Like a platoon of salty Marine recruits, the Warriors showed they are maturing on the football field as Socorro posted a 57-6 Homecoming win over Gallup on Sept. 27.

The Warriors’ sixth straight win was everything Socorro coach Damien Ocampo could ask for, as his team dominated the contest in all game phases. Watching his team score at will also allowed him to insert some younger players into the action.

“It’s especially important in a season where we had a lot of JV games canceled. A lot of teams are struggling a little bit, so we had many JV games canceled,” Ocampo said. “It’s important to get them in and they work hard. You know, these kids work hard all day, and we have so many kids, and they never miss practice, and they just worked their tails off. I love getting those kids in the game.”

It was also a relief to win a game by more than one score, which the Warriors hadn’t done for three straight weeks. After topping Hope Christian 29-21, Socorro put their fan’s hearts through rollercoaster rides with a 28-27 road win over Miyamura 28-27 and a 27-21 overtime win against Raton.

That wasn’t the case against 4-A Gallup, with wideout Jay Lee’s short reception turning into a 55-yard gain to open the action and set up Alex Amaro’s touchdown reception from Isaiah Ocampo. Kaden Dow was perfect with the first of his eight straight extra-point kicks to make it 7-0 with 10:12 remaining in the first quarter.

It was a big night for the Warriors signal caller, Isaiah Ocampo, who went 15-21 passing for 318 yards and four touchdowns and added a team-high 97 yards rushing on five carries.

All aspects of the Warriors’ offense were clicking, with freshman Chase Boykin plowing in from four yards out for Socorro’s next score, and it was off to the races for Lee, but his long score was called back due to a holding call.

Isaiah Ocampo erased the disappointment with a 50-yard tear through the left side of Gallup’s defense and followed it up with a touchdown strike in the red zone to Jacob Angel.

A high snap skittered Gallup’s possession into the end zone for a safety, and a huge return by Jeremiah Garza set up an eight-yard scoring run by Cenyon Scarborough.

Defensive linemen Pete Lopez, David Guiterrez Jr. and Andres Gonzales kept constant pressure on the Gallup quarterback, who Jojo Barba picked off to set up an Ocampo to Lee touchdown.

Gallup did muster a score against Socorro’s second-team players, but that only gave the Warriors some more time to run in substitute before closing out the contest with a touchdown on the ground by Scarborough and Lee, ending the night with a scoring reception.

The Warriors now enter a bye week before starting District 3-3A play against Cobre, and coach Ocampo always has mixed feelings about taking a week off.

“I think one way or the other like, but to be honest — we need it. We need to make sure we’re healthy. I’m not hugely in favor of it (a bye), but we need it because we need to get healthy, and we need a little bit more time to get there,” Ocampo said.

On the side of the coin is the need to keep seasoning the Warriors.

“A little bit more reps will be big for us. We talked all year about our guys being inexperienced. For most of our guys, this game (Cobre) is the biggest ball game they’ve ever played in. It’s going to be a big deal,” Ocampo said.

While Ocampo didn’t say it outright, the Warriors’ Oct. 13 home game against Cobre is likely for the district championship, but the winner will still have to run the table to be the outright champion.

Following the win over Gallup, Ocampo touched on several key items with his players before noting the unselfish play of his senior wideout Amaro, who suggested allowing another player a chance at scoring, which gave sophomore Jacob Angel the opportunity to score.

“That’s something that is so special to be me. We coaches are out here all the time telling our guys to lift each other up and to help our younger kids. Alex wanted me to get the ball to players like Jake. He recognizes how hard some of these kids work, and he wants to see them rewarded. Seeing that type of sacrifice is important and rewarding to us as coaches,” coach Ocampo said.

It was a big night for offensive statistics with receivers Lee (6-154) and Amaro (5-101) leading the way. Angel had two receptions for 48 yards, Dow had one for 23 yards and Torres pulled down a two-yard reception.

Scarborough added 41 yards on the ground off eight carries and Boykin rushed six times for 38 yards.

Russell Huffman | Assistant Editor