Hayden’s Kino Lorona (#22) runs the ball. Photo by Nathaniel Lopez
By Nathaniel A. Lopez
Last Friday, the Hayden football team continued its quest for the 1A State Championship, during the Semifinals game at Coronado High School. The Lobos took on the St. David Tigers.
Hayden received the ball off the first kickoff. The Lobos played a tough defense trying hard to break through the Tigers’ defense. The Tigers turned the ball over, but it quickly returned to the Lobos, when the boys recovered a fumble.
Kino Lorona scored the first touchdown, giving the Lobos 6 points. Hayden’s defense played tough, and stopped Saint David from gaining yards. Scoring the second touchdown was Tyler Garner, making the game 12-0. Quarterback Paul Gaither tossed a pass to Jr. Fong for another touchdown, followed by a field goal by Mj Oropeza. Closing out the first quarter with a 19-0 score.
The second quarter started in the Tigers’ hands, but the Lobos recovered another fumble and got the ball. Tyler Garner ran the ball hard, and it took four people to take him down. Garner scored a touchdown, making it 25-0. Jr Fong caught a pass in the end zone, followed by a field goal by Mj Oropeza, bringing the score to 32-0. Kino Lorona scored the last touchdown of the second quarter, making it 38-0 for the first half of the game.
The Lobos kicked off to start the second half of the game. The boys were able to stop St. David from gaining any yards, and turned the ball over. Jordan Rodriguez carried the ball for a touchdown, making it 45-0, with a field goal pushing it to 46-0. Gaining yards off a run, St. David inched closer to the end zone, eventually scoring with 24 seconds left of the third quarter, making it 46-6 for the end of quarter 3.
Hayden started off the fourth quarter with Kino Lorona running over 60 yards for a touchdown, making it 52-6, with a field goal making it 53-6. The Lobos held tight for the remainder of the quarter, not giving anymore points. The game ended with a final score of 53-6.
“How does it feel, going back to the ‘ship?” Coach Estrada asked the team during their post-game huddle, “Extremely hard next week, we’ve gotta get focused. Heck of a game, you guys knocked the heck out of those guys. We gotta heal, we’ve gotta heal for next week, so you guys that are banged up, get ice heat, whatever it takes. We gotta heal for next week so we can be healthy to face whoever we’re going to face.”
The Lobos will advance to the state championship game against Bagdad. The game will be on Saturday, Nov. 16, with a 6 p.m. kickoff time. Tickets are available through: https://gofan.co/event/1981709. The game will also be live streamed via the NFHS Network.