Saturday’s Small School Spotlight: Rivalry Renewed (Video/Recap)

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>SANTA FE</strong> – The winning streak rolls on.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Dominating in trenches on both sides of the ball, three-time defending Class 3A champions St. Michael's powered past rival Robertson, 42-0, Saturday afternoon in front of a sun-splashed crowd at Christian Brothers Complex.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>St. Michael's has now won 36 straight games dating back to the 2023 campaign, the second longest streak in state history. Robertson fell to 1-2 with their second straight loss.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Horsemen scored a pair of touchdowns in the first 7-1/2 minutes of the first quarter and never looked back. Senior RB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1763645' first='Roman' last='Barrera']</strong> powered into the end zone with 7:05 left to cap a short drive that started inside the Robertson 30.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Junior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2109755' first='Curtis' last='Valdez']</strong> raced 41 yards for a touchdown less than three minutes later to give St. Michael's a 14-0 lead. Robertson began to assert itself early in the second quarter with a red zone stop and an interception in the end zone by <strong>Miles Cavanaugh</strong>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>However, the Robertson continued to struggle to move the ball. Barrera scored his second TD of the game on a 6-yard run with 4:18 left in the second quarter for a 21-0 Horsemen lead.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Moments later, St. Michael's freshman <strong>Noe Gutierrez</strong> picked off a Robertson pass and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown, increasing the Horsemen' s lead to 28-0.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Robertson finally moved into St. Michael's territory when Cardinals freshman TE <strong>Eli Tarrango</strong> caught a short pass and broke free. He was tackled at the SM 45. But the Cardinals went backwards after that. They gambled on 4^th-and-8 from the SM 43 but an incomplete pass handed the ball back to St. Michael's with just under a minute left in the second quarter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Horsemen took advantage when QB &nbsp;<strong>Karsen Patten</strong> hit junior WR <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1826301' first='Victor' last='Corral'] </strong>for a 17-yard TD with two seconds left in the second quarter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>St. Michael's led, 35-0, at halftime. They added one more TD in the second half, which was played entirely under a running clock.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>VIDEO 1: First Quarter (St. Michael's TD)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/2sTSRUHg4TU?si=isVEW2PzoTpGqkDc","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/2sTSRUHg4TU?si=isVEW2PzoTpGqkDc </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>VIDEO 2: Late First Quarter (St. Michael's TD)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/D8DjqVWJD1Q?si=dH8lYUX8IiOxyDoh","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/D8DjqVWJD1Q?si=dH8lYUX8IiOxyDoh </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>VIDEO 3: Second Quarter</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/lRZ95Ps5u1I?si=R9uoD9eFY5yAqKVE","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/lRZ95Ps5u1I?si=R9uoD9eFY5yAqKVE </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>SATURDAY SCOREBOARD (9/5)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Organ Mountain 27, Alamogordo 0</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>West Mesa 37, Highland 12</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Manzano 54, Del Norte 14</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>St. Michael's 42, Robertson 0</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Newcomb 40, McCurdy 6 &nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>NOTES</strong>: Organ Mountain improved to 3-0. . .West Mesa has won two straight since the Week 1 loss to St. Pius X. . .Manzano and Newcomb both won their first games of the season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://twitter.com/JadenGonzales21/status/2096351417674117161","type":"rich","providerNameSlug":"x","responsive":true} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/JadenGonzales21/status/2096351417674117161 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed -->