December 7, 2002
Vs. Roswell-Goddard (State Championship Game)

Well on to the big show. We played the Roswell-Goddard Rockets for the 2002 class 4A championship. I will make it short. We scored first with a field goal and then they scored (TD) and then we got a TD. Then halftime. Then they scored 14-10. Well then we scored to make it 17-14 and that is what the scoreboard said when the time ran out. But as you know I have to talk about what I did. I dropped two interceptions but I made both of them up. The first of my drops was in the 1st half. The ball was thrown and there was coverage on the receiver. I was about 7 yards behind the receiver and I knew that it was going to go off his hands. Well It did and I was there but it hit me in a bad spot; the hands, and I dropped it. BUT, the very next play they tried to pass it again and the throw was to far ahead of the WR and I dove and made the interception. The other drop came while in the fourth quarter. I punted the ball and made it out at the 11 yard line. Goddard had 3 and 1/2 minutes to go down and score. They drove all the way to our 40 or around there. They went deep and I dove for it and could not hold onto it. Again it hit me in the hands.

Well my redemption came later but on the way I had also committed a pass interference penalty. So they where able to get to our 20 with about 2 minutes in the game. On first down they tried to pass it but we sacked him. Fast forward to 3 and long. They tried to set up a screen pass and our end was able to read it. When the QB threw the ball, as soon as the WR touched it our defensive end hit him and popped the ball in the air a little bit. I was right there to help so I just was able to catch it and I fell over the WR. I couldn't really believe what happened. Our Offense came out and ran out the clock. We became state champs. I was quoted in 2 newspapers and was interviewed on the news. A picture of me was on the front page. I will send it later. It is cool to be state champs but it hasn't set in. Its pretty cool though. Well that is it. Thank all of you who have had an influence in my life to be able to have the abilities that I have. Now I am going to try to get a state wrestling title. I will probably wrestle at 152 lbs.

December 4, 2002
Vs. Artesia (Semi Finals)

The game that we have been waiting for. Onate vs. Artesia Bulldogs. They had already beaten Las Cruces and where on a 19 game winning streak. they have also won 22 state championships in their school history. They are the only school in their town and so football is huge. Well we played on Saturday, the last day in November at 1 in the afternoon. There whole town came and we had a pretty good amount of people cheering for us. Well they scored first with a field goal, then we matched that with a TD. We went in at halftime ahead 14-10. Both
offense and defense did good jobs answer the needs to win. My highlight came in the second half when it was a 4th and goal on our 15. We went into a man defense and they came out with 2 WRs on both sides. Right
before the play started the play my coach yelled over to me to scoot in. Well it helped a lot because the WR ran a 5 yard slant and I was right there to bat the ball away. It was really cool. Well our offense shined
and put up 48 points and Artesia was only able to make 36. Our fullback rushed for 275 yards, and I think I failed to mention that Artesia was ranked #1 and everyone expected them to win. Everyone was stoked and that
was the first time in school history that we have beaten Artesia and that was the first time we have gone to the Championship.

November 28, 2002
Vs. Piedra Vista (Quarter Finals)

Now on to the playoffs. Our first round game was against Piedra Vista. They are from the northern part of the state. We played them Saturday night here at the field of dreams. Well from a defensive standpoint this was a very ugly game. Our offense came with it and won this game. Our defense was pushed all over the field and gave up 24 points. One of our corners got 2 interceptions and I was able to catch one too. It came on a 4th and forever and it was a deep ball and I had to dive to catch it. It was pretty cool. To bad it made us lose about 25 yards because it was forth so I should have batted it down. But other than that, that is all I did that game. We won 42-24.

November 15, 2002
@ Deming

Deming had lost to Silver and this was a must win for them to have a chance in the playoffs. They got the ball first and we made them punt right away. I think our offense scored on one of the first three plays they ran. they got lucky one a big pass play with got them close enough to score. we then scored 2 more times. On the next kickoff they fumbled the ball and we recovered and returned it for a score. So we where up fast and we just ran away with the game. My highlights came in, I think, the 2nd quarter with just over 8 minutes to go until half. They attempted a pass but I intercepted it and was able to return it for a TD. I went 62 yards. Then my other glory time came in the 3rd when on offense I was able to score from 1 yard out on a little run play. We ended up beating them 48-20. We are the district champs for a second year in a row.

November 1, 2002
Vs. Silver

Well another week of football has gone by and here I am to tell you about it. So this week was Silver and our last regular season home game. It was Last Friday night at the Field of Dreams. It was the first cold game of the season. It was in the low 50s and our heads where doing the steaming thing. It is a surprise this game because I have more to tell about on offense than defense. We got the ball first and took it about 73 yards on 14 plays to score. Then the defense forced a quick punt and offense scored again. that was in the 1st quarter and in the second quarter we scored twice and then silver scored there only points and it came off of an interception which got returned for a TD. I think in the first quarter they threw a pass and our guys hit him hard and the ball popped out and I though it was an incomplete pass at first but then I jumped on it and recovered the fumble. That was the only time I got to the ball the whole game. In the first half they only managed 29 yards total offense and ended the game with 43 yards of total offense, 5 first downs and
where forced to punt 8 times.

October 25, 2002
@ Santa Teresa

Our next district game was vs Santa Teresa. They just moved up from 3A and just broke a 30 game losing streak this year. Well we came right out and on the very first play from scrimmage scored. It was a quick pass to our running back who then took it 56 yards for a TD. Then on kickoff we got the ball back and then scored again. Well that was the whole story of the game. We killed them 41-6. I returned about 2 punts and if I was any faster I could have returned them. In both previous games I got to play a little bit of Offense. In the Alamo game and Belen game we had a combined 1,100 total yards. Next game is vs. Silver at home. We better beat them. We are now 6-2 overall and 2-0 in district. Well I think that is it so I will write on a later time.

October 19, 2002
Vs. Belen (Homecoming)

Well this was our district opener and we came out and beat them. I am playing strong safety now. The first drive they had they where pushing to score. In the red zone it was 4th and short and they ran a QB sneak. Well our linebackers hit him and he fumbled the ball right between my legs. I squatted/pounced on the ball and recovered the fumble. That was pretty much it for that game. We won 39-8.

October 11, 2002
@ Alamagordo

Well on to this last week. Friday we played our last game before district. We played Alamagordo who is another 5A team. We knew we had to win to get some momentum going into district. We came out fired up and at the end of the first half the score was 14-10. We played good but we knew we needed to play better if we wanted to win. In the second half we scored 34 unanswered points and they scored none. Our offense scored on every possession except in one in each quarter. Alamagordo was threatening to score from our red zone and they threw a little short post and I intercepted it. We later scored off of that turnover. In the forth quarter I got to play running back. We were in the red zone already. They threw me the ball and just before it got to me the defender batted it down. I should have caught it though. We ran the option and the QB pitched me the ball and I took it in for a 10 yard score but the play got called back for holding. I got the ball 2 more times and got about 4 or 5 yards a carry. It was fun. Well the final score was 48-10. We start district play this Saturday which is our homecoming. We play Belen. I have three interceptions on the year and I should get a lot in district.

October 4, 2002
Vs. Mayfield

Next up was Mayfield. They are ranked #1 in the 5A. Well it was ugly very ugly. We lost 49-0. They had 530 yards of total offense.

September 27, 2002
@ Gadsden

Our next game was against Gadsden a 5A team. We played there and we won 42-35. We were killing them up until the fourth quarter. Our defense let up and they came back and almost beat us. I got an interception in that game.

September 20, 2002
@ Las Cruces

Its me again and another week of high school football has past. Actually a couple weeks has gone by. So I will do my best to catch you up on what is going on. I left off with our win against St. Pius. Well we went on to play Las Cruces and well we lost, it wasn't too bad. Our offense picked it up really good in the second half but our defense stunk it up. The final score was 33-17.

September 14, 2002
Vs. St. Pius

Well another game has past and now I am here to tell you how it went, so here we go. We played St. Pius the team that put us out of the playoffs last year. Well I will give some background. They have played two games already and in both they scored 52 points. In the football rankings they where voted # 2 and we were #3. Some guy predicted them by 10 points. Well We shut up all those people. We came out pumped and scored 14 points in the first half. In the second we scored 15 more and they where able to finally find the end zone. Only once though. And then we blocked the PAT. So we won 29-6. In the third quarter I got an interception. I had to lay out and dive for it. It was pretty cool. Well our next game is verse cross town rival Cruces. We are 2-0. That is the update from the front. If you want to see the write ups from the game go onto the web site www.lcsun-news.com on Saturday or Sunday.

Oh yeah, I have a funny story. Well It was in the first half and they had the ball. It was a sweep to the right side (our sidelines) and I was running down to hit the running back out of bounds. I took a little bit of a bad angle and was only able to get a little shove on him. Well I dove and barely got a piece of him. I did hit someone and I hit them pretty good. Guess who it was? Nope wrong. It was the local newspaper camera man. I hit him right below the knees and took him out. I was going about full speed too. Players said that I broke his camera. I don't know. All I know is that I didn't see him after I hit him for the rest of the game. In the paper the next morning there was one picture and it was of a kick off. It wasn't that good. So I guess I messed up his camera. Well that's my story.