Hondo eliminates Dora from 6-man playoffs

DORA — Mother Nature had a big say in Saturday's Dora-Hondo 6-man state semifinal.

With the winds gusting throughout the game, strategy was affected and the visiting Eagles got the best of it, notching a 44-24 win over the Coyotes to advance to next weekend's state championship game.

CMI correspondent: Joshua LuceroDora's Armondo Arzate picks off a first-half pass intended for Hondo's Adrian Vazquez during the second quarter of Saturday's 6-man state semifinal game at Dora. The Eagles advanced to the finals with a 44-24 win over the Coyotes.

The Eagles (6-4), seeded fifth in the six-team event, posted their second consecutive playoff road win and will now host either second-seeded defending champion Lake Arthur or No. 3 New Mexico School for the Deaf in next week's final.

Senior Roberto Nores passed for 152 yards and four touchdowns and also rushed for 82 yards and a touchdown as Hondo avenged a 65-52 loss at home to the Coyotes (8-1) earlier this season.

"It's hard to beat a team twice," Hondo coach Brandon Devine said. "We felt like we needed to pick up a few things and we found a few of the keys to their game."

The gusty winds kept the Coyotes, in their second year of football, from throwing the way they would have liked, coach Mason McBee said. Senior Tyler Sites was 17-of-26 for 128 yards, with two scoring passes to senior Anthony Pena, and he also ran for 107 yards and a touchdown.

The teams spent the day exchanging onside kicks on kickoffs.

"With the wind being the way it was, it took (away) about 80 percent of our offense," McBee said. "We like to run the ball, but we're more pass-happy.

"We probably played our worst game of the year by far."

The game was actually a scoreless defensive battle until the Eagles broke through late in the half, scoring three touchdowns in the final 4 1/2 minutesto take a 24-6 halftime lead. Freshman Juan Chacon kicked all three 2-point conversions.

The Coyotes pulled to 8-6 when Sites scored on a 2-yard run, but Hondo capitalized with two touchdowns in the final 24 seconds of the half — recovering an onside kick to set up the latter.

"All in all, Dora's an excellent team and well-coached," said Devine, who led the Eagles to the 6-man title in 2008 and a runnerup finish the following season. "It was a hard-fought game, and the wind played a big part."

Pena added a third touchdown for the Coyotes on a 12-yard run, but the Coyotes could never get closer than 12 points in the final two periods.

Nores also scored on a 14-yard run late in the half and on a 22-yard pass from Billy Candelaria early in the final period.

McBee said it might well have been a different story without the wind.

"We weren't the explosive team we usually are," he said. "I still thought we could win, but we gave the ball away (on a fumble) once at the 1-yard line and we allowed them to recover two or three onside kicks.

"We had a couple of blown defensive calls because (the players) couldn't hear us. The wind played a bigger factor than what I had imagined."