In probably the best game of the season so far, the El Dorado Aztecs came from behind to beat the Parkland Matadors 50-46 Thursday night at the Socorro Athletic Complex.
The term “Come From Behind” could have been used by both teams as they both rallied from big deficits.
El Dorado jumped to a 14-0 lead after the first quarter, then in the second quarter, Parkland came back and scored 21 unanswered points to take a 21-14 lead at halftime.
In the third quarter the Aztecs would score 14 points in the span of two minutes to take a 28-21 lead. Parkland would score a touchdown towards the end of the quarter but the extra point was missed so the score after three quarters was El Dorado 28 Parkland 27.
And that’s when the fireworks started.
Parkland would start the fourth quarter by taking the lead after a Donte Lewis touchdown but the 2 point conversion failed giving them a 33-28 lead.
On the El Dorado’s next drive they would fumble the ball and that would lead to an Isaiah Beasley touchdown but once Parkland would not make the PAT so that made the score 39-28 with 6:42 left to play in the game.
At this point, it looked like Parkland had things in hand and were gonna be able to cruise to victory, but El Dorado was having non of that. The Aztecs would cut the lead to 3 points after Andre Thomas scored on a 37 yard TD reception and the 2 point conversion was good.
El Dorado would then recover the onside kick and 2 plays later Isaiah Rudison would have a TD run that would give the Aztecs a 43-39 lead with 4:14 left in the game.
Parkland would put together an impressive drive that not only moved the ball but also ate up the clock. With 25 seconds left in the game Erick Ortiz would throw a touchdown pass to DJ Crest and with extra point it gave the Matadors a 46-43 lead.
But on the kickoff, the Matadors made the mistake of kicking the ball to Andre Thomas because he would run it back for a 90 yard touchdown with 10 second left in the game and the PAT would cap off a crazy game that would end in a come from behind victory for El Dorado 50-46.
After the game, Aztecs coach Frank Martinez talked about the game.
Mando Medina, Christian Molinar, Tony Grijalva, Ace Acosta reporting