Estancia Routs Cobre 56-6, but Coach Burnett Demands Higher Standard

ESTANCIA, N.M. — Devon Chavez rushed for three second-half touchdowns and Johnathan Valencia intercepted two passes to anchor an opportunistic defense as the Estancia Bears rolled past the Cobre Indians 56-6 on Friday night.

Despite the 50-point margin of victory, Estancia head coach Stewart Burnett was far from satisfied with his squad’s opening two quarters.

“This was a sloppy first half,” Burnett said. “Much better second half, but they got a good refocusing at halftime. A lot of people would disagree with how aggressively we handle some things, but like I said, this game wasn’t about Cobre. It was about us and playing to our standard. The first half was just sloppy, and frankly, was an unacceptable display of football.”

Estancia (8-1, 3-0 District 3-2A) opened the scoring midway through the first quarter when Joshua Villafuerte broke loose for a 33-yard touchdown run. After an errant snap resulted in a safety against Cobre (5-4) to push the lead to 8-0, the Bears coughed up a fumble following a long completion.

Valencia helped settle the defense on the ensuing possession, snaring his first interception of the night at the 2:56 mark. Moments later, Chavez shed four tacklers on a highlight-reel 27-yard touchdown scamper to make it 15-0.

Valencia struck again early in the second frame, hauling in his second interception with 11:44 remaining before halftime.

“Jonathan had a whale of a night,” Burnett said. “Jonathan is just getting more and more solid, and he really is becoming that anchor on the defense.”

Quintin Barela capitalized on the momentum, scoring on a 7-yard run to extend the margin to 22-0. Barela followed that up on Estancia’s next drive with a 36-yard carry down to the 4-yard line before punching in his second score of the quarter. A successful two-point conversion pass from Villafuerte to Daniel Hernandez made it 30-0 with 5:23 left in the half.

Cobre got on the board in the closing seconds of the second quarter when quarterback Sam Trujillo connected with Noah Rodriguez for a 17-yard touchdown pass, cutting the deficit to 30-6 at the break.

Following a spirited halftime session, Estancia clamped down immediately. Juan Cuevas intercepted Trujillo on the third quarter’s opening drive, returning it 35 yards to the Cobre 7-yard line. Chavez plunged in from 1 yard out two plays later to push the lead to 37-6.

Chavez added a 14-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter and capped his four-touchdown night with a 9-yard score early in the fourth quarter to put the contest out of reach at 50-6 before Estancia tacked on a final score to close out the 56-6 victory.

“It’s hard to not sound like Scrooge after a game like that, and people say, ‘What’s wrong with you?'” Burnett said. “We’re not just working towards winning a game like this tonight or a district title. We’ve got a chance to actually be relevant in the postseason, and so that requires a different lens.”

Estancia concludes the regular season next week looking to lock up an unblemished District 3-2A title before a potential first-round playoff bye.

“We just gotta look at this one with a hypercritical eye and get on to next week,” Burnett said. “We’ve created opportunities for ourselves. Let’s not waste the opportunities and positions we’ve put ourselves in.”