Thursday Night Throwdown: Capital-Espanola Valley

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>ESPANOLA – Espanola Valley running backs <strong>Ezekial Cuevas</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='854296' first='Dylan' last='Sandoval']</strong> combined for 103 rushing yards in the first two games of the season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Thursday night, they nearly doubled that number against a Class 5A opponent.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Displaying Espanola Valley's impressive depth at the RB position, Cuevas (103 yards, 1 TD on 12 carries) and Sandoval (13 carries for 80 yards) combined for 183 yards and &nbsp;1 TD in the Sundevils hard-fought 13-6 victory over Capital Thursday night.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Leading rusher <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='837203' first='Victor' last='Parra']</strong> (325 yards on 31 carries in 1^st two games) saw limited reps on offense as Sundevils head coach Tylon Wilder sought to keep him fresh for the start of district play next week &nbsp;against Grants. Para played the entire game at free safety, though.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Rarely throwing the ball, Espanola Valley leaned on its dominant offensive line most of the night to open wide holes for the ground game. They usually delivered. The leader of the group is senior RT <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='613059' first='Leandro' last='Salazar']</strong> (one of the strongest players in the state). <strong>Nick Sandoval</strong> (RG), <strong>Matthew Martinez</strong> (C), <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1594492' first='Jesus' last='Gonzalez']</strong> (LG) and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1599942' first='Leonard' last='Martinez']</strong> (LT) had outstanding nights as well.   </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Espanola Valley improved to 3-0, while Capital fell to 0-3, although the Jaguars managed to score its first points of the season after suffering consecutive shutouts against local rivals Santa Fe and St. Michael's to begin the season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>All 19 points in the game were scored in the fourth quarter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Espanola Valley snapped the scoreless deadlock on the second play of the final frame when the 6-foot-0, 220 pound Cuevas rumbled through the middle from five yards out for his 1^st TD of the season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Capital quickly responded on a well executed 80-yard double play flea flicker for a TD. However, the Jaguars were stopped on the two-point conversation, leaving Espanola Valley holding a 7-6 lead.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Sundevils answered with a long, time-consuming drive that ended with QB [player_tooltip player_id='1137865' first='Irvin' last='Primero'] plunging over from the two yard line with less than five minutes remaining.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Capital drove inside the Espanola Valley 35-yard line in the final minutes but penalties and a third down sack pushed them back to midfield. The fourth down play fell far short of the first down marker. Since Capital had exhausted its timeouts, Espanola Valley went into victory formation on the first play and ran out the clock.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The game's tone was set early when Espanola Valley took the opening kickoff and drove into the red zone, taking more than six minutes off the clock. But they were stopped on fourth down at the Capital 19.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Jaguars completed a long pass down the middle of the field for a first down on its opening possession but consecutive major penalties derailed the drive and Capital punted.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>After that, the game settled into a battle of attrition with turnovers, ill-timed penalties and costly mistakes by the two offenses keeping the game scoreless through three quarters.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>VIDEO 1: First Quarter</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/aTaor5cI1Ik?si=L_Qj6wqgbW3MCWUf","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/aTaor5cI1Ik?si=L_Qj6wqgbW3MCWUf </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>VIDEO 2: Second Quarter</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/O4ggcxQMUcA?si=KSELBtTLCGKSjouI","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/O4ggcxQMUcA?si=KSELBtTLCGKSjouI </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>VIDEO 3: Third Quarter</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/QXmlaXfMowU?si=iBHMIbCsOL2getmb","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/QXmlaXfMowU?si=iBHMIbCsOL2getmb </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>VIDEO 4: Fourth Quarter (Espanola Valley's 1st TD)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/_7rmv44Cs68?si=G2Gm1bEzWvpPUxIy","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/_7rmv44Cs68?si=G2Gm1bEzWvpPUxIy </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>VIDEO 5: Fourth Quarter (Espanola Valley Drive To 2nd TD)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/Hh5aZ3Sza2s?si=4ppOFAXIDvmwlKgE","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/Hh5aZ3Sza2s?si=4ppOFAXIDvmwlKgE </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p> </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>    </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->