By Greg Perkins A long road trip to Page turned into an easy win for the Roadrunners on Friday night as they defeated an overmatched and young Sand Devil team, 51-28. Holbrook had to overcome a handful of holding penalties in their first drive but eventually, Izzy Ramos capped off a long scoring drive with a one-yard plunge. His point after kick gave the Roadrunners a lead they would never relinquish. Holbrook’s defense held Page to three and out then a bad snap on a punt gave the Birds great field position for their second offensive series. They made it pay off quickly with a one-yard run by Marcus Oberriter, pushing the lead to 13-0 with 7:45 left in the quarter. Holbrook blocked Page’s next punt giving them another short field to work with. Oberriter took off on a 21-yard scramble and scored with 1:01 left in the period, giving the Birds a 19-0 lead. Malakai Johnson earned defensive points with a tackle of the Sand Devil quarterback in the endzone for a safety early in the second, pushing the margin to 21-0. Daniel Montijo got into the scorebook with a 19-yard run midway through the second. Kyle Smith converted the two-point conversion and Holbrook led 29-0. Page avoided the first half shut out right before the half with a short touchdown pass but Holbrook led at the break 29-8. Holbrook picked up the scoring fest in the third with a 30-yard run by Oberriter making the lead 35-8. Page countered five minutes later with a short touchdown pass and the score was 35-14 with 4:56 left in the quarter. Oberriter then scored on a 50-yard run and Ramos added the two-point conversion, making the score 43-14. Ramos scored again on a short run with 35 seconds left in the third and Holbrook was on top 51-14 going into the fourth quarter. A Page touchdown early in the fourth made the score 51-20. The Sand Devils then returned a blocked field goal attempt for the final score of the game leaving Holbrook with a 3-1 record following the 51-28 win. Oberriter completed five of 10 passes for 126 yards. On the ground his game was much more impressive. He gained 140 yards on nine carries, with four touchdowns. Montijo also eclipsed the century mark with 114 yards and one score on 15 attempts. Ramos scored twice with six carries for 65 yards. Smith had five yards and Noah Padilla carried once for two yards. Ramos had two catches for 89 yards and Smith picked up 39 yards on three receptions. Padilla led the defense with 12 tackles. Teyton Begay added 10; Malaki Johnson, 9; Caden Tom and Izzy Ramos each had 8 stops. Noah Padilla, Mauricio Baca and Caden Tom each had one quarterback sack. Tom also recovered a Page fumble. Holbrook is now 3-1 and should easily move that record to 4-1 on homecoming night. Pinon, is this year’s homecoming opponent and the Eagles have just one win on the season. Pinon has played only twice this year and they were soundly beaten by Alchesay 52-0 this past week. Holbrook can use this game as a measuring stick to see how they will stack up with Alchesay in two weeks in what will be a critical region game with playoff implications attached to it.
