Mar. 7—Andrew Owen stood in front of his Hope Christian football teammates at the north end of Richard A. Harper Stadium and verbalized his thoughts.
“This,” he said in the aftermath of the Huskies’ 14-7 road victory Saturday afternoon at Albuquerque Academy, “is one of the most important games of my life.”
Prep football returned to the metro area for the first time in 15-plus months with this meeting of two private schools located less than three miles apart. About 200 fans were in attendance for this Week 1 matchup.
Hope, the defending Class 3A state champion, won in Fernando Salinas’ debut as head coach. The Huskies graduated nearly two dozen seniors off their 2019 squad and had just 11 returning.
“My first win as a head coach,” Salinas said. The game ball, given to him by the team, was tucked under his left arm. “It’s pretty special.”
It was no easy route to get here for Hope Christian, besides just the turnover in player personnel and with the coaching staff.
The entire junior and senior class at Hope, including about 20 football players, had to quarantine for a couple of weeks recently when two of their classmates tested positive for COVID-19, Salinas said. That group only returned to practice Monday of this week.
“It was difficult,” Salinas said. “It showed on the field how difficult it was. We tried to be as prepared as we could.”
Perhaps not coincidentally, the game was scoreless at halftime, as the teams combined for four turnovers — three of them giveaways by the Huskies — and only one red-zone opportunity between the two, a possession that ended with a missed field goal by the Chargers.
The Huskies scored both their touchdowns in the third quarter.
“In the second half,” sophomore slot receiver Brent Miller said, “we kind of got in our groove.”
Junior quarterback James Jenkins engineered a seven-play, 71-yard drive to open the third quarter, and capped it with a 3-yard keeper for the game’s first points.
The Huskies’ next drive covered 97 yards in just four plays as they doubled their lead to 14-0.
Jenkins, on a first down from his 16, threw over the top to Miller, who slipped behind the secondary and easily completed an 84-yard score. Jenkins only completed two passes all game.
“That was the first touchdown I’ve ever thrown,” said Jenkins, who moved over from the slot as Salinas said he wanted his best athlete in the most important position. “Because I’ve never played quarterback before.”
Still, the Chargers responded quickly. On a fourth-and-3, Academy QB A.J. Rivera threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to Kellan Gehres, and the Hope lead was cut in half with 62 seconds left in the third quarter.
Academy got the ball back with 2:15 remaining. The Chargers reached the Hope 23 with Rivera going 6-for-6, but the drive esstentially ended when Rivera was thrown for a 14-yard sack on a third down.
Both sidelines said they were glad to be back in uniform.
“I think, honestly, it was a relief,” Academy coach Shaun Gehres said.
There was, he added, uncertainty about this game being played up until Friday, as the Academy is testing athletes and staff on Thursday and Friday of each week.
“Once we actually got out here, it finally brought back a little bit of normalcy,” Gehres said. “This is how their high school experience is supposed to be.”
Said Jenkins, “It’s a feeling I missed for so long. There’s nothing better in life than that.”
Salinas, through his mask, admitted the emotions of the day were evident everywhere.
“It was just kind of surreal,” he said. “It took a long time to get here.”
HOPE CHRISTIAN 14, ALBUQUERQUE ACADEMY 7
Hope 0 0 14 0 — 14
Academy 0 0 7 0 — 7
Scoring: HC, James Jenkins 3 run (Gabe Trujillo kick); HC, Brent Miller 84 pass from Jenkins (Trujillo kick); AA, Kellan Gehres 38 pass from A.J. Rivera (Cole Smidt kick). Rec.: HC 1-0; AA 0-1. First downs: HC 14; AA 10. Rushes-yards: HC 36-168; AA 25-(minus 6). Passing: HC 2-7-2—109; AA 17-27-2—167. Total offense: HC 277; AA 161. Punts-avg.: HC 2-36.0; AA 4.33.3. Fumbles-lost: HC 4-1; AA 4-0. Penalties-yards: HC 4-40; AA 7-55.
PREP SCORES
Saturday
Hope Christian 14, Albuquerque Academy 7
Clovis 14, Hobbs 10
Alamogordo 16, Bloomfield 14
Socorro 40, Hot Springs 0
Magdalena 64, Mesilla Valley Christian 20
Ramah 51, Reserve 0
Clovis Christian 22, Elida 12
Tohatchi 48, Thoreau 8
Gateway Christian 50, Dora 0
Hondo Valley 24, Animas 20
Cuba 14, Crownpoint 0
Friday
Portales 21, Moriarty 0
Fort Sumner 50, Menaul 0
Carlsbad 35, Artesia 34
Farmington 46, Aztec 0
Piedra Vista 42, Miyamura 0
Lovington 54, Ruidoso 20
Texico 49, Tucumcari 14
Dexter 17, NM Military Institute 2
Melrose 48, Logan 12
SCHEDULE
Monday
Kirtland Central at Gallup, 6 p.m.
Newcomb at Shiprock, 7 p.m.
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