Sartans sneak past Rams, 21-20

ALBUQUERQUE — For the second-straight week, it will be another long bus ride home for Portales football. The Rams had their chances against St. Pius, but once again, some costly mistakes reared its ugly head. In the end, the Sartans managed to hold off the Rams, 21-20.

“We didn’t win on any phase,” Rams coach Jaime Ramirez explained. “We didn’t win on offense, defense or special teams. If you don’t win in anything, it’s hard to win any games. We didn’t win in any phase, we just played good enough (to hang around).”

The Sartans (2-2) took an early lead on a touchdown pass. Then, their next drive featured much of the same success as the first one. Plenty of deep passing on both drives made it difficult for the Rams’ (2-3) defense.

St. Pius converted on multiple third and fourth downs on the second drive, and ultimately, a quarterback keeper led to a short score. At that point, St. Pius led 14-0. However, unlike last week in which Portales continued to dig itself into a bigger and bigger hole against Goddard, it managed to rally back soon after.

After St. Pius’ second score, Portales answered back with a scoring drive that was capped off by a Jalen Allen touchdown reception. The Sartans then fumbled in their own territory, setting up a short Rams score to tie it at 14-all.

However, like previous weeks, the Rams found a way to give it right back. St. Pius punted, following the tying Portales scoring, only for the Rams to muff the punt and set up a short score for the Sartans. At half, Portales trailed, 21-14.

However, it became a defensive struggle in the second half, as an early third quarter Rams touchdown was the only scoring for the entire second half.

Despite the touchdown, Portales once again cost itself, as the extra point was missed, keeping the Rams down by a point. The Rams soon got it back and scored, only for the touchdown to be negated by a holding penalty. That very same drive, Portales settled for a 25-yard field goal attempt, which was no good. The rest of the way, both sides traded punts, denying the Rams a third victory in 2018.

But while Ramirez says that this loss isn’t any more disappointing than last week’s, there’s no doubt that this team was hoping for a little bit of a momentum-builder, heading into next week’s bye.

“The bye week came at the right time for us. It gives us an opportunity to fix some things and get healthy,” Ramirez said. “But overall, I still think we’re gonna be a real good football team. We’re just not quite there yet.”