By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
Raton hosts Lamar for the 2026 football season home opener in the Jungle Friday night August 28, 2026, with both teams coming off of wins in their season openers last week.
Raton took the opening kickoff and simply struggled to move the ball as the strong Thunder defense sacked Braylon Walton twice which would force a punt by Cooper King.
The Thunder take over on their 48-yard line. On the ground and in the air the Thunder methodically moved the ball down the field. With 6:49 on the clock it’s a pass to Andrew Chairez from 15 yards out for six. The PAT was good making it a 7-0 game.
Raton takes the next series of downs and finds their groove with Luciano Castillo making a 25-yard run to put Raton in the red zone at the 15-yard line. From there Raton sets the ground game in motion despite a holding penalty that moves it back to the 26. Then to the air goes Braylon Walton to Cael Walton for a 26-yard pass play to pay dirt with 4:51 on the clock. The Xayden Mares PAT failed leaving it a 7-6 ball game.
Lamar takes the KO and four plays later it’s a Dunning pass to Kason Chenoweth for six from the Raton 33. The PAT is good making it a 14-6 game at 3:06 on the first quarter clock.
Raton’s next series again sees the Tigers struggle and are forced to punt the ball away with Lamar taking the punt at their 17. Lamar moves the ball down field and into the second quarter on a 30-yard pass play to the Raton 33. From there it takes five plays to put the Thunder back in the end zone with a pass interference call in the end zone and a run from the Jacob Dunning from the 2-yard line with 10:02 on the second quarter clock. The PAT was good for a 21-6 score.
Raton takes the KO to the 38 and on two pass plays to Gage Alford and Luciano Castillo they move the ball down the field and into the red zone again. From the five Braylon Walton goes to Cael Walton who scrambles the five yards for a Raton score. The 2-point try fails leaving the score at 21-12.
Lamar’s next series is a four and out and the punt gives Raton the ball at their 20. Seven plays later Raton is forced to turn the ball over to Lamar at their 45. The Thunder move down the field and find themselves inside the red zone at the three. A false start penalty moves it back to the eight. A pass interference call in the end zone moves it half the distance to the goal at the two-yard line. From there a pass play to Chenoweth adds another six to the Lamar score. The PAT was good for a 28-12 score.
The third quarter of play began with Lamar taking the KO and three plays later with the help of a face mask penalty Lamar is in the end zone again with a run from the nine by Alex Aguilar 11:11 on the third period clock. The PAT makes it a 35-12 ball game.
Raton goes five an out this series of plays and a punt puts the ball on the Lamar 21. From there it’s a back-and-forth game with both teams burning the clock to finish out the third quarter of play.
Lamar begins the fourth quarter with the ball and from the 32-yard line it’s another pass play from Jacob Dunning to Jovann Avila for six at 11:53 on the clock. The PAT makes it a 42-12 ball game.
Again, the ball game goes back and forth until Raton takes the ball from the 40. A 30-yard run by Cel Walton gives Raton their final score of the game at 3:57 on the fourth quarter clock and the 2-point conversion to Colt Ayon is good to make the score a 41-20 game.
It’s a back-and-forth game to finish out the fourth quarter and give Lamar a 2-0 record with Raton going to a 1-1 record for the early season play. Raton will travel the pass next Friday night to take on the Trinidad Miners in the annual Coal Bucket game at 7:00 p.m.
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