Storm rout Jaguars, 59-6, in debut
|
)
SANTA FE — They won’t forget this game for a long time.
Final score: Cleveland High 59, Capital 6.
Iseha Conklin scored four times and Garrett Hayes scored three TDs — only once while on offense — and the gathering Storm were never threatened.
The Storm lost the coin toss, but the Jaguars deferred to the second half.
The Storm managed a first down on their first possession, then took the lead to keep the second time they had the ball.
Conklin, who ran for 118 yards on 18 carries, broke off a 35-yard run around left end and nearly scored, ruled down at the 1.
Hayes was stopped on his first try, then got the ball again on second down and burst into the end zone. Andy Smith’s point-after gave the Storm a 7-0 lead, a mere 6:03 into the contest.
Conklin scored on a 2-yard run less than two minutes later and Smith made it 14-0. Hayes completed the opening-quarter scoring when he returned a Capital fumble about 30 yards for a 20-0 lead.
The rout was on.
Capital quarterback Beau Graham spoiled the shutout bid with a short run into the end zone.
Conklin’s second TD came on a 2-yard run; his third TD, wrapping up the first-half scoring, came when he caught a short pass from QB Travis Lonergan on the left side, then reversed his field, coming all the way to the right side of the field and out-racing the Jaguars to the end zone, making it a 54-yard TD pass.
The first half ended with the Storm comfortably ahead, 34-6.
Hayes blocked a Jaguars punt and covered the ball in the end zone for a 41-6 lead; Conklin’s final TD of the game, a 17-yard run, made it 46-6.
Adam Grau, spelling Conklin admirably, scored on a 20-yard run early in the fourth quarter.
QB Marty Vaughn capped the scoring with a 14-yard run, after it appeared he was stopped in the backfield, then broke free and rumbled into the end zone.
“I just wanted to come out here and get that first win and help the team do good,” Conklin said. “We all did good. We executed really well.”
The Storm play their “home opener” Thursday at Rio Rancho Stadium when Miyamura, a Class 4A school from Gallup, visits for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
