Questionable calls, costly errors stall Moriarty in 26-7 loss to Hope Christian

MORIARTY, N.M. — Costly self-inflicted mistakes, missed red-zone opportunities, and a night of contentious officiating derailed the Moriarty Pintos in a 26-7 loss to Hope Christian on Friday night.

Despite forcing three turnovers, the Pintos (7-2) struggled to find an offensive rhythm and surrendered 19 unanswered second-half points to the visiting Huskies (6-1).

Hope Christian broke open a 7-7 halftime deadlock in the third quarter following a pivotal, disputed sequence. On a contested throw toward the goal line, officials whistled Moriarty for pass interference. Despite the receiver going down two yards short of the goal line without possession, the officiating crew awarded the Huskies a touchdown, pushing Hope Christian ahead 14-7.

The unusual rulings began earlier in the second quarter when an apparent set of offsetting fouls — holding on the Huskies and a late-hit personal foul on Moriarty along the sideline — ended with yardage marked off against both teams rather than a replay of the down.

The Pintos generated plenty of chances early. Defensive back Devon Ortiz picked off a pass at the Moriarty 35-yard line in the first quarter, though the ensuing drive stalled. After a muffed punt handed the Huskies short field position at the Pinto 23, Kane Otero opened the scoring with an 11-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter.

Moriarty answered behind big plays. Mateo broke loose on third-and-18 to spark a drive into the red zone, and after a Royce Dennison interception halted another Hope Christian push at the Pintos’ 24, Dennison hauled in a long reception to set up the equalizer. Mario Romero punched in a 2-yard touchdown run with 4:05 left in the second quarter, and Frankie Romero added the extra point to level the game at 7-7.

The momentum faded after halftime. Devin provided excellent field position with a kickoff return to the Huskies’ 40-yard line to open the third quarter, but Moriarty turned the ball over on downs at the 22.

The Pintos continued to battle defensively in the fourth quarter when Jonas Cordova recovered a fumble at the Moriarty 9-yard line. However, after Moriarty stopped a subsequent run, an unsportsmanlike punch thrown during an altercation handed the Huskies a fresh set of downs inside the red zone.

Otero capitalized with a 7-yard touchdown run with 3:04 remaining to extend the lead to 20-7. Moments later, Hope Christian’s Elias Harvey intercepted a Moriarty pass, setting up a 5-yard touchdown run by Darrien Williams out of the wildcat formation with 1:53 left to seal the victory.

“We had three takeaways,” Romero said. “We could have played better offensively, maybe blocked a little bit better, but we didn’t play an overly bad game other than some bonehead mistakes. We put the ball on the ground a couple times, which we hadn’t done in a long time, and penalties at bad spots. We got inside the red zone a few times and didn’t produce anything.”

With three regular-season games remaining, Romero emphasized that the team’s long-term aspirations remain intact despite potential postseason seeding impacts.

“We were hoping to get a top-four seed, that may be a little bit more difficult now, so we may not get that bye we were hoping for,” Romero said. “But that’s just one more game that we have to play. The overall goal can’t change. Our goal is to win a state championship, and losing a game doesn’t change that for us. We just got to bounce back.”