Texico routs Jal for district title

TEXICO — Just in time for a seeding committee near you: A statement game from the Texico Wolverines.

With more struggles than they’ve been accustomed to over the last two state championship years, the Wolverines capped off the 2005 regular season by clobbering Jal 47-7 on Friday night in a District 3-1A mismatch.

The two-time defending state champs got a whopping 300 yards rushing from senior Eddy Segovia, including three touchdowns.

“It’s gotta be pretty close (to a school record for yardage),” said Texico coach Mike Prokop after the game. “He ran extremely hard and did a great job.”

Texico (5-4, 3-0 district) will now wait to see where it will be seeded in the upcoming Class 1A playoffs. A committee will meet today to determine the postseason bracket.

Segovia’s longest carry of the night —a 93-yarder in the second quarter — wasn’t among his scoring runs.

“’Bout toward the end, man, I was out — I was dead,” said Segovia of that particular play.

After Segovia lugged the ball from Texico’s 6 to the Panthers’ 1, quarterback Zane Anderson scored on the next play to put the Wolverines up 32-7 lead just before intermission.

“Just because we graduated a bunch of people, from what I hear, people were looking down at us,” said Segovia, who transferred from Bovina in the spring. “We’ve just got to prove ourselves to each other and show everybody else we want another (state championship).”

The scoring began when Segovia raced 17 yards for a touchdown to cap a 67-yard drive for the Wolverines. After a short Jal punt gave Texico good field position at the Panthers’ 37, the Wolverines took only four plays to score again — on a 1-yard quarterback sneak by Anderson.

Jal (6-3, 2-1), which will also go to the playoffs as district runner-up, was playing without standout quarterback Jeff Owen. Owen and another player were suspended for violating school rules, according to Jal coach Jimmy Samaniego.

“Texico has played a strong schedule. The teams they’ve played and lost to are double-A schools and Texas schools,” Samaniego said. “It helps them out. They’re going to be right there and our goal is to meet them again.”

District 3-1A

Texico 47, Jal 7

Jal 0 7 0 0 — 7

Texico 14 18 8 7 — 47

Scoring summary

First quarter

T — Eddy Segovia 17-yard run (Segovia kick)

T — Zane Anderson 1-yard run (Segovia kick)

Second quarter

T — Brandon Bare 3-yard run (kick failed)

J — Eric Samaniego 49-yard pass from Zack Thomas (Samaniego kick)

T — Segovia 40-yard run (kick failed)

T — Anderson 1-yard run (pass failed)

Third quarter

T — McDaniel 3-yard run (Segovia run)

Fourth quarter

T — Segovia 47-yard run (Segovia kick)

Team statistics

Jal Tex

First downs 6 18

Rushes-yards 22-(-20) 50-488

Passing yards 113 0

Total yards 93 488

Comp-att-int 10-24-1 0-1-0

Punting 8-35.8 0-0

Fumbles-lost 2-0 5-3

Penalties-yards 10-61 5-45

Individual statistics

Rushing — Jal, Rodney Shanks 9-5, Kevin Soto 1-minus 1, Thomas 12-minus 24. Texico, Segovia 18-300, Anderson 10-66, Bare 8-52, Billy Scott 4-39, Carlos Meza 5-24, McDaniel 4-2, Casey Crist 1-5.

Passing — Jal, Thomas 10-24-1-113. Texico, Anderson 0-1-0-0.

Receiving — Jal, Samaniego 6-79, Angel Gonzalez 2-21, Shanks 2-13. Texico, none.

Records — Jal 6-3, 2-1; Texico 5-4, 3-0.