Defense carries the day for Miyamura football

Patriots remain undefeated with 40-6 win

GALLUP

Coming into last Friday game’s with Santa Fe Capital, the biggest question Wes Shank had was how were they going to respond to Junior Vargas.

According to the Miyamura coach, Vargas had accumulated over 600 yards rushing in Capital’s first three games.

With that, the Patriots made a commitment in stopping the run as the Capital senior running back was held to 46 yards on 14 carries.

“I thought the defense played very well,” Shank said. “I don’t how many Vargas had but I thought we did a good job of containing him.”

As it turned out, Capital senior quarterback Mark Segura hurt the Patriots the most. Not by much though, as Miyamura posted a 40-6 win to improve to 3-0 for the season. The Patriots are one of four teams that are still undefeated in Class 5A.

Segura completed 5 of 12 passes for 71 yards and he added 69 yards on the ground on 11 carries.

“I thought the biggest run was the quarterback scramble,” said Shank, while noting that they need to do a better job of that when they face Albuquerque St. Pius quarterback Drew Ortiz on Sept. 30.

“Other than that, we played solid on the defensive end and our line gave us plenty of protection,” he said.

As the strongest link to the offense, the linemen allowed the Patriots to pass the ball more often than they have in their previous two games. They consist of twin brothers Josh and Nick Ashley, Kyler Keeler, Ethan Dempsey, and Cooper Jim.

“They have done a phenomenal job all year,” Shank said. “I am so proud of them.”

With those five starters working in cohesion, it allowed senior quarterback Matt Chavez to be comfortable in the pocket as he finished with 217 yards on 23-of-45 attempts.

Junior Giovanna Chioda caught nine passes for 101 yards while Brian Vidal had 74 yards on six receptions and a touchdown.

Not only did Chavez have time to throw for two scores, the running game also produced 247 yards on 37 carries.

Chavez led the way with 92 yards on eight carries. Christian Coffey had 65 yards on 13 carries while Chioda carried the ball for 59 yards on 10 attempts.

The Patriots got their first score when Chavez hooked up with senior Ozzie Guerrero on a 7-yard reception late in the first half. That score capped a 78-yard drive that took nine plays.

---