FRIDAY ROUNDUP: Buffs thump Tatum for third win in row

Staff report

TATUM — The Melrose Buffaloes continued to roll on Friday night, beating winless Tatum 50-0 in a game called midway through the third quarter on the 50-point mercy rule.

Junior Carson Fraze ran for four touchdowns for the Buffaloes (3-1), including the game-ender from 10 yards out. He also scored on runs of 10 yards in the first quarter and 40 and 15 yards in the second period.

Junior Jordan Jasso caught touchdown passes of 20 yards from Sterling Sena and 25 yards from Tristan Sena. Sterling Sena added a 25-yard TD run in the first quarter and a 25-yard scoring pass to Tristan Sena in the second period.

"It was one of those games where we worked on a lot of stuff that you can’t work on in practice,” said Melrose coach Dickie Roybal, whose team has won three in a row since an opening loss to Gateway Christian. “Hopefully, by the end of the season we’ll be where we need to be.”

Melrose returns to action next Friday, hosting Pine Hill.

Dora thumps Menaul — The Coyotes dominated in a game ending at halftime on the 50-point mercy rule, blowing out the outmanned Panthers 52-0.

The game was moved ahead two hours and played at Elida to skirt a possible threat of lightning delays.

Dora improved to 2-1 for the season while Menaul dropped to 1-2.

“It’s hard to say there wasn’t anything that didn’t work,” Dora coach Mason McBee said. “We ran the ball well. We threw the ball with ease. I don’t think we gave up a first down on defense. I just think we overwhelmed Menaul on the field.”

Dora returns to action next Friday with a game against Gateway Christian at Roswell.

Floyd outlasts Reserve — In a game played at Carrizozo, the Broncos earned their first win of the season with a 40-34 victory over the Mountaineers.

The Broncos (1-1) led by one touchdown much of the way, but Reserve (0-3) never backed down and made Floyd earn its first victory of the season.

“Reserve is a fast team,” Floyd coach Steve Foust said. “They won state last year in track and field so they have a lot of speed. I’m proud of our guys.”

Floyd had a six-point lead and the ball with about 2 1/2 minutes left to play, but couldn’t run out the clock. Reserve took over at Floyd’s 35-yard line with about a minute left and all three timeouts at its disposal, but Floyd stopped the Mountaineers from getting the tying score.

“It was the story of our seniors playing tough enough to get it done,” Foust said. “Throughout the game, but especially in the last series, Edgardo Chavez, David Martinez and Seth Chandler stepped up.

“Edgardo and David did a great job of running the ball and made great decisions to get extra yards and refusing to be stopped. Seth as the defensive end made some huge plays but also led our offensive line to get us the offense we needed. Really proud of their mental toughness.”

The Broncos are open next week before visiting Hondo in their next outing. That will be a rematch of last year’s 6-man state championship game.