Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Belen Eagle football wins District 6-4A championship

BHS to host playoff game on Nov. 21

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

Albuquerque It's easy to picture young Eagle YAFL players talking about it, perhaps on a trip to McDonald's after a game about five years ago. We're going to win a district championship too, maybe by beating St. Pius on the road. Maybe even a shutout — by mercy rule, even.

That's the way the 2008-09 Belen High School Eagles ended their regular season Saturday night, wrapping up the District 6-4A title with a 35-0 whipping of St. Pius at Milne Stadium. By winning their first district crown in five years and only their second in the past 21 seasons, the Eagles earned a bye in the first round of the playoffs.

BHS will host a second-round playoff game on Friday, Nov. 21 at 7 p.m., according to Belen Schools athletic coordinator Jim Danner.

"I'm very pleased with our team's effort," said BHS first-year coach John Lerma. "It will be nice to have the week off to heal some bumps and bruises, and by about mid-week, we'll start preparing for both of our possible opponents a little bit. We'll start preparing for one of them in earnest next week."

Belen (9-1) got its first win over St. Pius in many years Saturday the same way it got most of its wins this season — by dominating the line of scrimmage. The Eagle defense jammed the middle and forced St. Pius freshman quarterback Trey Casaus into some bad decisions, and the BHS offensive line made room for the speedy backfield runners.

"They've got enough returning starters, and they've got speed everywhere," said St. Pius coach San Juan Mendoza. "Their offensive line is among the best I've seen, and they just kept pounding away at us. They've got a great team this year."

Belen wasted no time in getting ahead of a Sartan team that beat the Eagles in each of the previous three meetings. Danny Jaramillo returned the opening kickoff 65 yards, then scored on a 14-yard, last-second option pitch from Dylan Barba for a 6-0 lead.

The score remained unchanged until late in the second quarter, when Clovis Rivera scored on a 44-yard screen pass from Barba. Jayson Gurule delivered a crushing block to help the play turn the corner.

The Eagles frequently had great field position, thanks to the defense, and scored twice in the third quarter to go up 28-0. Barba hit Gurule with a 20-yard scoring pass and Jaramillo scored from 10 yards out.

St. Pius drove into Belen territory several times. A last-minute rally, after the clock had been running under the mercy rule, ended when a St. Pius pass fell incomplete in the Belen end zone.

Jaramillo led all rushers in the contest with 113 yards on only 15 carries. BHS actually had fewer rushing yards and first downs and less total offense than the Sartans, but the defense made things work. The Eagle D stopped several promising Sartan drives, intercepted Casaus four times and set the BHS offense up in good field position.

"This isn't the same defense we started the season with," said Lerma. "It's the same guys, but they've matured and have a better understanding of what we try to do."

A defensive play put an exclamation mark on the win, and pushed the margin into the mercy-rule, running clock range. A tipped pass was intercepted by Eagle senior Bryce Cargile near the Belen 12, and he broke one tackle on his way to the end zone.

The Sartans finished the regular season 5-5 overall, 2-1 and second place in 6-4A. The Eagles, who went 3-0 in 6-4A and have won eight straight games, might see the Sartans again next week, as St. Pius must travel to Silver this weekend for a first-round game.

"I don't know anything about Silver, but we know Pius well," said Lerma. The coach said he would scout this weekend's game, and Danner said the second-round (or quarterfinal) game would be scheduled after the Eagles have a definite opponent.

Danner said teams are supposed to try and agree on a date and time on the weekend of a playoff game, but the host school has the ultimate decision. Tickets for all state playoff football games are $8 for adults and $5 for students and senior citizens.

Along with center Tomas Rodriguez, Rivera is one of the few Eagle seniors who were varsity regulars who was on the 1-9 Eagle team of 2006-07.

"Not many guys on that team played with a lot of heart," said Rivera, who is second in Class 4A in rushing this season. "This team is a family, with a lot of heart."

The nine wins is the most for an Eagle team in many years. The 1963 team that reached the state championship game went 10-1.

If there were future Eagle players among the huge Belen crowd in the stands Saturday, there's another district title waiting for them to win in a few years.

"I hope they want to be on a team like this one," said Rivera.

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