By Eric Butler
MaxPreps.com
The Class 3A North/South All-Star football game wrapped up what could well have been the best year in the history of the sport in northern New Mexico.
Last fall, two north squads vied for the 3A championship when St. Michael's upended two-time champ Las Vegas Robertson in the title game. Until that occasion, only twice in state history had two teams north of Albuquerque ever met for a football championship.
Both of those games were on the small school level, and the last, McCurdy's 1976 Class 2A title contest win over Clayton, was over three decades earlier.
On Saturday (July 19) in Las Vegas, the landmark year was capped with a group of talented recent North seniors carrying its team to a 27-7 victory over the South.
"This was the greatest to go out on top to end the season. Then we come here and get another big win – this is the greatest," said St. Michael's quarterback Mark Manning, who threw three touchdowns for the North.
"These guys used to be our rivals; now they're our allies," he added. "We all came together and got to know each other really fast. We all just decided in our heads that we were all going to work together for the same goal."
The North scored on its second offensive drive, which spanned 78 yards over the last part of the first quarter. The first play of the second period was the big one as Manning, on a fourth-and-15, found Raton's Gabe Olivas for a 35-yard pass that put the North at the South's one yard line.
Robertson's Jesse Robertson hit paydirt on the next play for a 7-0 lead.
A pair of touchdowns just before halftime gave the North side firm control of the ballgame, which was played at New Mexico Highlands University.
Late in the second period, Robertson's Adrian Martinez stepped in front of a pass by Hatch Valley's Alex Carson, the South quarterback, to set up the second touchdown – a 14-yard strike from Manning to Bloomfield's Edward Chavez with 1:59 left in the half.
The North reached the end zone one last time thanks to a quick, 80-yard drive that took only 55 seconds. As time ran out in the first half, Manning lofted a nine-yard touchdown pass to Olivas for a 21-0 advantage.
Many of the big plays of the game were pulled off by recent seniors from the district centered around Santa Fe. On the North roster, 20 of the 30 players listed were from St. Michael's, Raton and Robertson.
"There's so much talent. I'd be as bold as to say that this is the best year that District 2-3A has ever had," Manning said.
Olivas was named the North MVP after making several big catches during the game.
"It took awhile to get used to a different quarterback. But after a couple of days, I got used to how he threw. He (Manning) worked with me and I caught on to it."
The South got on the board early in the third period when Carson hit Lovington's Nat Hernandez for a five-yard touchdown strike to make the score 21-7.
But the North retaliated quickly. A 59-yard drive took only two minutes off the clock and culminated with a 20-yard pass from Manning to St. Mike's teammate Louie Eres.
The game was halted early by officials after tempers began to flare with 1:51 left on the clock. Both squads however went through the traditional lines for postgame handshakes.
Portales' Chris Mosier, who rushed for 35 yards, was named the South's Most Valuable Player.
"That was just a little sneaky one they got on us," said Olivas of the South's lone touchdown. "That didn't stop us. We came out and pounded it to them and showed them who the real North was."
