St Mikes Earns “Bowl” Win Over Raton

It was a typical hard-hitting high school football game between long-time rivals Raton and Santa Fe St. Michaels on Saturday in what was termed a "Bonus Bowl". What was not typical was it took place in April and temperatures in the mid 70's were probably the warmest ever for a season ending game in Northern New Mexico which made it feel like a true "Jungle" for the fans in Tiger Stadium.  Also not typical, were the number of errors by the home team including allowing two blocked punts on the first two possessions, a muffed punt, a pic six interception and two other INT's by the Horsemen defense coupled with a big day for Horseman Devin Flores to put up a 47-21 win over the Tigers.

The game was supposed to have been played in early March as the first game for both teams, but a positive Covid test for St. Michaels cancelled that game.  The two teams returned to the scene of the 2019 comeback win for the Tigers in the opening round of the playoffs and so the Horsemen didn't need any help in motivating them, but the forced and unforced Raton errors gave the visitors chances that they seized on.

After a 3 and out for the Raton offense, punter Cayden Walton had one of his own team pushed back into him to block the punt which gave St. Mikes the ball on the Raton 36 yard line.  QB Lucas Coriz fumbled on a big hit by Matt Quartieri, but it went out of bounds and St. Mikes would convert two third downs including a scrambling side arm completion on 3rd and 14 to give the Horsemen a first and goal from the five. Raton's Hank Coronado was right in the face of Coriz, but the 6' 2" junior was able to sidestep and find Devin Flores at the goal line for the first score with 6:54 left in the first. Raton blocked tha PAT and it was 6 - 0.

Raton's next possession included a 24 yard run by Cayden Walton negated with a holding call and Raton had to punt again, and again the punt was blocked, this time by Robb Chianese to give St. Mikes another short field and a first down at the Raton 19.  Coriz went for the score quickly and a Raton defender was in good position for the interception, but a slip combined with the dart, found the arms of Flores again for the score. With just less than half of the first quarter gone, St Mikes lead was 13 - 0.

Raton took over on their 22 after the kickoff and a 14 yard completion from Dylan to Matt Quartieri, a 27 yard Wild-cat formation run for Walton and a 17 yard scamper from Isaiah Samora helped Raton climb back into the game on an 8 play drive including a third down run by Walton and on 2nd and goal from the seven, Quartieri found Ahsan Maso with a bubble screen and Maso would not be denied, weaving his way through defenders for the score with just over a minute left in the first.  With the Cole Hopper PAT, Raton was back in it at 13 - 7.

the Tiger defense stiffened and after a third down stop by Chance Middlebrook, St Mikes elected to go for it on fourth and three at the Raton 34, but a Dylan Quartieri blitz and tipped the attempted pass, giving Raton a short field taking over on its own 34.  Raton couldn't take advantage though and tried a little razzle-dazzle on fourth and long with an end around pitch to Isaiah Samora whose pass attempt was deflected into the hands of lineman Devin Ramirez and he headed for the first down sticks, but was caught just short.

As the second quarter began, QB Coriz dropped back after a first down run stuff, and heaved a deep ball that he never saw the result of as he was then engulfed by the Raton D-Line.  The result the crowd saw, was a perfectly thrown ball that Florez made the catch over good coverage and walked into the end zone with a 70 yard score, his third of the day. The PAT was again blocked and St Mike's lead was 19 - 7.

With less than 5:00 minutes left in the first half, Raton began a scoring march starting on their own 35 without being able to see the clock because of a malfunction. A first down pass to Matt Quartieri and then a gain of 12 by Cayden Walton and then a personal foul for unnecessary roughness gave Raton a first down on the Horsemen 27.
After a procedure penalty, the Tigers faced a 2nd and 15 from the St Mikes 19 and Dylan Quartieri found Matt Quartieri who had snuck in behind the defense and hauled down the perfect spiral and after the PAT, Raton had clawed back to trail 19 - 14.

With the clock not working, it was not clear how much time St Mikes had, and Raton's defense stopped them in three, but Raton helped the opponents cause again, by muffing the punt to continue the Horsemen drive with a first down on the Raton 30. It looked like Raton snuffed the drive out on a fourth down stop, but Raton was flagged for a tackle out-of-bounds and then a third and 12 from the Raton 17, Coriz threw his fourth TD pass of the first half, a 17 yard strike to Joaquin Armijo and with under 30 seconds the Santa Fe lead was 27 - 14.

The second half began with a Chance Middlebrook interception for the Raton defense, but on a 3rd and long from mid-field, Devin Flores scored his fourth TD, a pick-six for a 34-14 lead with 9:49 left in the third.

Raton, however, would not give up. After a 22 yard punt return by Cayden Walton and a 33 yard reception to Samora, two more runs by Walton gave Raton a first and goal on the five.  But their nemesis, Florez, would pick off a first and goal pass from the five intended for Matt Quartieri.  Quartieri would lay on the ground for several minutes after the play and gave Raton fans some anxious moments, but would return later. 

St. Mikes would then put together a 9 play scoring drive culminating in a scrambling 3rd and goal 14 yard tipped pass  into the hands of Isaiah Fairchild. It was 41 -14 going into the fourth quarter and Raton would be interecepted yet again by Florez deep in their own territory and then would drive back the other way for yet another TD pass for Coriz, this time to Robb Chianese.

Raton had one more drive in their season, starting on their 30 yard line with 2:00 left.   A Masso reception, a Walton 22 yard run, a 19 yard Matt Quartieri reception, a first down reception to Middlebrook and then Walton on 3rd and 10 powered up the middle for a 13 yard TD run.

Raton graduates three seniors, OL/DL Adrian Mendez, WR/DB Isaiah Samora and RB/DB Drew Long, who finished the shortened season with a 2 - 2 record and plenty of reasons to be optimistic. The Tigers offensive and defensive lines will return almost intact and the offense, which was prolific at times, is losing only two ball handlers.