Wolverines advance to semis

TEXICO - At more than one point on the sideline of Texico's 55-33 triumph over Capitan Friday night, Wolverine coach Bob Gilbreath summed up his thoughts on a play with words that were somehow dismissive and explanatory at once. "Playoff football."

Fans who flocked to the Field of Hopes and Dreams got more than a little of everything in the three-hour, 15-minute affair with 50 first downs, 1,079 yards of offense and 13 touchdowns - the last one coming as the final horn sounded, with Capitan taking all three timeouts to set up a 17-yard scoring pass to Cole Seidenberger.

Cade Collins ran 19 times for 263 yards, scoring on touchdowns of 1, 10, and 71 yards, and added a goal-line interception in the third that preserved the Texico lead at 41-26 before quarterback Cade Figg put things on ice with touchdown runs of 28 and 68 yards in the fourth.

"At the end of the day, we've got a really inexperienced football team," Gilbreath said. "It's their first playoff game. I've got five seniors who played in a playoff game two years ago.

"You never know how young kids are going to react. We came out, did a lot of good things early and got complacent. When our buttons got pushed, we were able to focus. They did a good job on offense, attacked us when we were week. It will be good film to watch."

The Wolverines did plenty on offense, with Figg running for 116 yards for two scores and the Wolverines posting a 560-yard night. But forcing five turnovers, including the interception, helped Texico hold off what could have been a monumental collapse.

"I was a little nervous, for sure," Collins said of a game Texico led 34-6 before the Tigers roared back. "I knew they were going to make a mistake; a team can't play perfect forever. We made a lot of mistakes that killed us, penalties and everything. The momentum changed in the game. They threw that pick and everything shifted to our side."

Figg completed just three passes on the night for the Wolverines, but two went for touchdowns - one a 27-yarder on fourth down to put Texico on the board in the first, the second a 57-yard strike up the middle to Kayden Queener that put the Wolverines up 27-0 halfway through the second quarter and seemingly en route to a running clock in the second half.

But Capitan pulled a "not so fast, my friend," with Gabe Hayes' 2-yard push closing out a nine-play, 76-yard drive in response to close out the first-half scoring.

The Wolverines went back up 27 in the third, as Villareal went in from 3 yards out to cap a seven-play drive, but Capitan and quarterback Caleb Kayser began to build momentum after that. The teams traded touchdowns - a 12-yard run from Kayser for Capitan, then Collins' 71-yarder - before Kayser completed a pair of touchdown passes in a 40-second span.

His 32-yard toss to Jonathan Ledesma was followed by an onside kick recovery, then a three-play drive that ended with a 29-yard throw to favorite target Seidenberger - who had eight catches for 200 yards.

But a five-fumble night, with four lost, caught up to the Tigers. The first three fourth-quarter possessions before the academic last-second score were lost fumble, lost fumble, turnover on downs.

Tigers coach John O'Mera said the turnovers, along with a few early missed scoring chances, snuffed any upset chance his squad had.

"We didn't think we played our best game today," O'Mera said, "but we played good in the second half against a very good football team that will make some noise in the playoffs. They've got an excellent offense and a very physical running attack."

The Wolverines move on to face Jal (9-1), a 50-0 winner over Estancia, with a 7 p.m. Friday kickoff. It will be the teams' second meeting, with the Panthers claiming a 63-56 win in the season opener.

"They're dang good," Gilbreath said. "They're big, they've got a really good quarterback, big running back and a tall receiver. We played them our first game of the year, and they were a little more experienced than us. We've gotten a lot better since then. All we need to do is win by one point so, you know ... whatever it takes."