By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
The 4-4 Raton Tigers travelled down the highway Friday night to take on the 5-3 Santa Rosa Lions who currently lead District 2 with a 3-0 record in district play followed by Legacy Academy who is also sporting a 3-0 district record. Raton follows in third with a 2-1 record losing to Legacy Academy.
Raton comes into the game after a weather shortened game against Capitan that ended with 9:27 on the second quarter clock and a score of 27-0. Raton lost to Legacy Academy by a 34-0 score for their only district loss. Santa Rosa will end their regular season against Legacy Academy on November 1st in Santa Rosa.
Raton’s Cael Walton takes the opening kickoff to the 50 to begin the game where they start with the running game. Raton then adds the passing game and moves into the red zone at the seven-yard line. Raton then moves backwards and it’s a third and 15. Raton turned the ball over on downs at the Santa Rosa 15.
Santa Rosa starts the series on the ground and with the help of a holding penalty, must turn the ball over. The Raton defense forces the Lions to punt the ball away to the Santa Rosa 40. Again, Raton goes to the ground game with Joseph Saenz taking the ball and makes the yards go by. Raton once again goes inside the red zone to the five. A pass from Azden Romero to Wyatt Berry from the 12-yard line puts Raton on the board first with only 37 seconds left on the first period clock. Logan Elliot adds the PAT for a7-0 ball game.
Santa Rosa brings the ball out to their 29 to begin the series on the ground. The Raton defense once again stands tough and forces the Lions to punt the ball away to the Raton 24. Lion Preston Muniz intercepts the Romero pass and brings the ball back to the Raton 15-yard line. Lion Josh Cordova takes the ball inside the five to the one. Josh Cordova tries to plow through the line but gets stopped by the Raton defense for a third and short. Josh Cordova from the one gets the TD for Santa Rosa. Jarod Chico gets his PAT blocked to leave the score 7-6.
Shane Ashley takes the kickoff to the Raton 35. Joseph Saenz takes the handoff over the 50 but a holding call brings it back to give Raton a 1st and 20 from the 25. Two pass plays from Romero to Berry takes the ball to the Lion 38 only to lose yardage on a bad toss. The Lion defense stands tough and forces Raton to punt. Camron Edmondson punts it away and the ball takes a Raton bounce and ends up on the Lion seven-yard line. Two plays later Josh Cordova takes off and manages to break away and take the ball 95 yards for six with 2:47 left on the second quarter clock. Jared Chico adds the PAT for a 13-7 Lion lead.
Cael Walton takes the KO to the Raton 45 to begin the next Raton drive. Romero’s pass is picked off by Preston Muniz who takes the ball in for another Lion six. An offside penalty moves Santa Rose closer to the end zone where they choose to go for the 2-point try successfully making it 21-7.
Raton begins the series from the Raton 29 putting the ball on the ground. Walton and Saenz move the ball down the field for Raton but run out of time and end the half.
Logan Elliot’s KO begins the third quarter to the Santa Rosa 38. The Lions keep the ball on the ground. Daniel Zamora does the spinner keeper and goes the distance for six. Jared Chico adds the PAT for a 28-7 score.
A penalty pushes the kickoff back and Cael Walton takes the kickoff over the 50. On the ground and in the air, Raton tops off the drive with a screen pass from Romero to Wyatt Berry for a 40-yard pass play for six. The Elliot PAT is blocked leaving the score 28-13.
Santa Rosa takes the Elliot KO to the Lion 35-yard line. The Lions keep it on the ground and change things up with different ball carriers other than Josh Cordova who is their main go to guy. The Lions move inside the red zone to the Raton nine. First and goal from the five, it takes the Lions two plays to get in from the one. Cordova makes it 34 and Chico adds the PAT for a 35-13 game.
Cael Walton fields the KO and makes the 26-yard line to begin the drive with 43 seconds left in the third quarter. The sprinklers kicked on with 37 seconds left in the third causing a short delay. Raton carries the ball into the fourth with a fourth and 11. The snap is way too high for Camron Edmondson to get to, and Edmondson falls on the ball at the Raton 2-yard line setting up an easy Lion score by Cordova. Chico misses the PAT for a 41-13 score with only seconds gone in the fourth quarter.
Raton begins the series in the air. The Lion defense stands tough but a roughing the passer penalty moves Raton 15 and an automatic first down taking it down to the 35. A sack and missed passes however forces a punt and give Santa Rosa the ball at the 42-yard line.
Santa Rosa keeps it on the ground with Josh Cordova who smashes out the yards. Down to the 25 Lion Daniel Zamora gets the call and takes it in for six, Chico’s PAT is wide leaving the score 47-13 at 5:11 on the clock.
Raton begins the drive and struggles to keep Jared Chico out of the backfield on the blitz. On the ground the Tigers struggle to move the ball very far as the Lions blitz on every play. Taking to the air and on the ground the Tigers manage to get around the blitz and the Azden Romero does the keeper and takes the ball to the five-yard line. The Lion defense stiffens up. Out of timeouts Raton goes into a hurry up and gets a pass interference call and move the ball to the four-yard line and only seven seconds left on the clock. The ball goes to Joseph Saenz who slips into the end zone with no time on the clock. Raton goes for the 2-point, with the pass going to Walton who can’t get a handle on the ball to end this game 47-19.
Raton will go to Estancia next Friday for the fifth district game of the season and the final game before playoffs begin.
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