Buffs repeat 8-man title with dominating victory

MELROSE – Heavily favored to repeat its 8-man football championship from a year ago, Melrose had just a little bit of trouble getting out of the gate on Saturday.

Not to worry, though. The Buffaloes scored the final 40 points of the contest and throttled District 3 compatriot Mesilla Valley 62-12, the game ending about five minutes into the final stanza on the 50-point mercy rule.

Senior quarterback Josiah Roybal threw for a pair of touchdowns and ran for two more, giving him 51 combined touchdowns this season (36 passing 15 rushing). He finished the campaign with 1,990 passing yards and 720 rushing yards.

"That's pretty danged special," Buffs coach Drew Hatley said. "His best stats this year came against the two Colorado teams."

Melrose dispatched Haxtun (44-36) and Mancos (50-22) in its first two tilts of the season, then cruised through its New Mexico schedule to the tune of 606-52 while mercy-ruling everyone except Mesilla Valley (56-12) and Gateway Christian (62-16) in midseason.

Melrose has won its last 24 games dating to a 58-28 setback to Mancos in the second game of 2023. Haxtun advanced to the Colorado finals on Saturday with a 28-8 victory over the Bluejays.

Mesilla Valley (10-2), seeded third in the playoffs, took the opening kickoff and put together a 7 ½-minute, 14-play drive that ended on downs at the Melrose 23.

It took the Buffs only three plays to score, with junior Jaxon Odom taking a toss left, cutting back to the right and going in from 23 yards out.

Senior linebacker Nolan DeVaney then recovered a fumble at the SonBlazers' 42, and senior Brayden Eldridge scored from the 4 three plays later.

Mesilla Valley scored on an 80-yard pass from senior quarterback Davis Coyle to sophomore wide receiver Mark Dwyer on the final play of the quarter, cutting it to 14-6.

"I felt like we got caught up in the stuff outside the game," Roybal said. "I thought we were a little distracted."

The Las Cruces-based SonBlazers were within 22-12 after Coyle capped a 13-play, 61-yard push with a 14-yard scoring toss to senior Matthew Borde late in the half, but it was all Buffs after that.

"Give Mesilla credit; they've got good kids and they worked hard," Hatley said. "Offensively, they were hard to deal with. They did a good job of trying to maintain possession.

"We challenged (his team) a little bit (at halftime). I was proud of the way we responded."

It didn't take long for the Buffs to put the game completely out of reach when play resumed.

"We had to be disciplined," said Odom, who scored two touchdowns and rushed for 170 yards on just nine carries, six of which covered at least 20 yards. "At halftime, coach told us to go out and keep playing hard.

"The defense played to the best of their abilities, and we shut them out (after halftime)."

Roybal finished the game 7-for-17 passing for 130 yards, and also caught a 13-yard pass from his twin brother, Josh. He added 85 yards on nine carries, but was a little dismayed about throwing two interceptions – one more than in the first 12 games combined.

"It's a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth," he said. "But we got the win, and that's all that matters."

It was the final game for longtime coach and current Buffs assistant Dickie Roybal, who will give up his coaching and athletic director's duties in May but return in the fall as the school's principal.

Roybal, Josiah and Josh's father, spent the first 21 of his 28 years at Melrose as the head coach, winning nine state titles in that time between 6-man and 8-man. Saturday's championship was the 17th in school history.

It was also the finale for nine Buffs seniors. It figures that Odom will be a big part of the leadership role next season.

"We've got boys who are getting ready," he said. "I'm looking forward to it. I'm definitely going to have to do it."

Hatley said the Buffs should be OK in 2025.

"I couldn't be more proud of our senior class; they're something special," he said. "They'll be hard to replace, but we like the kids we have coming back."