Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Two freakish lapses in special teams during the second half proved decisive in Tucumcari’s 20-6 non-district football loss Friday at Thoreau.
Leading off the second half, Thoreau’s line-drive kickoff went between Tucumcari players and seemingly straight to the Hawks’ Irvin Smith, who ran it 23 yards downfield to Tucumcari’s 23-yard line.
That set up Thoreau quarterback Isaac Bear Eagle’s 2-yard touchdown run to break a scoreless tie.
Tucumcari coach Tarik Embrack described the quasi-onside kick as a “crazy accident.”
“I’ve never seen a play like that ever in my history of coaching,” he said. “I don’t think it was (meant to be) an onside kick. I just think that one had the bounce, and we were just out of alignment. It was just a freak instance, in my opinion.”
Later in the quarter after Tucumcari scored to make it a 12-6 game, Thoreau’s Elam Smith took the ensuing kickoff and seemingly was bottled up by Rattler defenders well short of midfield. He broke through the mass of bodies and ran 84 yards for a score.
Daymion Urioste scored the only touchdown for Tucumcari on a 10-yard run in the third quarter. Urioste totaled 83 yards rushing and receiving.
Rattlers quarterback Nick Romero went 10-for-16 passing for 87 yards. One was a 46-yard reception to Kamren Apodaca late in the fourth quarter.
Tucumcari committed four turnovers, though two were interceptions late in both halves when the Rattlers were attempting deep passes with little time left on the clock.
Thoreau improved to 2-0. Tucumcari fell to 1-1.
Tucumcari’s defense played well again, limiting the Hawks to less than 200 yards from scrimmage. Embrack credited his coaching staff for helping his players prepare with lots of game-film review.
“When the defense comes out there, they’ve seen it all week,” he said. “There’s no surprises. There’s nothing that these teams can do that throw us for a loop. And the kids come out there and they they give everything they have to the last whistle.”
Embrack lamented on his team’s failure to capitalize on its chances, especially when the Rattlers recovered the ball on the Hawks’ 15-yard line after a bad punt snap early in the second quarter. He also mentioned ill-timed penalties.
“It was a tough game. I think we made it a little bit tougher than it needed to be,” he said. “We were kind of feeling out and waiting to throw our punches, kind of like a boxing match. And I just told the kids we got to be a little bit more confident in ourselves and not wait. I think we just got to take advantage of every situation, not wait to turn it on.”
Thoreau took advantage when a Rattler defender had to briefly leave the game due to an equipment issue. Thoreau wide receiver Jordan Calliditto beat the second-stringer in single coverage and caught a long pass from Bear Eagle for a 54-yard touchdown in the third quarter.
Bear Eagle went 6-for-12 passing for 81 yards and a touchdown and ran for another TD.
Embrack told his still-young players after the game he admired their effort, but they needed to take more of the initiative early in games.
“I just told them we have too much talent to have these games where one or two mistakes determine it, when in all reality we could have just jumped out from the beginning,” he said. “So I told them, stop waiting.
“Like a lot of the kids, they’re young and they’re thinking, ‘I’m a sophomore. I got two more years,’” he added. “And my big thing this year is, why wait? Why not now? Why not us?”
Tucumcari canceled its next scheduled game against McCurdy on Friday at Rattler Stadium due to the death of a student.