The Raton Tiger and Taos Tiger football teams played a hard-fought game for four quarters, and the game appeared headed for over time until Taos found some magic in the last eight seconds of the game, connecting on a 45 yard TD into double coverage to steal a 21-14 win in Taos.
Played in a relentless wind, the first half belonged to Taos and the second half, except for the last seconds, to Raton who battled back from a 14 point halftime deficit.
The first period was a draw until Taos put together an 11 play drive, with the help of a roughing the passer penalty, and scored on a 10 yard run just as the second quarter began to lead 7 – 0.
Raton had scoring opportunities in the first half as after the Taos kick-off, Raton’s Dylan Quartieri rumbled for 17 yards and then when the drive stalled, Raton’s Cole Hopper was brought in for a long field goal attempt. The try was blocked and then after taking over, Taos got a big run from #12 before Raton’s Cayden Walton would save the TD at least momentarily with a tackle inside the five. The Raton defense played well all afternoon, and turned away the Taos ground game until a third and goal QB sneak from #10. With 5:55 left in the first half Taos lead 14-0 and Raton would start a long drive with a pitch to Cayden Walton gaining 31 yards and then another 15 tacked on for a personal foul horse-collar tackle. Ashan Masso took a screen pass for 21 more and then a pass interference call against Taos gave Raton a first and goal from the 8. Another personal foul flag charged to Taos gave Raton a 2nd and goal from the 4 and then a Walton run to inside the 2 was followed by a fumble on the snap that was recovered by Taos on their own 2 yard line and they ran the clock out to preserve their advantage into the break.
The fumble was one of three suffered by Raton during the game. The second came one play after the receiving the second half kick-off, but the Raton defense stiffened. Backed up with a first and goal from the five, Taos came away empty after a sack by Walton and a stop by linebacker Matt Quartieri and a missed short field goal attempt.
Raton taking over on their own 20, then kept the ball for over 8 minutes on the legs of Walton and completions to Isaiah Samora and two to Matt Quartieri, one of 25 yards and another of 20 yards on a third down. Dylan Quartieri also had a key 10 yard run on a third and eight and after a penalty on Taos, Raton’s Cayden Walton scored with :28 left in the third quarter and brought Raton to within a 14 – 7 score.
Starting the fourth quarter, Taos was flagged with another personal foul and couldn’t convert on 3rd and long, so after receiving the punt, Raton went on an 8 play 59 yard drive with Cayden Walton getting 35 yards of that on a screen pass and then capping it off on a second down and goal from the six, going in untouched and after the Hopper PAT it was tied at 14-all.
Raton’s defense hardened again with hard tackles by Walton, Michael Chavez and on a fourth and 2, Matt Quartieri stopped the ball-carrier and Raton took over at the 45 with just under three minutes left. Raton’s third fumble would come on the next play and Taos took over with 2:29 to go and then on a third and 10 with eight seconds remaining, the Taos QB launched a perfect ball for a 45 yard TD with :01 left. The PAT made it 21-14 as the Raton team swallowed a loss in a game that could’ve gone either way.
Hats off to the Raton Tigers, with all the adversity this year, they proved they belong on the field with anybody.
Cayden Walton finished the game with 113 yards on 22 carries, good for a 5.1 average yards per carry and 2 TDs. Dylan Quartieri completed 50% of his passes for 94 yards and Matt Quartieri grabbed 3 receptions for 39 yards, good for a 13.0 average per catch.
Next up for Raton is a trip to Estancia on March 20. The game was originally scheduled for a neutral site in Santa Fe, but the latest word was that Raton would make the trip for a 1:00 pm kickoff.
