Hawks stun Rams in OT
Centennial rallies from 47-19 deficit
RIO RANCHO — Whether Rio Rancho melted down or Centennial staged an epic comeback depends, of course, on one’s sideline point of view. In truth, both were accurate. Visiting Centennial trailed Rio Rancho by 28 points with eight minutes left in the third quarter, furiously rallied to force overtime, and then walked the Rams off with a game-winning PAT in a stunning 54-53 seasonopening prep football victory Friday night.
The difference? A blocked Rio Rancho PAT by Centennial’s Estevan Lowery after the Rams scored first in OT to lead 53-47.
“That guy was blocking me real hard the whole game,” the 6-foot-2 Lowery said, who deflected the kick of Rio Rancho’s Bailey Siverts with his left hand. “I just wanted to give that extra effort on that last play.”
Moments later, Gabriel Acosta scored on a third-down, 7-yard run to tie the game. Joseph Hernandez then swung his left leg and delivered the 54th point.
“Oh man, we just kept believing,” said Centennial senior quarterback Aidan Trujillo, who threw for 370 yards in the victory. “I just kept telling the ‘O,’ one drive at a time.”
The Hawks gifted at least two touchdowns to Rio Rancho in
the first half, one that saw the Rams leading 33-19. Jared Barlow recovered a fumble in the end zone for Rio Rancho, and later, a minus-8 yard punt by the Hawks, the result of a snap fired way over the head of the punter, led to another Rams TD.
When Rio Rancho quarterback Isaiah Chavez scored on a 1-yard, fourth-down run with 8:05 to go in the third quarter, the Rams led 47-19.
Centennial scored on its next drive, with Trujillo’s 2-yard run cutting the deficit to 47-26.
“When we scored there, I thought, ‘We still had 17 minutes left in the game,’ ” said Centennial coach Aaron Ocampo.
The Hawks’ defense was largely responsible for this crazy game that lasted almost 3½ hours.
Centennial turned the Rams over on the next series, and an Acosta TD made it 47-33. Trujillo added a TD early in the fourth to make it 47-40, and he connected with Darren Rodriguez on an 88-yard TD pass with 7:53 left in regulation to tie the game.
Both teams had a drive deep into the other’s territory in the waning minutes, but neither capitalized.
Trujillo threw TD passes of 82 yards (to Rodriguez) and 65 yards (to Karsten Rueckner) in the first quarter.
For the Rams, Chavez rushed for four scores, and he threw for three scores. “Just an amazing feeling,” Trujillo said. “Coaches are always telling us to bend but don’t break,” Lowery said.