Ground Game Powers No. 1 Moriarty Past Albuquerque Academy, 51-20

MORIARTY, N.M. — Top-ranked Moriarty lived up to its billing Friday night, rolling to a 51-20 victory over Albuquerque Academy to remain undefeated on the season.

The Pintos (3-0), ranked No. 1 in Class 3A by MaxPreps, leaned on an explosive and versatile ground attack that consistently overwhelmed the Chargers’ defense. Running back Mario Romero paced the backfield with three touchdown runs, scoring from 15, 60, and 17 yards out.

Moriarty set the tone early. After Romero’s opening 15-yard touchdown run, the Pintos capitalized on field position to notch a safety before Romero broke loose for a 60-yard sprint down the sideline, putting Moriarty up 16-0 in the first quarter. Mateo Manley-Griego extended the cushion early in the second quarter with a 42-yard touchdown run.

“I thought we played pretty darn good,” Moriarty head coach Gabriel Romero said. “We moved the ball well. I thought special teams put us in good positions, and defensively I thought we played great. All in all, it was a great performance.”

The Pintos’ backfield depth was on full display. In addition to Mario Romero’s big night, Manley-Griego added a 40-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, Royce Dennisson punched in a 7-yard score following a recovered fumble in the third, and Devin Ortiz broke away for a 59-yard touchdown burst.

“You’ve got to kind of pick your poison right now,” coach Romero said of his backfield. “Which one are you going to try and stop? Because there’s three of them, and if you try to stop one, the other two are probably going to have a good night.”

Albuquerque Academy broke through in the second quarter on a 3-yard touchdown plunge by William Doscher and showed signs of life through the air in the second half. Quarterback William Braun connected twice with Logan Hague for scores, including an 82-yard strike in the third quarter. Moriarty’s defense quickly countered the momentum swing, highlighted by a Noah Wolf interception in the final period.

Despite the lopsided score, coach Romero noted areas that require immediate attention after Moriarty coughed up three lost fumbles and dealt with holding penalties that wiped away potential scores.

“There’s a couple of things that we definitely do need to clean up,” Romero said. “Penalties again, and we put the ball on the ground. We can’t do that against a quality team, so we’ve got to fix that.”

Moriarty now turns its attention to a challenging road trip next week against Silver.

“They look like a really good team,” Romero said. “We’re going to have to go down there—it’s a long, long travel. So, we’ve got to be able to travel well and get off that bus ready to go. But we’re playing well ourselves right now, so I think it should be a good game.”