The Raton Tigers football team went undefeated in the regular season and was seeded #1 in the AAA playoffs. But, the Tigers had not played for two weeks, and the concern of a break in momentum and an over-confident attitude were both dashed early in the Tigers 49 – 12 victory over Hope Christian in the AAA quarterfinals on Saturday.
Played in 70 degree weather on a beautiful fall afternoon, the Jungle was full and witnessed the home team firing on both offense and defense, scoring on all five first half possessions and a defensive pick six to lead 42 – 0 at halftime.
The Tigers got their running game going early and took off on a nine play 75 yd drive capped off by a Cayden Walton 28 yard run and a Cole Hopper PAT to lead 7 – 0 with 8:17 left in the first.
Walton would be the beneficiary of big holes opened up by his O line and his own talent and determination to score three more times on runs of 1, 19, and 53 yards.
Quarterback Dylan Quartieri, found Matt Quartieri on a pinpoint 24 yard TD pass for the Tigers second score and then Dylan tucked it in and scrambled for a 10 yard TD late in the first half.
Raton’s screen game had Chance Middlebrook taking the bubble screen to the outside and being caught at the 2 yard line by the Huskies’ James Jenkins. Middlebrook would be flagged for a personal foul on the play, but Walton would take the handoff on the next play and get his third TD on a darting, elusive and almost ballet-like 19 yard score, eluding several would-be tacklers.
Middlebrook would redeem himself for the 15-yard penalty on the next defensive series, stepping in front of a Jenkins pass and outracing Huskies to the end zone for a 45 yard pick six.
The second half saw Jenkins for Hope flash his speed and take the kickoff and cut back up the middle for a 90 yard kickoff return. A missed 2 point extra point attempt to make it 42-6 with the second half less than 15 seconds old. The lightning bolt score, ignited the Husky defense who then pitched a three and out and forced Raton to kick its first punt.
In that series, the home crowd was silenced when QB Dylan Quartieri scrambled on third and long and was sandwiched between two defender, staying down on the turf with an injury. After a few tense moments, Quartieri got up and hobbled to the sideline under his own power after getting his left ankle rolled on.
Quartieri wanted to return to the action, but the coaching staff decided to not risk any further injury and the Senior signal caller was an observer for the rest of the game.
The Tigers second half malaise continued when the ball almost sailed over Hopper for the punt. Hopper was able to bat it down and got away a short kick, but a good roll took it to the 50 yard line.
The Huskies couldn’t take advantage of the good field position as the Raton defense woke up and stopped Hope on a fourth down conversion attempt at the 47.
With Quartieri on the sidelines, Cayden Walton took over as Wild Cat QB and the Raton O-line opened a huge hole for Walton and his 53 yard TD and the PAT made it 49 -6.
With time ticking down quickly in the 3rd quarter under a continuous clock, Hope started a long drive at their own 20, but after 13 plays Raton’s Anderson Weese, intercepted on the Raton three yard line.
Freshman Cannon Walton took over at QB for Raton and on second and long, he handed it off to Dre Nash, who broke tackles at the line of scrimmage and then was finally corralled 66 yards later. Raton’s drive would turn it over on downs at the Husky 25.
James Jenkins has had a great year for the Huskies and the Southpaw had thrown several deep balls that were close to connecting. With 2:08 left in the game Jenkins lofted a rainbow to Brent Miller for a 45 yard TD. The score was 49 – 12 after an unsuccessful 2 PAT attempt and after Raton got a first down, the Tigers ran out the clock and will continue to the semi-finals next weekend against Santa Fe St. Mikes.
The Hosemen won 34 -14 win over NMMI and even though Raton is the #1 seed, the NMAA rules make Raton travel to Santa Fe, as the Horsemen came to Raton two years ago in the playoffs.
