Prep Football Roundup and a Look Ahead

After two weeks of the football season, Moriarty is starting to look like a team that is going to make some noise.

Riding a powerful defense and a grind-it-out offense, the Pintos (2-0) handled Albuquerque Academy 26-14 last week and are now ranked No. 6 in the NMOT Coaches Poll.

“That was a big win,” coach Gabe Romero said.

Caedon Kamplain rushed for 97 yards with two scores and Eli Mackrain hit Derek Michel for an 88-yard touchdown pass for the Pintos.

But now it is on to the next game for Moriarty, a road jaunt to Newcomb (0-1) tonight.

“They run the same stuff as us,” Romero said. “A Wing-T and a 3-5 defense. Last year, they were real impressed with what we do and so, I don’t know if that led them to change some things, but they will be running the same stuff we do.”

A year ago, Moriarty downed the Skyhawks 47-0, so it is possible that was a factor in the program’s philosophy change.

That being said, the Wing-T is an intricate offense that takes to learn and master, so the Pintos should have the advantage when it comes to understanding the idiosyncrasies of the lineup.

Estancia

Although the Bears (0-2) suffered a tough, 49-12 home loss last week at the hands of Eunice, perhaps a truer measure of this squad is not the record so much as what the other coaches think of the team.

Estancia is ranked No. 7 in the coaches poll, the only winless team in the top-10. But the Bears' first two opponents, Texico and the Cardinals, are ranked 1-2.

Estancia played a late Aug. 31 game against perennial 3A contender Socorro, so the road continues to be rolling uphill.

Against Eunice, the Bears ground game continued to impress as the team rolled up 303 yards, with Joshua Calhoon accounting for 171 on 30 carries and a touchdown. Pablo Regalado added another 78 yards on 21 carries.

But the defense was hard-pressed to curtail the Cardinals’ attack, particularly through the air as they had 271 yards, four touchdowns, with no sacks or interceptions of quarterback Elijah Melancon.

Mountainair

The Mustangs opened their season with a 42-32 loss at Dora.

Additional information about the game was unavailable.

But Mountainair gets an immediate chance to even its record as Ramah comes to town for the home opener tonight.

This will be Ramah’s season opener, putting it in the same position as Mountainair was last week when it faced a Coyotes team that already had a game under its belt.