NMMI Sports Press
The New Mexico Military Institute Colt football team looked solid in their season opener, on the road vs. Alamogordo High School's JV squad on Saturday.
NMMI racked up 471 yards of total offense while allowing only 105 yards on the defensive side, giving the Colts – and first-year head coach John O’Mera – a decisive 36-7 victory.
The Institute was simply dominant on both sides of the ball for most of the game, especially during the first half of play.
The defense started things off, forcing a “three-and-out” on the Tiger’s initial offensive series, then continued that trend, allowing just one first down and 20 total yards, for the next 24 minutes.
The offense scored on their first four opening possessions.
The first was a 76-yard drive in five plays, giving the Colts a 6-0 lead with 8:36 left in the first. Sophomore running back Alejandro Piedras capped the drive with a seven-yard rumble into the end zone, his first of four rushing touchdowns on the afternoon.
NMMI scored again four minutes later, this time with a 68-yard, six-play effort. Piedras earned the six points with a 12-yard rush, making it 12-0.
The third drive started at the Tiger 46 yard line, after the Colt defense stopped a fourth-and-four passing play for no gain. NMMI linebackers Tegin Maloney and Steven Griego combined for the tackle at the line of scrimmage.
The NMMI offense then went back to work, marching the ball methodically into the end zone with six straight rushes by three different backs: Alejandro Lopez, Cohen Tomasits, and Piedras. Piedras again took the ball across the goal line for the score, this time from 13 yards out. Tomasits rushed in for the two-point conversion to make it 20-0 with 9:14 left in the half.
NMMI scored once more before going into the locker room, again thanks to a short field, set-up by a fourth down stop by the Colt ‘D’.
O’Mera then elected to go to the air. Junior quarterback Cole Seidenburger responded by completing a pair of passes: one for six yards to soph running back Alex Sanchez, then a 40-yard touchdown strike to sophomore wide receiver Fidel Mukeh.
NMMI had another chance to score before the half, after the Institute defense forced and recovered a Tiger fumble at the Alamo 35. The Colts rushed the ball down to the Tiger 4 over eight plays, but a dive play to Maloney came up just inches short of paydirt and the horn sounded before NMMI could get off another play.
The Colts came out a bit flat in the third, fumbling a few plays after receiving the kickoff, and giving up the ball to the Tigers at NMMI’s own 14-yard line.
But the defense came up big again with an interception at the NMMI 2 by junior defensive back Noah Martinez.
NMMI’s final score came at the tail-end of the third quarte to make it 36-0. Piedras earned the golden sombrero with his fourth rushing touchdown, from three yards out.
In the fourth, with the luxury of a large lead and running clock, O’Mera substituted freely to give his other players some quality play-time.
Tomasits and Piedras lead the rushing attack for the Colts, but seven different back posted double-digit yardage numbers. Tomasits had 95 yards on 8 carries with a long of 28; Piedras had 68 yards, eight carries, a long of 18 and the aforementioned 4 TDs.
On the passing side, Seidenberger completed four passes on five attempts for 126 yards and one TD.
The defense was led by Griego with seven tackles: 4 solo, 3 assisted, 2.5 of which were tackles-for-loss. He also had one forced fumble. Maloney was close behind with 6 tackles (2 solo, 4 assisted) and a fumble recovery. Senior defensive lineman William Rosser also had a great game with 2.5 tackles-for-loss and a forced fumble.
“This was good test for us against a solid football team,” said NMMI head coach John O’Mera. “Our kids played well. We scored every time we had the football on offense, except for that last play of the second quarter, and on defense, and I thought we really played a good, solid game.”
“But the biggest thing I saw today was our team staying together. A week ago, in the scrimmage at Eunice, we had a few things go wrong and we were arguing with each other. Today we had a few things go wrong, but we stayed together, and the next play, made up for it. So that was probably the best takeaway from today: we’re slowly, but surely, coming together as a football team.”
“Now we’ll get on, look at some film, and try and fix the mistakes for our upcoming games, including next week at Cloudcroft,” continued O’Mera. “We’ve just got to continue to get better, each week, responding to each new challenge.”
That game vs. the Cloudcroft High School Bears is slated for a 7:00 pm kickoff on Friday, Aug. 25.