Hobbs leads from start to finish, eliminates Eldorado

You might say the Hobbs Eagles took the road less traveled on Friday.

This was pretty much a literal reference, since the bus route Hobbs planned to take Friday to Albuquerque had to be altered, and the team was forced to take more of a southern route to face Eldorado at Wilson Stadium.

But the travel twist aside, Hobbs had a smoother night once they put the pads on.

Hobbs scored 39 seconds into the game, led from start to finish, and the No. 9 seed in the Class 6A football playoffs beat No. 8 Eldorado 35-14 in the first round of the postseason on a frigid night in the Northeast Heights.

Hobbs will return to Wilson Stadium next Saturday to face No. 1 La Cueva in the quarterfinals.

“They got their guys, everyone knows who they are,” Hobbs quarterback Brock Beaty said of the Bears, and then he fired a shot across La Cueva’s bow. “We don’t care. We’re gonna come and we’re gonna bring it.”

It was not all roses Friday night for Hobbs (7-4), despite the 21-point winning margin.

The key sequence occurred late in the third quarter, with Hobbs in front 21-14.

Eldorado, which lost its top running back Isaiah Quintana to injury in the first quarter and starting quarterback Giovanni Evans to injury during this pivotal drive, took advantage of three Hobbs penalties and was faced with a fourth-and-2 from the Hobbs 28.

There, senior linebacker Tristan Davis swarmed Eldorado running back Daniel Quinones, throwing him for a five-yard loss.

“Our defense has provided the energy and spark for us all year,” Hobbs coach Ken Stevens said.

Four plays after Davis’ tackle, Beaty threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to running back Omarrion Kennedy, who was wide open with single coverage on the far side. That score, with 1 second left in the third quarter, made it a 28-14 lead for Hobbs.

How did that play unfold?

“That guy, right there,” Kennedy said, looking over at Stevens who was standing nearby. “He drew it up. I had a linebacker on me, I beat the linebacker and scored a touchdown.”

Kennedy also added the game-clinching score, a 20-yard scoring run with 4:51 to go.

Eldorado, severely hamstrung with its personnel setbacks, didn’t have near the firepower to make a game of it in the final 12 minutes.

Beaty’s screen pass to Shamus Wright became a 16-yard score in the first minute of the game. Wright added a 1-yard score early in the second quarter to give Hobbs the first 14 points of the game.

Then there was some trading of touchdowns.

Eldorado (7-4) finally got on the board with Quinones scoring from the 2 midway through the quarter.

With three minutes to go before halftime, Adrian Mora returned an Eldorado punt 95 yards for a touchdown. (Mora returned another punt for a touchdown in the second half, but it was erased.)

But Eldorado answered quickly, with Evans throwing a beautiful 47-yard touchdown strike to Jahari Morehead, and Eldorado was down only seven (21-14) at halftime.

“We knew they had a solid defense, we knew they could run the ball, we wanted to get up on them, and if we could do that early, we could get them out of their game plan and force them to maybe throw the football, which we didn’t think they had the capability to do very well. I didn’t feel they were built to come from behind.”