On Friday night, Colt Football opened their 2024 campaign with a dominant 35-0 victory over Loving High at Colt Field. 

Q1

To open the season, the Colts wasted no time getting to business. After forcing a Loving punt in the first possession, NMMI began their offensive attack. The Colts drove the ball 67 yards on the first offensive possesion, which was capped by a touchdown scramble by senior quarterback Cole Seidenberger - his first of the game. 

Q2

In the second quarter, Loving started off with a plethora of penalties on the offensive side. Forcing a third down, the Colts hurried the Loving quarterback into throwing his first interception of the game as Alex Sanchez snagged the pass to end any scoring hopes for Loving.

Starting on their own 26 yard line, the NMMI offense moved the ball 74 yards before Seidenberger added his second rushing touchdown of the night to make it a 14-0 ballgame with a minute to go in the half. 

Q3

The Colts opened the second half using over five minutes of the clock in eight plays before Seidenberger found runnerback Cohen Tomasits for a 22-yard touchdown connection to give the Colts a 21-point advantage. Three plays later, Tomasits left his mark on the defensive side as he snatched his first interception of the year to secure turnover number three for the home side. With a penalty, the Colts offensive drive stalled as they turned the ball over on downs to give Loving the ball back.

As they did all night, the defense came up with another huge stop as they blocked a punt attempt before Tomasits recovered the ball and set up the offense at the two yardine.

Q4

After a couple of offensive pre-snap penalties, Matthew Coa took a handoff for two yards into the endzone as he blew the lead open to 28 with his first rushing touchdown of the year. The NMMI defense held the Loving High offense to another turnover on downs after Tomasits broke up a pass on fourth down. After a 26-yard run by Tristan Carranza, Seidenberger scrambled his way in the endzone from six yards out to give NMMI the 35-0 advantage.

With a stellar defensive performance, the Colts allowed only 133 total yards holding Loving to three of 10 on third down conversions. “If you don’t put your defense in tough positions you have a chance to win every week,” head coach John O’mera said. Through the air, the defense only allowed 19 yards and zero passing first downs. Carranza lead the way with seven total tackles for the Colt defense.

On the offensive side the Colts protected the ball with zero turnovers while gaining a total of 279 yards, with 201 of those coming though the rush attack. “We preach to the kids all the time that if you don’t turn the football over it’s tough to get beat,” O’mera said.

Cao led the way for NMMI with 69 yards on the ground with the addition of touchdown off 13 attempts. Seidenberger finished the game with 78 passing yards and 48 rushing yards with four total touchdowns - one through the air. “Overall I am very pleased by the great team performance,” O’mera said.

The Colts return to action next Friday, Sept. 6 as they host Eunice High at 7 p.m. on Colt Field.