Broncos host Melrose in six-man finals

The District 3 finale turned out to be a preview of the six-man state championship game.

Floyd and Melrose collide for the second time in four weeks at noon on Saturday in Floyd, with homefield advantage determined on Sunday in a coin flip between Broncos coach Jeff Gillespie and Melrose coach Dickie Roybal.

The two coaches live only a couple of blocks from each other in Clovis.

While Melrose (10-1) won a 100-55 shootout at Animas in one semifinal game on Saturday, the Broncos (10-0) earned their berth in the title game with a 49-16 victory over Mountainair.

Floyd edged the Buffaloes 28-20 at home in the regular-season finale Oct. 23.

Junior Jerrod Long caught eight passes for 167 yards and a touchdown, completed 5-of-8 throws for 137 yards and two scores and rushed 20 times for 88 yards and two more TDs.

“They (Mustangs) did a good job of shutting down Jerrod (on the ground),” Gillespie said. “But I think our passing game gained around 330 yards.”

Floyd took a 14-0 lead at the quarter when senior Jason Martinez caught a pair of touchdown passes — one from Long and one from senior Bryan Johnson. But the Mustangs (8-3), losing for the second time this season to the Broncos, rallied back for a 16-14 lead with touchdown runs by Gabriel Romero on consecutive Mountainair plays from scrimmage — the second coming after a Floyd fumble.

“We just didn’t take care of the ball,” Gillespie said of his team’s brief lapse. “We had some trouble with our center-quarterback exchange.”

Floyd righted itself, though, and led 28-16 by halftime after Long TD runs of 3 and 8 yards.

The defense took over after that, shutting out Mountainair in the second half. For the game, The Mustangs managed only 171 yards against a defense led by Brad Lee, who had 11 tackles, a quarterback sack and a pass interception.

Gillespie said the Broncos stopped Mountainair on downs after losing a fumble at their own 15, then punted and held the Mustangs out on downs at the 1-yard-line.

Johnson threw three TD passes in the game and finished with 10-of-13 passing for 193 yards.

Floyd 49, Mountainair 16

Floyd 14 14 6 15 — 49

Mountainair 0 16 0 0 — 16

Scoring summary

First quarter

F — Jason Martinez 56-yard pass from Jerrod Long (Martinez kick)

F — Martinez 22-yard pass from Bryan Johnson (kick failed)

Second quarter

M — Gabriel Romero 4-yard run (Mathew Chavez kick)

M — Romero 11-yard run (Chavez kick)

F — Long 3-yard run (kick failed)

F — Long 8-yard run (Martinez kick)

Third quarter

F — Long 70-yard pass from Johnson (kick failed)

Fourth quarter

F — Manny Carrillo 5-yard pass from Johnson (Brad Lee pass from Long)

F — Jonathon Chavez 15-yard pass from Long (Martinez kick)

Team statistics

Flo Mou

First downs 10 7

Rushes-yards 27-117 25-88

Passing yards 330 83

Total yards 447 171

Comp-att-int 15-21-0 17-36-2

Punting n/a n/a

Fumbles-lost 6-3 2-0

Penalties 4-30 2-15

Individual statistics

RUSHING — Floyd, Long 20-88, Martinez 4-14, Carrillo 2-12, Lee 1-3. Mountainair, n/a.

PASSING — Floyd, Johnson 10-13-0-193, Long 5-8-0-137. Mountainair, n/a.

RECEIVING — Floyd, Long 8-167, Martinez 2-78, Lee 2-54, Carrillo 2-16, Chavez 1-15. Mountainair, n/a.