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Sunday, December 3, 2000
Coyotes' Rally Shocks Panthers
By Eric Butler
For the Journal
FARMINGTON — The new kids on the block were about to show just how easy it is to win a state championship. But the Roswell Coyotes still had a little something to say about that Saturday.
In what likely will go down as one of the greatest comebacks in New Mexico high school football history, the Coyotes rallied from a 31-7 deficit to defeat Piedra Vista 35-31 for the Class AAAA championship.
The winning points came when junior quarterback Manny Fuentes, who finished with 286 yards and five touchdowns passing, found Able Espinoza on a 2-yard scoring toss with 43 seconds left.
Third-year school Piedra Vista, subsequently forced to play from behind for the first time all game, had its last gasp expire when Coyote Steven Childress tipped away a Jason McClelland pass, which Espinoza intercepted at midfield with 34 seconds remaining.
At the end, Roswell standout running back Dontrell Moore was exhilarated — and exhausted.
"It was kind of tiring. But I never gave up. My teammates had faith in me, and I had faith in my teammates," said Moore, who finished with 160 yards rushing, 57 yards receiving and an interception in the end zone that thwarted the Panthers' last scoring threat with two minutes left.
"Everybody busted it and my linemen kicked it into fourth gear," Moore said. "Thirty-one to seven, 100-7, ... we never gave up, never stopped fighting. We knew that if we do what the Coyotes do, we could win the state championship. And that's what we did."
Behind a rushing attack that exploited the middle of the Coyotes defensive line, Piedra Vista (11-2) took a 24-point lead with 6:03 left in the third quarter on a 4-yard run by Brent Darnell.
Piedra Vista quarterback McClelland finished with 111 yards rushing. Running backs Noah Wood and Brent Peterson punished the Roswell defense for 98 and 96 yards rushing, respectively.
"I was very shocked at their game plan and their execution; they dominated the line of scrimmage," Roswell coach Jack Cisco said. "We told our kids all week that, in state championships, the team that dominates the line wins the game. I guess, this time, it's not necessarily true."
Events started spinning out of control for the Panthers, however, when Roswell drove 66 yards at the end of the third quarter to score on a pass from Fuentes to Espinoza. The touchdown, cutting the Piedra Vista lead to 31-13, started the momentum shift for the Coyotes.
"Our kids will have fond memories of it — once they get over the sadness of playing their hearts out and not winning," Piedra Vista coach Wilson Wilhite said. "But Roswell's a great football team."
Wilhite did have issue with a call he felt was in error late in the game. In what would have been a game-saving play for the Panthers, defensive back Neil Thompson appeared to have intercepted a Fuentes pass with 1:08 left. But the ball was ruled to have touched the ground first.
"We get a bad call. We intercept at the 2-yard line, and we can run the clock out. All we have to do is take a knee — three plays, and it's over," said Wilhite of the play.
But it came after the Coyotes already had scored three desperate touchdowns to close the Piedra Vista lead to 31-28.
Said Fuentes, "When they went up, I just thought, 'Keep on going, keep on going.' We just overcame the adversity and came through.''