Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Eagles' season ends with playoff loss at Aztec

Belen football ends season with 10-2 record

Jason W. Brooks News-Bulletin Staff Writer; jbrooks@news-bulletin.com

Aztec One of the most successful seasons in the history of the Belen High School football program came to an end Saturday when the Eagles dropped a 42-20 decision to the Aztec Tigers at Fred Cook Memorial Stadium in the Class 4A state semifinals.

Though the Eagles were dominated in most statistical categories, the Eagles gave the Tigers a tough game, leading in the second quarter and fighting until the end.

"We accomplished a lot this year, through a lot of hard work," said Belen's first-year coach, John Lerma. "But today, we just got beat by a good ballclub that has lots of size and speed and that executes well."

The Eagles struggled mightily on defense to contain Aztec's offense, much as they did in a 43-20 loss to the Tigers (12-0) on Sept. 5 in Belen. BHS was able to slow down the Aztec running game on a few plays, but for the most part, the Tiger offense moved the ball at will against the Eagle defense Saturday.

Aztec quarterback Brycson King completed 26 of 37 pass attempts for 367 yards and three touchdowns, while running back Mike Hathcock ran the ball 33 times for 146 yards and accounted for the other three Tiger scores.

With the Eagles sending only a three-man pass rush after King much of the game, the sophomore had plenty of time to pick apart the Eagle secondary. Aztec scored first on a 29-yard pass over the middle from King to Derrick Williamson with less than seven minutes gone in the game.

Aided by a long run by sophomore quarterback Dylan Barba on the ensuing drive, the Eagles tied the game 7-7 on a one-yard run by Tyler East, then capitalized on an Orlando Castillo interception and some Aztec penalties to set up another East one-yard run.

That's about the time the Aztec offense really hit its stride. Hathcock scored on a six-yard run, and a questionable ruling gave the Tigers a two-point conversion when Trev Hammegren picked up a bad extra-point snap and ran toward the goal line pylon, though he appeared to have been knocked out of bounds.

The play gave the Tigers a 15-14 lead. Aztec took a 23-14 lead into the locker room when King completed a short pass to Jake Espinoza that turned into a 10-yard touchdown as the Eagles were slow to react to the play. King completed another pass to Espinoza for the conversion. Belen was hoping to build some momentum in the third quarter, down 23-15, but Aztec kicked off and recovered the ball after a bad hop. Hathcock would go on to score twice on short runs in the third quarter to put the Tigers up 36-14.

The Eagles would get a 43-yard run from Danny Jaramillo to set up a six-yard score by Clovis Rivera to pull Belen to within 36-20, but that's as BHS would get.

Aztec shut down the Belen offense after that, and the Tiger offense kept firing away. The Tigers ended up outgaining the Eagles 569-91. Belen had 93 rushing yards, but its only pass was for minus-2 yards. Jaramillo led Belen with 79 rushing yards.

Belen senior Diego Gabaldon, one of many Eagles playing for the last time in a BHS uniform, said the effort is what will be remembered. "We gave our best," said Gabaldon. "And we played like a family."

E-mail this story Printer-friendly version