Texico cruises by Santa Rosa to take district

TEXICO — Friday night’s Texico football victory was one for the this-is-why-you-play-the-game file.

With an offense that moved the ball mostly at will, and a stubborn, stifling defense, the Wolverines flattened Santa Rosa 41-0 at Texico High School to win the District 6/7-2A championship, improving to 3-0 district, 6-4 overall. It was also Texico’s fourth straight victory to conclude the regular season.

Winning championships, hoisting trophies. Yup, definitely good reasons to play the game.

“I’m just so proud of these kids. We’ve gotten better and better each week,” said Bob Gilbreath, a district champion in just his first year as Texico head coach. “We’ve had to deal with adversity along the way. My concern this week was how would we handle the success from last week (at Fort Sumner), the big (26-20) win we had last week. And the kids did everything like we talked about, so I’m really happy for the kids, and I’m looking forward to going into the playoffs with some momentum.”

“It feels great,” Texico junior quarterback Gabe Dickerman said after compiling 187 yards and three touchdowns on just 8-for-10 passing. “We worked all week and prepared, and I feel like we did a great job.”

“That’s a very good team. What can you do when you’ve got a team that’s that good?” Santa Rosa head coach Mario Trujillo said after his own team fell to 3-6 overall, 1-2 district. “Hats off to Coach G over there, he did a good job with his group.”

It was Santa Rosa, though, starting with a crackle, as Lions junior Elijah Velasquez bolted 20 yards on the game’s first play from scrimmage and carried his team to midfield.

The drive, however, was thwarted when a third-and-14 pass by Ricardo Chavez was picked off by a leaping Anders Nelson, putting the Wolverines in business at their own 36 with 8:53 remaining in the first quarter.

On second-and-12 from the 34, a fade left from Dickerman to Nelson turned into a 57-yard gainer to Santa Rosa’s 9, and though the Lions’ defense stiffened to the point of forcing a fourth-and-goal situation from the 1, Dickerman then bulled his way in for the touchdown. Manuel Loera’s extra-point attempt was low, so the score remained 6-0 with 6:21 left in the first.

A bad punt snap ended the Lions’ next possession, and Texico’s Avonte Bumgardner recovered the loose ball at Santa Rosa’s 30. A five-yard false start penalty and two-yard rushing loss by Dickerman brought second-and-17 from the 37, but the play that followed saw Texico reach the end zone in bizarre fashion. Gabriel Bailey ran for 18 yards before fumbling the ball two yards forward, and Nelson was there at the 17 to scoop it up and dash for the touchdown.

Brayden Bender rushed in for the two-point conversion, handing Texico a 14-0 lead with 1:54 left in the opening quarter.

Santa Rosa’s ensuing possession came to a halt on a third-down fumbled snap that was recovered by Bailey, who initially returned it for a touchdown. An illegal block penalty nullified the score and forced Texico to begin at Santa Rosa’s 29, but the Wolverines soon found their way back to the house. On third-and-seven from the 26, Dickerman lofted a perfect strike to Cade Collins amidst coverage in the right side of the end zone, and Loera booted the extra point to give Texico a 21-0 lead with 11:46 left in the second quarter.

Santa Rosa drove deep into Wolverine territory on its next possession, but the drive fizzled on downs at Texico’s 13.

The Wolverines then turned around and pieced together an eight-play, 87-yard touchdown march, capped with a 17-yard scoring pass from Dickerman to Josh Myers. The extra point was blocked, but Texico had a commanding 27-0 lead with 3:46 to go in the half.

And the Wolverines struck yet again before halftime. A short Santa Rosa punt allowed Texico to start at the Lions’ 41, and consecutive Zeke Soliz runs (13 and 14 yards) swiftly moved the Wolverines to Santa Rosa’s 14. From there, Dickerman connected on a touchdown pass to Nelson, and with Loera’s extra point it was 34-0 with 1:16 remaining in the second quarter.

Texico’s opening possession of the third period ran out of gas at Santa Rosa’s 10, but the Wolverines’ next offensive series ended well, on a one-yard Collins run. Loera kicked another extra point to give Texico a 41-0 advantage with 4:35 left in the third.

From then on it was a question of the Wolverines shrinking the clock, which was running due to the 35-point rule.

When the last ticks were gone, Texico had claimed a district title with a dominant effort.

“We had some fortunate things happen early,” Gilbreath said. “They turned the ball over early and gave us momentum. Our first three scores were off of turnovers on their side, so it’s really hard to overcome that. And to our kids’ credit, we took advantage of it, got the momentum right off the bat.”