Buffs rally to nip Tatum

MELROSE - After outscoring their first two opponents 100-12, the Melrose Buffaloes seemed primed for an easy home victory against a young Tatum squad.

Somebody forget to tell the Coyotes that. But the defending eight-man champion Buffaloes left the March upsets to the basketball brackets, blanking the Coyotes in the second half and scoring twice in the final seven minutes for a 30-22 victory Friday night.

Senior Tate Sorgen ran for two touchdowns and threw for two more, including the go-ahead 14-yard score to Devon Bailey with 22 seconds to play. That finished off a 10-play, 87-yard effort that included a 39-yard toss from Michael Cardonita to Sorgen - who dragged a pair of Coyotes defenders the final five yards.

"In the first half, we were more timid," Sorgen said of the 22-14 halftime deficit. "We came out there thinking we were better, and obviously in the first half they proved us wrong. We knew in the second half we had to just come out disciplined, play our type of football. As Melrose Buffaloes, we have a reputation we have to uphold. Those last two drives, we had to play our type of football, our pace, and just take it to them."

The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Sorgen knotted the game up with 6:58 to play on a 2-yard keeper, along with the two-point conversion to close out a 12-play, 62-yard drive. He also had a 1-yard run and a 14-yard pass to Logan DeVaney in the Buffaloes' 14-point second quarter. Sorgen completed 6-of-12 passes for 93 yards, providing the perfect compliment to Michael Cardonita's 22-carry, 149-yard rushing effort.

But the Melrose defense was the story in the second half, holding Taylor Garner and the Coyotes out of the end zone after three scoring tosses in the first half.

"I thought they did a better job covering us," Tatum coach Brent Satterwhite said. "We missed some things we had called and didn't get communicated. We had some opportunities on that last series on offense if we throw it to the right guy. These kids are learning a new offense, and we did more to hurt ourselves than they did at that point. Melrose did a good job bringing the heat. We were able to hurt them with some screens early, but they did a better job playing those late."

Garner, who had scoring passes of 28 and 3 yards to Abraham Duran and 13 to Kivan Cardenas, posted 197 of his 212 passing yards before the Buffaloes locked things down in the second half.

"We came up and jammed their receivers, so they couldn't throw those quick outs anymore," Melrose coach Caleb King said. "We really caused problems there, and threw their routes off."

Both teams are back in action Friday, with Tatum hosting Logan and Melrose visiting Fort Sumner. It will be the first time the teams have faced each other since 1991 as 11-man teams. Melrose went to six-man two seasons later, and eventually eight-man when the New Mexico Activities Association introduced the division.