Coyotes overhaul Melrose late

TATUM - It's not just that Tatum's football team won a state championship on Friday night.

Yes, the Coyotes did that with their 22-14 overtime win over Melrose in the 8-man finals. And that - to use a Ron Burgundy-ism - is kind of a big deal.

But that was just the end of the story, the climactic scene. The "how" seems almost as important as the "what," because Tatum was on the verge of losing the game, then appeared to have won it on the fourth quarter's final play, then won it on a Hayden Mullins touchdown run in overtime that held up when the Coyotes' defense stopped Melrose.

"Total elation, just an incredible feeling," said Brent Satterwhite after completing his first full season as Tatum's coach.

As the Coyotes (9-1) wrapped up a championship season, the Buffaloes fell to 7-2 - along with a lot of disappointment and pride.

"They played with all their heart, man," Melrose coach Caleb King said. "I couldn't ask any more of them. They came out and they competed and they played as hard as they could and did some amazing things in an amazing game.

"We came out a little short at the end, but I can't ask any more from that group of guys. They brought it all this season."

The Buffs led most of the way, but it was the Coyotes' last score that made the ultimate difference.

Tatum rode the Mullins express to the end zone in overtime. Starting the series from Melrose's 10-yard line per overtime rules, Mullins rushed for nine yards, then went in from the 1 on the next play.

The Coyotes ran the same play on the 2-point conversion try - calling Mullins' No. 11 - and watched him reach the end zone again.

"It was just a matter of not losing our focus," said Mullins, a senior running back. "We struggled with 2-point conversions all year long, and finally we picked it up in the playoffs and started scoring two-point conversions."

On Melrose's OT possession, running back Dathan Yeary got five yards on first down, but on the next play Tatum's Ranley Krueger stopped Yeary for a 2-yard -loss.

After an incomplete pass, Yeary tried to bull his way into the end zone on fourth down, but Tatum's defense managed to deny him just shy of the goal.

"We knew we had a job to do on defense, and we ended up doing our jobs," said Mullins, who also plays inside linebacker. "And now we're holding up the blue (trophy)."

Melrose led 14-8 with less than two minutes to go in the fourth quarter and had the ball just inside Tatum territory, but wound up having to punt.

The Coyotes took over at their own 30 with 1:33 left, and seven plays later faced fourth-and-11 from their own 40. A false start penalty made it fourth-and-16 from Tatum's 35.

Junior quarterback Taylor Garner found Abraham Duran, who made a leaping catch to earn a first down. Four plays later, Tatum had a second-and-10 from Melrose's 13 when Garner lofted a game-tying touchdown pass to Duran with 16 seconds left.

On the 2PAT, Mullins took the snap and flipped the ball to Luke Field on his right, but Field was hit short of the goal line, and the ball was jarred loose and went out of bounds.

Then, with five seconds to go, Melrose was at Tatum's 49 when the ball came loose. Mullins picked it up and ran down the right sideline for a touchdown that, incredibly, appeared to have won the state title for Tatum with no time left on the clock, but due to a referee's inadvertent whistle the play was nullified.

Melrose quarterback Josiah Roybal took a knee on the replayed down, sending the tilt into OT.

For the Buffs, it was a season that will probably be remembered for ending one win short. But it wasn't for lack of effort.

"They worked so hard," King said. "They wanted to get up at 6:30 in the morning and lift weights, and worked after practice. It's amazing to see what that kind of work ethic does for a team."

Jal 53, Texico 12 - The top-seeded Panthers (10-1), who outlasted Texico 63-56 in the team's season opener, made short work of the Wolverines this time. Jal led 34-6 at halftime.

The Panthers will face either third seed Eunice or No. 2 Tularosa, who played on Saturday at Tularosa, in this week's championship game.

"We just weren't much of a match for them," Texico coach Bob Gilbreath said. "We did some things pretty well at times, but they were so much bigger and faster than we were. They made us pretty much one-dimensional."

Senior tight end Kayden Queener scored both touchdowns on passes from sophomore quarterback Cade Figg for Texico (5-5), which was the No. 4 seed.

Peter Stein of the Hobbs News-Sun contributed to this report.