help of a 20-yard pass play from Segura to Cabrieles.
Raton turned it over on downs at the Raton 43 where freshman Jon Nuschy took the helm and continued the running game for La Junta. On a 3rd and six Nuschy scampered 40 yards to the Raton one-yard line. On the next play Nuschy pounded it through for six. The 2-point try failed and left the score 47-0.
Raton managed to move and keep the ball for six plays before turning it over on downs with 1:25 left on the clock. La Junta took a knee and let the clock run out this dismal Raton game.
Raton’s Tristan Gallegos suffered a leg injury during the second half leaving Raton down three players. Blaze Garcia was stepped on last week and Dakota Martinez is still under going exams to determine the extent of his knee injury.
Head Coach Tory Giacomo knew this would be a tough game and was happy to see that his players didn’t give up in the second half. Keeping players healthy is a concern for coaches and he said they work on that each day with the boys.
Raton will take on Trinidad this week in the Jungle for the annual Coal Bucket game and try to return the bucket to Raton this year.
