On Friday night, Colt Football went down to the wire against Eunice High suffering a 35-30 loss off a kickoff return as the clocked expired. 

Q1

Receiving the kickoff, Eunice wasted no time finding their rhythm. The Cardinals opened the game with a 80-yard touchdown drive, capped by a 25-yard touchdown connection from Adan Baeza to Dyson Lord. Answering right back, NMMI moved the ball 54 yards in 11 plays before Tegin Maloney took the handoff from three yards out to tie the game at seven. The following possession, defensive back Marcus Kannady snagged his first interception of the year to give the Colts the ball near the 50 yard line. 

Q2

Using three minutes to open the quarter, NMMI took a 14-7 lead behind a 15-yard touchdown rush by Cole Seidenberger. Not wanting to fall further behind, Eunice used a 17-yard touchdown pass from Baeza to Jaen Castro to make the score 14-14. After a punt by the Colts, the Cardinals took a 21-14 advantage as Elijah Woods connected with Castro for an eight yard touchdown pass. 

To end the first half, the Colts used a 48-yard touchdown pass reception from Seidenberger to Sawyer Hull as he snagged the ball from the defender before making three Eunice High defenders miss as he knotted the game at 21-21 to head into halftime. 

Q3

In the third, Eunice High moved the ball 74 yards in eight minutes before making it a nine point game after the quarterback took a direct snap from seven yards out and the Cardinals converted their two-point attempt to make it a 21-29 ballgame. Punching back, the Colts, with the help of a good bounce, turned an offensive fumble into a touchdown as Cohen Tomasits picked up a fumble and outran the Eunice defenders from 25 yards out. After missing their two-point attempt, the Colts trailed 27-29 heading into the final quarter. 

Q4

After four consecutive scoreless drives by both sides, Eunice moved the ball 49 yards but not before running six minutes off the clock. On fourth down, the NMMI defense came up with a huge stop to get the ball back to the offense. Down two with six minutes to go, the Colts running attack came to life. Behind the offensive line, the Colts drove the ball across the field before taking the 30-29 lead with a 34-yard field goal by Leonardo Perez with a second left on the clock. As the clock expired, Eunice High returned the final kickoff with multiple laterals to hand the Colts a 35-30 loss.

On offense, the Colts totaled 328 yards with 256 yards coming through the ground attack. The offense tallied 22 first downs, going 6-12 on third down conversions while picking up their only two fourth down conversions. Through the air, NMMI added 72 yards off only six attempts.

Despite the loss, head coach John O’mera was impressed by how the team played. “I’m very proud of the boys… we played a good football team and a good game,” O’Mera said. Heading into next week this is something the team can use for the remainder of the season. “We learned a hard lesson, we need to play until the clock hits zero … you couldn’t ask for a better script and we’re definitely going to learn from this and bounce back,” O’mera said. 

The Colts return to action next Friday, Sept. 13 as they host Chaparral High at 7 p.m. on Colt Field before a mini two-game stint away from home.