By Eric Butler
MaxPreps.com
Several days after Portales won a state football championship, the first for the school in 20 years, head coach Andy Correll admitted that "we're still kind of floating around here."
The memories from championship Saturday are over two weeks old now, but are likely to be around for a long, long time for both the victors and the vanquished as Las Cruces High, Goddard, Portales and Texico earned state title contests.
For Las Cruces, winning the Class 5A title meant it was the Bulldawgs first championship since 2002. A 26-21 victory in Albuquerque over Eldorado also capped a perfect 13-0 season.
Although coach Jim Miller said his team was smaller than the Eagles, it was Las Cruces which had a big edge in categories that usually go to teams in control of the line of scrimmage.
Led by linebacker Will Bruce, defensive end Mike Bernal and defensive tackle David Testa, Las Cruces limited Eldorado (12-1) to only 26 yards rushing.
On the other side of the ball, when the Eagles desperately needed the ball back late in the game, the tandem of quarterback Dante Caro and running back James Hall helped the Bulldawgs grind out first down after first down to keep the Eldo offense on the bench.
Las Cruces took the lead on Saturday (Dec. 6) when Hall, on a halfback option pass, found receiver Jacob Lilley for a 37-yard strike and a 20-14 advantage.
Behind 26-14 in the fourth period, Eldorado unleashed a potent air attack one last time as Gary Maestas caught a 51-yard touchdown from quarterback Armin Day. Maestas had nine grabs for 165 yards on the day while Eagles senior Ross Williams snared five Day passes for 176 yards.
That score, however, was the only offensive play for Eldorado in the fourth quarter. Las Cruces maintained control of the ball for the last six minutes to seal the game.
"It was a nice feeling, definitely. It was what our offense was doing all year. We had a little over six minutes left in the game, we got the ball, got our first downs and pretty much ran the clock out," Miller said. "Once we got that last one, they didn't have any timeouts and there was only about a minute to go."
Caro and Hall, mainstays for the Las Cruces offense the last two years, walked away with the first-place 5A trophy to show for all their hard work.
"We were preseason No. 1 last year and I thought we had a pretty good chance then with these guys being juniors," Miller said. "But that was an incentive for these guys going into this year."
The Class 4A finale was held at the Wool Bowl in Roswell where host Goddard earned its first title since 1997 with a wild 49-45 victory over Aztec.
Both teams came into the shootout plenty familiar with finishing second – each had done it twice within the last five seasons.
For Goddard (12-1), losers of the 4A title game to rival Artesia in 2006 and 2007, the championship went its way for good when Chase Kyser scored on a two-yard run with 8:01 left in the game.
"I've played in the last two of them and this is the first time I've won, so this is amazing," said Goddard senior wide receiver Hobie McClain, who caught seven passes for 133 yards and a pair of touchdowns. "We (seniors) talked about it. We had to make sure we won this game."
The last sequence in a series of back-and-forth scores between the squads began when Cameron Mortenson connected on a 32-yard field goal with 9:52 left in the game to put Aztec (12-1) up 45-42.
The Rockets reclaimed the lead on its next possession by driving 56 yards in only six plays. Goddard quarterback David Vega had two key plays in the drive, culminating in Kyser's TD run, by scrambling for a 30-yard gain on one play and finding McClain for a 16-yard pass on another to move inside the Aztec five.
Vega also played a key role in a momentum shift that occurred at the end of the first half and the start of the second.
The Tigers held a 28-14 late in the first half after moving 73 yards and scoring on a one-yard run by Mike Hathcock, who finished with 182 yards rushing.
But Goddard, with only 18 seconds left before intermission, struck back in only four plays and reclaiming momentum when receiver Jeromy Burrola slipped behind the Aztec secondary and caught a 29 yard touchdown pass from Vega a split-second after the halftime buzzer sounded.
The Rockets, still down 28-21 to start the third quarter, then tied the game two minutes into the second half when Vega picked off an Aztec pass and rambled 55 yards for a touchdown.
"We got a little bit lucky," said Vega of the TD toss to Burrola. "It was sort of a Boston College thing. When we went into the locker room, we talked about getting that first stop, because we were down. That was a huge momentum changer for us."
Both of the champs for Class 3A and 2A came from the east side of the state as Portales and Texico grabbed state titles foes from a little further south.
Portales (10-3) got its first win over longtime district rival Lovington (9-4) since 1996 and, by overwhelming the Wildcats 48-10, its first football championship since 1988.
The Rams had fallen to the 'Cats 17-14 in a regular season game, but Portales left little doubt who was in charge in the title game as senior quarterback Michael Trujillo riddled the Lovington defense for 409 yards passing.
"We were probably just overly pumped up in the first game. We put so much pressure on ourselves and didn't do a very good job of downplaying it," Correll said. "But this one, I thought the kids handled things real well. They played within themselves."
Two years ago, Portales also was in the 3A state championship game – falling to Robertson. But the Rams also lost to Lovington that year too.
This time, Portales scored on seven of its first eight possessions and held a comfortable 34-10 lead at halftime.
"Our feet hadn't hit the ground yet," Correll said days later.
Texico (10-0) completed an undefeated campaign and won its first state title at the Class 2A level by winning what was the toughest battle in any classification.
Dexter (11-1) also entered the game on Saturday, Nov. 28 unbeaten, but the Demons missed an extra point late in the fourth quarter that would have tied the contest. After Texico recovered an onside kick attempt, the Wolverines quickly covered 51 yards in four plays – including a 35-yard run by senior Mario Posada – to go up 28-20 with 1:48 left to play.
The Demons stormed back in the closing minutes though, driving 70 yards and finishing their last drive with a two-yard run by Timothy Regalado with 16 seconds left to play.
Regalado's two-point conversion pass attempt to tie the game, however, sailed out of the back of the end zone.
All Texico had to do at that point, following another onside kick recovery, was run the clock out. Final score: Texico 28, Dexter 26.
"It was the longest 16 seconds of my life," Texico coach Mike Prokop said. "Both teams were physically exhausted and it's just a tribute to our kids they were able to do it."
