Eldorado outlasts Farmington in thriller

By Santiago Ramos Jr.
Special to the Times

ALBUQUERQUE – The Eldorado Golden Eagles stung the Farmington Scorpions 44-40 in a District 2/5 6A football shootout Saturday on a perfect fall afternoon at Wilson Stadium.

The 4-5 Golden Eagles, 1-2 in district play, scored the game-winning touchdown late in the fourth quarter with 25 seconds left to turn back the 5-4 Scorpions who fall to 1-2 in district play.

Farmington head coach Jeff Dalton said special teams played a crucial role in the district loss.

“Special teams were a huge difference today,” Dalton said. “We give up a touchdown on a punt and then we’re not able to kick it through right now. It’s something we need to continue to work on. We have some timing issues with snappers and holders.”

In a game that featured crucial turnovers by both teams, it was a crucial pass interference call against the Scorpions that fueled the game-winning drive by Eldorado.

Facing a second down and 10 from the 40, Eldorado senior quarterback Brandon Olivas, who shredded the Scorpions secondary with five touchdown strikes of 3, 22, 32, 29 and 26 yards, threw a pass to senior wide receiver Josiah Mitchell that the Scorpions was whistled for pass interference.

After Olivas completed passes for 8 and 5 yards, the Eagles marched down to the 4 for a first and goal with time running out. El Dorado senior running back Johnpaul Ludi then bulled his way into the end zone for the game-winning score.

Dalton felt that the pass interference call could have gone either way.

“There were a couple of situations where we had to interfere or they were going to catch a deep one,” Dalton said. “But that one we thought our guy was in good position, but you get some (calls) and you don’t get some (calls).”

With just 25 seconds left and trailing 44-40, Farmington tried desperately to find the end zone.

After Farmington senior quarterback Trel Griego threw a 11-yard completion to junior wide receiver Alex Serrano with eight seconds left, Farmington called a timeout. But on the game’s final play, Griego fired a long pass downfield that was picked off by Eldorado senior Joshua Jackson.

The 6-foot-4, 225-pound Griego used his massive size to score a pair of touchdowns on runs of 9 yards in the second quarter and 3 yards in the third quarter. Griego also tossed a 15-yard scoring strike to Serrano.

Farmington junior Jared Meechan returned an interception for 40 yards for a pick 6 with less than two minutes in the first half that tied the game for the first of four ties at 12-all.

Scorpion sophomore Santiago Grieg recovered an Eldorado punt in the end zone with 2:19 left in the third quarter that gave the Scorps the lead, 32-26.

But Olivas responded and tied the game at 32-all with his fifth scoring toss – this one for 26 yards to Mitchell.

Eagles junior Mckaven Haskins then recovered a fumble in the end zone with less than eight minutes left in the game that gave the lead back to Eldorado, 38-32.

Farmington responded with a stunning 60-yard punt return by Serrano tying the game for the fourth and final time at 38-all.

The Scorpions then grabbed a brief two-point lead 40-38 on a key two-point PAT pass from quarterback Griego to sophomore Zander Griego.

However, that set up the game-winning drive by the Eagles.

Farmington will entertain district leading and No. 2 ranked La Cueva (6-3 overall, 3-0 in district) Friday night in its district finale.

“We just have to keep working on the simple things – the catch in traffic and picking up the protection we need to be in,” Dalton said. “We have a very talented team. We just have to keep doing detailed work.”

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