The only thing missing was a hockey mask, as Cobre’s 34-7 win over Socorro was almost Jason Voorhees-like during a Friday the 13th football game for the Warriors.

Socorro lost more than the game, including several players to injury. The Warriors will be without all-stater David Guiterrez Jr. (knee), and he will most likely miss his junior wrestling and baseball seasons.

It didn’t help that Socorro was out of sync from the start and didn’t get the benefit of officials’ calls going their way.

The Indians came in a much better team than their 4-2 mark, and before the game, Socorro coach Damien Ocampo said Cobre was the best 3A team he had seen on film. The Indians lost a 3-0 game to Robertson early in the season. Socorro opened the year against Roberston with a 28-13 loss but suffered five turnovers, so it appeared to be anybody’s guess as to how the Warriors would fare.

“We knew how tough and strong they were. This is their group. I’ve watched him (running back Gavin Chuy) all year, and they kept trying to throw the ball. They kept trying to do some different things,” Ocampo said. “Cobre got away from running the ball. I thought about Chuy, and if these guys just line up, they can run over people all day long. They’re going to be tough.”

Somebody must have read Ocampo’s mind, and Cobre served up Chuy, and the senior back found his way into the endzone four times. Unfortunately, a loss of composure following his final score resulted in his ejection, meaning he will miss next week’s game.

It wasn’t the only notable incident of the game, with at least three chop blocks causing Socorro players to go down, two Cobre players beating on a downed Socorro player, and a 10-minute-long delay before the half as officials and coaches sorted out what appeared to be three penalties following Isaiah Ocampo pulling down a Cobre pass and returning it for a near touchdown.

With Ocampo intercepting the ball (a play that stood), Socorro was on offense when Cobre committed a penalty, and a half or game cannot end on a defensive penalty – unless it’s Friday the 13th in Socorro.

“It’s so crazy. I don’t know what to say. I don’t even know what they were thinking. Who knows?” coach Ocampo said.

He had a much clearer picture of what Cobre had accomplished against his young team.

“They lined up and ran. They ran against us all day. I knew we were going to struggle with that. Then once we had a couple of guys get hurt — our key run-stoppers, it snowballed on us,” he said.

To the Warriors’ credit, they kept looking for ways to get into the endzone, and Isaiah Ocampo extended several plays with his feet and broke tackle to give his receivers time to get open. One of Ocampo’s scrambles allowed Jay Lee to get into a one-on-one situation, and he beat his defender with a leaping catch and scooted into the end zone.

“Isaiah plays hard. He wants to make plays, and he does an excellent job. He tries hard and spills his heart out there, and that’s a big reason why we want him at quarterback because he’s tough,” Ocampo said. “I’m proud of him. I think he did a good job.” Ocampo said.

 

 

Russell Huffman | Assistant Editor