El Dorado gave the Del Valle Conquistadores all they could handle in their District 1-5A Opener at the Student Activities Complex Friday Afternoon.
El Dorado would take the opening kickoff and drive 75 yards finishing the drive off with a 39 Yard Touchdown Pass from Ricardo Portillo to Isaiah Rudison to take an early 7-0 lead. Del Valle would not answer until the 3:06 mark in the 1st Quarter when Quarterback Jesse Ramos would hit Kristian Martinez on a 41 yard screen pass to even the score at 7-7.
The Del Valle Defense would tighten up and force a punt giving the ball back to Jesse Ramos who would score on his first of 4 rushing Touchdowns of the night making the score 14-7 in favor of the Conquistadors.
El Dorado would drive the ball to the Redzone but stall and settle for a 37 Yard Garek Felix Field Goal making the score 14-10. Del Valle would get the ball back and score on a 7 Yard Jesse Ramos run with 2:30 left in the 2nd quarter extending their lead to 20 to 10 after missing the extra point.
El Dorado would try to answer but Quarterback Quincy Estrada would be intercepted giving the Conquistadors the ball back and Jesse Ramos would able to score on another 7 yard run and after failing a two point conversion Del Valle would take a 26-10 lead into the half ready to receive the ball in the 2nd half and seemingly looking in full control.
The Aztecs had other plans as the defense held Del Valle on a 3-and-out to open the second half and held the ball on an impressive time-consuming drive that would not end until Quarterback Quicny Estrada would score on a designed run to cut the lead to 26-16 with 3:03 left in the 3rd Quarter.
The Aztecs would hold again on Defense forcing a Del Valle Punt and then Quarterback Ricardo Portillo would come back into the game to engineer a 86 yard touchdown drive capped off with a 2-yard touchdown pass with 5:44 left to play cutting the lead to 26-23.
Del Valle would then fumble a sky kick on the ensuing kickoff giving the ball back to the Offense at the Del Valle 41 yard-line and a golden opportunity to take the lead late in the game. The Del Valle Defense would answer the call forcing the Aztecs to turn the ball over on downs without gaining much yardage.
Del Valle Quarterback Jesse Ramos would then take over the ensuing drive leading the charge with runs down the field and capping off the drive with his fourth Touchdown a 12 yard run to give Del Valle a 2 score lead at 33-23. Eldorado would get the ball back with 1:26 left and was intercepted on their first pass of the drive and the Del Valle Offense would take over and run out the clock.
The Final Score Del Valle 33 El Dorado 23. Del Valle improved to 6-2 on the year 1-0 in District 1-5a while El Dorado fell to 3-5 on the year and 0-1 in District 1-5a.
Up next for the Conquistadors will be a home game versus a Bel Air team coming off a district loss to Chapin. El Dorado will travel to Chapin to face the 1-0 Huskies.
Chris Gomez, Tony Grijalva, Johnny Tegg Reporting