By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
St Mikes traveled up I-25 once again to the Jungle to take on a young scrappy Raton Tiger team that has proven themselves time and again this season. After the dust had settled, Raton proved they could compete on the same level with the likes of the seven time state champion Horsemen as St. Mikes carved out a hard fought 21 -6 win.
Raton faced a much larger St Mike’s team in terms of physical size, as many of their players were a head taller than the Raton players, but the size of the heart inside was equal, as Raton Coach Tory Giacomo noted he was extremely proud of the way the Tigers played against St Mikes, especially since most of the Tiger team was made up of freshman and sophomores with a few juniors and seniors sprinkled in.
KRTN’s analyst, Abe Elliot, noted in his pregame scouting report that St Mikes was one of those teams Raton looked forward to playing each year until the districts got flipped around, but now St Mikes and Raton are back at again.
Raton’s Senior QB Adan Vanderwater was injured two weeks ago and was just cleared for the St. Mikes game, but the coaching staff decided they would use his talents only in kicking situations, as Vanderwater is the regular punter/kickoff/placekicker and helped the Raton defense with his booming punts.
Raton started Cayden Walton at QB and the 8th grader flashed speed and talent that has Tiger fans looking ahead with anticipation for Raton’s future.
St Mikes won the toss and deferred, giving Raton the ball on the opening kickoff, and after Walton secured a first down with his legs, Raton was forced to go five and out with a punt.
The Raton defense, however, showed up for the game, forcing St Mikes to go four and out. The punt was marked down deep in Raton territory, but Raton caught a break on an illegal man down field penalty. St Mikes was forced to rekick the ball giving Raton good field position at the 35. The St. Mikes defense again thwarted Raton, and five plays later also punted the ball away giving the Horseman decent field position on the 36.
This go round, St Michaels put together a drive that was helped by a pass interference call and finished it off with a 12-yard pass play to Hayden Lee for six. PAT was good giving St Mikes the early 7-0 lead with 2:00 minutes left on the first quarter clock. Raton finished off the first quarter and were moving the ball into the second, but were forced to punt again and Vanderwater pinned the Horsemen deep in their own territory, with the ball taking a great Raton bounce and going out of bounds on the 7-yard line.
St Mikes again drove the ball down the field to the 48 where they topped it off with a 52-yard short pass and run play to Hayden Lee from quarterback Dominick Morgan. The PAT was good and it was a 14-0 ball game at 5:34 in the second.
Raton took the kickoff initially went backwards with a holding penalty and a procedure call, and a loss on a sack of Walton found Ismael Tafoya on a screen and the senior who found a hole or two and scampered 52 yards followed by another Walton run of 20 yards to the 25. Then Raton went backwards again ending the drive with an 18-yard loss from a sack.
Both teams then went back and forth with Raton getting close enough after Caleb Sena caused a fumble and Raton recovered recovering a fumble at the 16 to try a field goal that had the distance but went wide off the leg of Aden Vanderwater.
Ismael Tafoya intercepted a Morgan pass and had a run of it down to the 45 that was topped off with a personal foul penalty to end the quarter but since it was a defensive penalty Raton got one more play to end the half on an incomplete pass.
Alejandro Talamantes took the second half kickoff to the Raton 45. St Mikes took the ball to the 11 where St Mikes had a 11-yard TD called back on a holding call. Raton’s Ismael Tafoya once again picked off a Morgan pass and scampered to the 40 to save another possible Horsemen score.The Tafoya interception set up Raton’s only score, but it was an impressive 11 play drive that takes the ball into the red zone where Walton finds Matthew Quartieri for 15 yards and six points with 2:23 left in the third. The PAT goes wide and leaves the score 6-14.
St Mikes responds taking the ball into the fourth quarter where once again #8 pounds out the five yards to pay dirt and with the PAT makes it a 21-6 ball game at 11:28 in the fourth.
Raton’s next drive is ended on a pass interception that goes to the Raton 25. St Mikes gets the ball down deep in to the red zone where the Raton defense holds strong again with a goal-line stand and forces the Horseman to turn the ball over on downs at the four. After a procedure call Walton manages to scamper 13 and move the ball on down the field where a 15-yard face mask adds to the total. Raton however ends the drive on an incomplete pass play with only 30 seconds left on the clock. St Mikes takes a knee to end the game and the regular season with a 21-6 win.
Raton will now wait and see if they get a bid into the playoffs. The selection will be held late Saturday night after the Saturday night games are completed and coaches get their tallies in.
