WHITTIER – The Santa Fe football team has secured a spot in the playoffs and will play for an undisputed Del Rio league title next week after picking up a well-earned win over El Rancho on Friday night.
Santa Fe will host La Serna at Pioneer on Nov. 1, with the Del Rio league title on the line.
The Chiefs had a big game from their star running back Devin Clark as he ran wild for 216 yards and a touchdown in their 21-14 win over the Dons.
“I mean we just bought our ticket to the playoffs, second year going to the playoffs in a row,” Clark exclaimed. “I love it, last year I was only a backup, this year I’m leading my team.”
Clark had 135 yards in the first half alone as he was a one-man wrecking crew to start the game.
Santa Fe broke the ice first when the Chiefs reached deep into the playbook and ran a double pass that resulted in a 31-yard touchdown strike from Chiefs’ wide receiver Sebastian Macias to Alex Soria.
Although they gave up the early score, the Dons’ defense was playing a bend-don’t-break style that kept the first half competitive for El Rancho.
The Dons struggled to get much going offensively until their final drive of the half. That’s when Dons’ quarterback Ryan Dominguez found Andrew Guerrero for a quick pass that Guerrero took 31 yards to set up El Rancho inside the red zone for the first time in the game.
A couple plays later, Anthony Orihuela took a 5-yard carry into the end zone to even the game up with 38 seconds left in the second quarter.
Santa Fe had a great opportunity at the end of half to respond after Xander Arias took the ensuing kickoff to the El Rancho 10-yard line.
With about 10 seconds left in the half, Santa Fe quarterback Andrew Lopez lofted up a jump ball that Dons’ defensive back Phoenix Navarro came down with.
Dons’ head coach Adrian Medrano said he was happy with how his defense adjusted after giving up over 115 yards on the ground in the first quarter.
“I thought our defense settled in after the first quarter, when they were gashing us at will, Medrano admitted. “As poorly as we played in the first half, it was still a close game.”
Despite Clark finding success early, the Chieftains offense were unable to finish drives as they only mustered up seven points in the first half.
Santa Fe head coach Ryan Bateman said the fix was simple at halftime.
“Our adjustment at halftime was get Devin (Clark) the ball. I thought he had some great runs early on, he’s a grinder man,” Bateman noted.
El Rancho would start the second half with a five-minute drive that resulted in an acrobatic 8-yard touchdown grab by Guerrero. It would be the last score that El Rancho would put up.
On the ensuing drive, Clark would pick up his only touchdown run of the game from 5 yards out to tie the game at 14-14 midway through the third quarter.
“It was difficult, but I wasn’t worried,” Clark said about his scoreless first half. “I knew my line would step up and create some holes. … I knew I was gonna get in that end zone.”
Santa Fe’s two-way standout Luke Hitch would rumble and tumble to the end zone on a 16-yard touchdown run to end the third quarter and give the Chiefs the lead.
A few plays later, Hitch would pick up an interception to start the fourth quarter, which gave the Chiefs a big momentum swing that they wouldn’t give back.
“Going both ways, It’s something I do for the guys next to me,” Hitch said
