EL PASO-The El Paso Montwood Rams rode another fast start from senior quarterback Andrew Fernandez and held a fourth quarter charge to defeat Midland High 42-35 on Thursday night at the Socorro ISD Student Activities Complex.
“It was a great team effort,” Montwood coach Ariel Famaligi said following the game. “We came out with great focus. Our kids responded to last week’s loss in great fashion. We had great leadership all week. We came out and got a good start to the game. We got some big plays on offense and our defense did a nice job of making some key stops.”
Montwood rode a strong defensive effort to start, holding Midland High on downs in the opening drive that took up more than five minutes of the first quarter. It wouldn’t take long for Montwood to respond as Fernandez found Tyreese Andrus for a 37-yard touchdown to open the scoring at 6-0. Andrus would finish with six catches for 144 yards on the night. Fernandez would later find Carlos Cisneros for a 14-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-0.
El Paso Montwood quarterback Andrew Fernandez (1) finished with 401 total yards and six touchdowns in the Rams’ win over Midland High. (Photo: Melynda Venegas/TexasHSFootball.com)
Midland High would respond as quarterback Suddin Sapien found Michael Galindo to make it 14-7. Fernandez would add a touchdown run late in the first half from five yards out but handed Midland a golden opportunity to get themselves closer at the end of the half with a Sean Porter interception but the Bulldogs mismanaged the clock and couldn’t convert.
Fernandez’s impressive night would continue into the second half running for another score from 29 yards out and two touchdown passes to Tury Cepeda.and Edward Garibay for scores before leaving the game with about seven minutes left in the game. Fernandez finished with 401 total yards (245 passing, 156 rushing) on the night.
“I can’t say enough about Andrew,” Famaligi said, “If he’s not the most valuable player in the world, then I say something is wrong with the world. The bounce back this week in practice started with him and he told the team that they needed to focus. He’s a leader and a warrior.”
The Bulldogs would not go away as Suddin Sapien led four touchdown drives in the second half: a 1-yard keeper from Sapien himself, a 3-yard run by DQ Harris and two touchdown strikes to Jalen Terhune and Sam Hullender. The junior signal caller finished with 314 yards passing and fourt total touchdowns.
Midland High quarterback Suddin Sapien threw for 314 yards on Thursday night in Thursday’s game against El Paso Montwood. (Photo: Melynda Venegas/TexasHSFootball.com)
Sapien and the Bulldogs fought admirably and even recovered an onside kick with about 20 seconds left. The Rams were able to make one last defensive stand and hold on for the win. Midland High finishes their season at 3-8
“Give credit to Midland High,” Famaligi said, “They fought us until the very end.”
“I saw a different team than I saw nine weeks ago,” Fernandez said referring to the 58-53 Montwood had over Midland back in September, “We couldn’t take this week off and I knew that we had to come up with our A-game tonight.”
With the win, the Rams have won their first bi-district title since 2011 and await the winner of Keller Fossil-Ridge and Arlington High. The game is tentatively scheduled to be played in either in Midland next Saturday and no matter who they’re playing, the Rams will spend Thursday night celebrating and will get to work embracing the bigger stage.
“It’s a good feeling to have to win this,” Fernandez said, “But we’re going to come into this next game with a good week of practice and we’ll be ready to play.”
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