Taos takes down Silver City in double OT

Silver City 12 Taos 13

The Taos High School football team headed south on Friday night (Oct. 8) to face off against Silver City at a neutral-site game in Los Lunas. After an intense match that led to several injuries, stifling defense and broken plays, the THS Tigers emerged with a 13-12 victory in the second overtime.

The winning score came off of a 10-yard touchdown throw by junior quarterback Daemon Ely followed by a made PAT by kicker Pol Cavaller.

The Silver City Fighting Colts were given a last-second chance to win the game after a final touchdown in the last possession of the second overtime. A kicked extra point would end the game in a tie, a 2-point conversion would give them the win. Silver City opted for the 2-point conversion, which failed, handing Taos the victory.

“I’m really proud of these guys,” said Tigers head coach Art Abreu. “They just played hard, smashmouth football and that’s something that my staff has worked on with them from the beginning.”

The game was dominated by defense with no scoring in the entire first half. The Fighting Colts got on the board first in the second half, with a quick touchdown on the first possession. But a missed extra point kick left them with only 6 points. The Tigers responded in kind, but also missed their extra point. The game ended at 6-6, and so did the first OT.

A quick fade pass to the corner of the endzone by Ely and then stout defense against the countering Colts gave THS the win over Silver City in the second OT.

The Silver City Fighting Colts are the third ranked team in the state (and the number one ranked team in the coaches’ poll.)

“This is just a really tough team,” said Abreu of the Fighting Colts. “It’s a good win. Now we got a bit of a [winning] streak going. The big thing now is complacency. We have to make sure we don’t get complacent. We need to finish the season strong.”

It’s been a tale of two halves

(of the season) for this Tigers team, which began the year with four straight losses. The team was plagued by conditioning issues and continued to lose games due to broken plays that caused confusion across the Tigers’ defensive line. Now, deep into the second half of the season, the Tigers look like a different team, running circles around their opponents without getting gassed, and perfectly executing their playbook.

The Tigers, with a 3-4 record, look to continue their winning streak (now at 3 games) when they take on Española Valley on Friday (Oct. 15) at home.