The Raton Tiger football team has had to overcome adversity this season, but the Tigers looked up at the scoreboard and faced a 29 point deficit after only the first play of the second quarter of their 2A quarterfinal game against #3 Dexter. To the Tiger’s credit, as they have all season, they rallied and made it a game only to fall 35 – 26 and end their season on the road.
Dexter won the toss and elected to receive and Easton Mireles got the Demons into Tiger territory with a 40 yard return and the dust hadn’t even settled when on the first play, CJ Granados found fellow senior Kevin Armendariz with a 40 yard TD pass on a fake jet sweep trick play that took advantage of an aggressive Raton defense. The 2 point PAT gave Dexter an 8-0 lead with less than 15 seconds gone in the game.
The situation only got worse for the Tigers after an attempted onside kick gave the Tigers good field position, but Raton fumbled on their first offensive play and Dexter recovered on the Raton 46. The Demons scored again on an 8 play drive, punctuated by a 20 yard tackle breaking run for Granados. With the PAT, the Demons lead was 15-0 with just half of the first quarter played.
Raton’s second offensive series was a turnover on downs and Dexter took over on the Raton 43 and with Granados guiding the offense, it only took 4 plays to score again, on a 32 yard completion to Alexis Castro and with the PAT it was 22 – 0 with 4:20 left in the first quarter.
The Raton offense spun its wheels again with a three and out and Dexter took over on their own 20 after the Raton punt by Braylon Walton.
Dexter moved to their own 47 to end the first quarter and then on the first play of the second period, another chunk play for Granados who found his third different receiver for a TD, this time a 53 yard throw over the middle to Rigo Regalado and with the Granados extra point kick it was 29 – 0 with just 10 seconds gone in the second period.
Raton’s offense then began to wake up from the nightmare and Luciano Castillo gave the Tigers good field position with a return to the 43 and a personal foul on Dexter tacked on to put the ball in Demon territory at the 46. A middle screen to Colt Ayon gave the Tigers their first first down at the Demons 33. Another Ayon run gave Raton a penetration and a first down at the 17, followed by a leaping catch by Castillo for a first down and goal at the 7. Raton was flagged for a procedure illegal formation which moved them back to the nine and then two runs and an incomplete pass on a fourth down from the 4, dashed the Tiger momentum at 6:42 in the second quarter.
The Demons tried to dig out of the field position hole and on a 3rd and 1 from the 31, Granados ran a keeper for the first down, but was injured on the play and left the game with what appeared to be an elbow/arm injury. With Granados on the sideline, the offense was flagged for holding and then a long touchdown was called back on back-to-back holding penalties.
Then momentum swung to the Tigers as Raton recovers a Dexter fumble on the 18 with over 2 minutes left, and then on a 4th and 6 from the 12, Walton finds Ayon for a 10 yard gain and a first and goal from the 2. Harlem Coley sweeps in with :44 seconds left in the half and Raton’s unsuccessful 2 point PAT leaves the score 29 – 6 at the end of the first half.
Raton receives the second half kickoff taking over on their own 35. The Tigers continued to build on the first half momentum and put on a determined 12 play drive with runs by Ayon, completions to Castillo, Cooper King and Coley, and a fourth down conversion. Then on a first and goal from the 5, Harlem Coley gets his second rushing TD, but again, Raton cannot connect on the 2 point PAT, so with 6:53 left in the third, it was 29 – 12.
The Demons first possession in the third period came with over half the period eaten up by the Raton drive and Easton Mireles playing QB. Raton’s defense then stiffened and held the Demons to a three and punt.
Raton’s offense took over at their own 35 and faced a 4th and four from the 41, when Raton opened up their bag of tricks and Harlem Coley launched a halfback pass completion to Cooper King down to the Demon 20.
Ayon converted a fourth down with a run to the nine for a first and goal. Two incompletions and then on a third and goal, the Tigers false start gives them a third and goal from the 14. Another incompletion and the 4th quarter begins with a 4th down incompletion heartbreaker.
The Raton defense though has come through time and again this year and Harlem Coley and Cooper King tackle the Dexter running back for a loss and then a short kick gives Raton the ball at the 29.
With just under 10 minutes left, Castillo hauls in a Walton pass to the 13 and then Cameron Mascarenas catches a bullet from Walton and a two point conversion by Coley makes it a 29 – 20 game with just under 9 minutes left.
The Dexter offense was dealt its third straight second half three and out by the Raton defense and after the punt, Raton took over on their own 24 yard line. A completion to Castillo gave Raton a first down on the 41, but three incompletions and on a fourth and 10 a completion to Berry, was knocked loose and a fumble recovered by Dexter on the 24.
The Dexter offense finally got some positive yardage out to midfield, on a 22 yard run by Alexis Castro, but again had to resort to trickery on a fourth and 8 and converted a fake punt to the Raton 28 and a face mask penalty on Raton gave Dexter a first down on the Raton 13. Castro, who started the drive with a big run, finished the drive with a 2 yard run and the 2 point PAT were the first points scored by the Dexter offense since the first play of the second quarter and it was a 35 -20 advantage with just 1:07 left.
Raton was not convinced the game was over though, as sophomore Cameron Mascarenas almost broke the kickoff and streaked to the Demons 25. Adding to the yardage was a personal foul penalty, so it was a first and 10 from the 13. Walton wasted no time in hitting Gage Alford with a short pass, that the senior turned into paydirt. The 2 point PAT was unsuccessful as was the ensuing onside kick attempt, so the Demons hang on for a 35 – 26 win and will advance to the semifinal game next week against Tucumcari.
Raton finished the 2026 season at 6 – 6, but the season was a bigger success than a .500 number. The Tigers earned a District 2 Championship, retained the Coal Bucket traveling trophy, and of the five regular season losses, 4 of them were one score losses including an epic one point loss to Estancia and two of those were last second defeats to Guymon, OK and Tucumcari.
Raton also had to overcome a mid-season loss of their leading rusher Cael Walton. The senior played 8 games before going down with a broken collarbone and had amassed 1100 hundred yards averaging 8.5 yards per carry and over 137 yards rushing per game.
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