NMMI Sports Press
Quarterback Cole Seidenberger ran for 142 yards and two scores and had the game-sealing interception late in the fourth quarter as the Colts held on for a 22-14 victory over the visiting Hope Christian Huskies.
Seidenberger averaged 10 yards per carry and had a long run of 41 yards during the Institute’s final scoring drive. He completed just two of his four pass attempts, but both were for first downs that helped sustain long drives, and he delivered a few big hits, on both side of the ball.
“He’s a competitor and really makes us go. Sometimes I wish he’d just step out of bounds or keep running, but he wants the contact,” said NMMI head coach John O’Mera. “The last couple weeks people have taken away our halfbacks and basically challenged our quarterback to beat them. And tonight he beat them.”
Five other Colts carried the ball 27 times for 114 yards, giving NMMI a total of 256 yards on the ground. Junior Cohen Tomasits had 40 yards on six carries and scored a two-point conversion on the Institute’s last scoring drive.
Sophomore Alejandro Piedras totted the rock 11 times for 34 yards and senior Leonardo Lopez had three carries for 13 yards, including a five-yard touchdown to start the NMMI scoring early in the second quarter.
Neither team could assert dominance in the first half, combining to go 0-for-9 on third downs with just seven first downs between them. Three of those first downs came on NMMI’s lone first half scoring drive that began in Hope territory after the Huskies failed to convert on fourth down.
The action picked up in the second half, as Hope found more success through the air and the Colts ate up clock with their relentless ground attack.
The Huskies finally got on the board late in the third quarter with an 80-yard drive that was aided by a 15-yard personal foul against the Colts, but they missed the PAT. Seidenberger’s second touchdown scamper put the Colts up 20-6. The Huskies jumped early on the PAT try, moving the Colts closer to the goal line, where Tomasits punched it in for two points.
The Huskies answered with a kickoff return to midfield and a long completion to the NMMI 10-yard line that set up an easy score and two-point conversion to lessen the NMMI lead to 22-14.
With less than three minutes remaining, the Colts needed one more drive to run out the clock, but disaster struck as junior Alex Sanchez fumbled on the first play of the series and Hope recovered at their own 42.
The Huskies passed for a first down to move into NMMI territory, but from there, the defense locked in, with a big pass breakup for senior DB Santiago Lordmendez and then the interception for Seidenberger.
“We played some good football and we played some bad football,” O’Mera said. “We still make too many mistakes and that will be our Achilles Heel if we don’t clean it up. But give the kids credit for staying together and overcoming their mistakes and not letting them compound.”
The Colts improve to 5-2 on the season, but more importantly, 1-0 in District 4 play. Tucumcari defeated Ruidoso 12-7 and the Dexter Demons were idle this week.
The Colts head to Ruidoso for the rare Thursday varsity matchup against the defending Class 3A state champs at 6 p.m.