St. Michael's denies Portales twice late in enthralling Class 4A showdown

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SANTA FE, N.M. – When St. Michael’s wants to run the football, they run the football.

Saturday, the Horsemen delivered that emphatic message loud and clear to Portales in a thrilling 21-20 victory, scoring the eventual game-winning points on an impressive 67-yard, 14 play march that drained 8:29 off the third quarter clock.

“One of the things we wanted to do was establish the run early,” St. Michael’s coach Joey Fernandez told NMPreps following the win. “We weren’t able to do that last week (in a loss to Moriarty). We wanted to get that going. We did a lot better job up front. Our offensive line was opening up big holes. When you’re averaging about six yards per carry, you want to stick with it. That’s what we did in the third quarter.”

Portales and St. Michael’s came into the game ranked No. 2 and No. 6, respectively, in the NMPreps.com Class 4A poll.