Tucumcari routed Loving 41-8 Friday night in a battle of Class 2A teams at Rattler Stadium.

The Rattlers did most of their work in the first half, scoring four of their five touchdowns before halftime.

Rattlers sophomore wide receiver Jakus Martinez led the Rattlers with six catches for 114 yards and three touchdowns.

In the first quarter, junior Lucas Benavides rushed for a 56-yard touchdown with 6:51 left in the quarter for Tucumcari’s first score.

Martinez caught a 12-yard pass from junior quarterback Alex Hutchins with 3:51 left in the first for the second score of the game. Martinez scored again in the opening minutes of the second with a 31-yard pass reception from Hutchins.

Senior wide receiver Adrian Prieto capped off the final two scores drives of the first half with a rushing touchdowns of 7 and 4 yards.

Martinez closed out the scoring for the Rattlers with a 21-yard touchdown reception thrown by freshman Dalton Wood.

Despite the lopsided score, the Falcons played hard throughout, according to Rattlers head coach Daniel Hutchins.

“I commend the Falcons coaching staff,” Hutchins. “I knew coming into this game that they were not going to give up. They handled and presented themselves well.

The Falcons’ only score was late in the fourth quarter following a botched punt attempt by the Rattlers.

Sam Ponce rushed it in from the 3-yard line.

“Our passing game just was not working for us,” Falcons head football coach Ron DuPree. “The guys kept at it though and would not give up am very impressed with the young men.”

The Rattler JV squad had been on the field since late in the second quarter with the score 35-0.

“We decided to give our younger players some field time,” Rattlers head coach Daniel Hutchins said. “They did well on defense they allowed only one touchdown.”

Putting in the younger players gave them a chance to work on offensive mechanics againsta live team, Hutchins said.
“I am happy with how the JV stepped up tonight,” Hutchins said.

The homecoming win improves the Rattlers’ mark to 2-3 for the season and gave them a confidence boost following last week’s 40-20 loss to the Capitan Tigers.