NMMI Sports Press
New Mexico Military Institute’s high school football team picked up a huge win on the road against district rival Dexter, 22-8.
The Demons were ranked second in the state in Class 3A, sporting a 6-1 overall record and 1-0 in district; NMMI tabbed at No. 8, just one more loss at 6-2, but also undefeated in district at 2-0.
The Colts had a golden opportunity at the very start of the game with a Dexter fumble on the kickoff return, forced and recovered by NMMI’s Tegin Maloney at the Demon 40 yard line.
The ensuing NMMI offensive drive took the ball down to the Dexter 3, but a false start penalty and an incomplete pass on fourth down gave Dexter the ball back on their own 8.
Dexter then mounted a 9-play 51 drive that stalled at the NMMI 34. They also elected to go for it on fourth down, but Cohen Tomasits came up with the big play, sacking Dexter’s quarterback for a six-yard loss.
NMMI’s next drive – which spanned the last three minutes of the first quarter and briefly into the start of the second – put the first points on the board. The Colts ran for 59 yards over six plays, capped by a nine-yard TD on an option-keeper by quarterback Cole Seidenberger with 11:50 left in the half.
Dexter’s next possession was halted by defensive back Noah Martinez; he picked off a third-and-long passing attempt to give the ball back to NMMI at their own 45.
NMMI’s rushing attack again moved the ball methodically down the field, but a fumble at the Demon 25 put a stop to yet another scoring opportunity.
The Institute ‘D’ made another big play on fourth down with Santiago Lordmendez and Hunter Terry stopping a Dexter receiver two yards shy of a first down at the NMMI 34.
The very next play, Tomasits broke free down the sideline on an option pitch, 66 yards for the touchdown with 4:52 left in the second quarter.
NMMI held that 14-0 lead through halftime, but the Demons came out fired up in the third. Their defense quickly stopped the Colts’ first possession, resulting in just three plays and a loss of 2 yards.
The Dexter offense then ripped off eight straight rushes, the last an 11-yard TD on a dive up the middle, by Julian Manzanares. Demon quarterback Kevin Villalobos ran in the two-point conversion on a keeper around the right side, and it was 14-8 with 5:43 left in the third.
Both defenses then made quick stops, each resulting in negative total yardage during the series: five plays and six yard lost for NMMI, three plays and minus three yards for the Demons.
NMMI next offensive series, however, again managed to take it over the goal line, six plays and 50 yards on the drive. Alejandro Piedras got the score, breaking through the line for an eight-yard TD. NMMI also went for two and converted, on a pass from Seidenberger to tight end Matthew McCargish; 22-8 with 9:56 left in the final fourth period.
Dexter responded with an impressive 14-play drive, down to the NMMI 1. But once again, the NMMI defense came up with a big play. On fourth-and-goal, QB Villalobos was forced out of the pocket by the NMMI pass rush. He managed to avoid the sack and get off a pass to his wide-out Kaesn George, but Lordmendez made the tackle and got the turnover-on-downs.
NMMI managed to run out the clock during their next offensive possession to hold on for the victory.
The Institute racked up 255 total yards of offense in the contest, all but seven yards of which came on the ground. Tomasits had another 100+ yard game for the Colts with 12 carries; Seidenberger and Piedras each had over 50 yards rushing as well.
Defensively, in addition to the two takeaways and aforementioned sack, the Colts collected five tackles-for-losses, totaling 21 yards, including another six-yard sack by Grant Maloney.
“We finally played up to our abilities,” said NMMI head coach John O’Mera. “You want to put it all together when it counts and right now we’re playing pretty good – we’ve just got to keep it going.”
“Dexter’s a great football team,” continued O’Mera. “They’re one of the best teams in the state and we could see them again down the road in the playoffs.”
“You had two physical, tough teams out there tonight, hitting each other. There were some aggressive penalties on both sides,” said O’Mera when asked about the 27 flags thrown, resulting in over 270 total yards in penalties. “But the neat thing is, both teams were classy and there were no cheap shots. This was just two good teams playing their guts out for what might end up being the key win toward a district championship.”
With the win, NMMI improves to 7-2 overall and remains undefeated in district. The Colts are off next week, but have one game remaining in the regular season, at home against Tucumcari on Friday, Oct. 27. That game will be held at Colt Field on the NMMI campus, kickoff set for 7:00 pm.