MULESHOE — It had been a little while since the Dimmitt Bobcats had started off a season so well. 2016, to be exact.
Dimmitt’s offense, spearheaded by senior quarterback Kaden Carpio, has been the catalyst for assembling the Bobcats’ best start in a decade’s time.
The Bobcats had to achieve this feat by outlasting Muleshoe via a 62-48 decision in a non-district shootout held on Friday at Benny Douglas Stadium.
To get to 3-0, Dimmitt dished up an eye-popping 611 total yards of offense. Carpio led the charge by going 8-of-16 for 222 yards and three touchdowns, alongside his 24 rushing attempts for 164 yards and two more scores.
Carpio credited his teammates for his success.
“It feels good (to be 3-0),” Carpio said, following the game. “It’s a whole team effort. You know, everyone puts in work each and every single week. Everyone works hard every single day, and our coaches prepare us for every single game.”
Jimmy Arias, Dimmitt’s head coach, was pleased with the win and heaped praise on his senior signal caller.
“It was tough, but it’s a great feeling,” said Arias. “Kaden is our team captain. Anytime we’re in a tough situation, he gets us out of it by running the ball or making the right choices in the passing game.”
So far this season, Dimmitt has tallied 161 points and has averaged 53 points per game.
Despite falling to 0-3, Muleshoe’s offense put on its best performance of the fledgling season. Head coach Bo Dickinson felt that, while his team is a work in progress, the Mules are starting to turn a corner.
“It’s the one thing that I’ve always talked about with our kids, we have to show up and fight every single day,” Dickinson said. “Football’s a grind, like no other. The thing I was most proud of is just overcoming adversity that we face. A calendar year ago, if we got a couple scores behind, we hang our heads and it turns ugly. There was nothing but fight in our kids.”
Muleshoe was led by sophomore quarterback Leland Ortega. In just his second start, Ortega went 15-of-33 for 289 yards and three touchdowns with two interceptions. Senior standout Josue Sigala rushed for 107 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries, and caught one pass for 35 yards and another score.
“(Sigala) is a tough kid,” Dickinson said. “We have a lot of tough kids, and Josue is one of them. He’s one of those guys who is a very vital piece of what we do offensively, defensively, and on special teams. Ultimately, he has stepped up and been a leader for us. He’s doing a great job for us.”
(Ortega) has a been a guy, who has a lot of arm potential,” Dickinson added, speaking about his quarterback. “He’s a really good kid, he shows up every day, and he’s just a worker. He wants to be good, and he wants to be the guy. Our offensive line did a great job, giving Leland a little bit of time, and he settled in at the end of the first quarter. He was able to show us what he’s capable of.”
Dimmitt returns to road mode next Friday, facing off against Morton at Indian Stadium in Morton. The Indians (0-3) were handed a 51-15 setback at the hands of Tahoka on Friday at home.
Arias knows that his team can’t afford more indoor football games played outdoors, especially with a gauntlet of a district looming on the horizon.
“We have to gel up on our defense and special teams,” Arias said. “We need to improve our tackling and our PATS. We’ve been struggling with our PATs, and we have to finish everything off. You know what, we have to get the ball back to offense, because that’s our strength right now.”
Carpio believes that the next game is going to be a battle up front.
“We just have to keep running the ball, because Morton is a pretty big team,” said Carpio. “They’re a physical team, and we have to take it to them each and every play.”
The Mules will head over to the Texas-New Mexico border, taking on Farwell next Friday at W. M. Roberts Stadium in Farwell. The Steers (0-3) fell to River Road in a 29-28 nailbiter on Friday at home.
Dickinson believes that his team is starting to buy into what the staff is selling. According to Dickinson, once the Mules polish up the little things, they can churn out some victories.
“What we talk about a lot is discipline, doing things right and being here every day,” said Dickinson. “There are some things that need to be addressed, but I feel like our kids really had a turning point this (past) week. They’re starting to see that we’re turning a corner.”
The game started as a back-and-forth battle, starting with a Dimmitt touchdown by way of a 73-yard touchdown connection between Carpio and junior wideout Hugo Rodriguez. Rodriguez wrapped up the night with 197 yards and two scores on six receptions.
Muleshoe answered, with a 76-yard scoring scamper from Sigala.
Dimmitt put up more points when senior Joaquin Arias found a wide open gap and made a house call from 52 yards out. Carpio then connected with sophomore receiver Diego Cortez, who made a circus catch for a 22-yard touchdown.
Muleshoe responded with a three-yard touchdown run from senior Damian Sital. Due to the missed PAT, which came from a bobbled hold, the Mules trailed 21-13 at the end of the initial stanza.
The Mules came within one early on in the second period, due to Sigala striking paydirt from two yards out. With a successful PAT from junior Ramiro Regalado, Muleshoe trimmed Dimmitt’s lead to 21-20.
The Bobcats rattled off a 20-point scoring run, starting with a two-yard rushing touchdown from sophomore Justin Casas and followed up with an 87-yard touchdown pass from Carpio to Rodriguez. Carpio then tacked on a one-yard touchdown plunge to provide the Bobcats with a 41-20 lead with time winding down to halftime.
With 34 seconds remaining before intermission, Muleshoe reached into their bag of tricks. The Mules pulled off a flea flicker, which resulted in Ortega finding a wide open Sital in the corner of the endzone. The 25-yard touchdown play trimmed Muleshoe’s deficit down to 41-27 by the break.
“That’s a trick play we call ‘Donnie,'” Dickinson said of the scoring play. “We named it after our band director, Donnie Reston. It was a little joke that we had amongst our team. It was a key time for us at that point, because there was a big momentum swing right there. The kids executed it, and we had a little fun on the sidelines.”
Dimmitt scored to start the second half, with a two-yard touchdown dive from Casas and a successful two-point play from Carpio. Casas finished with 27 yards and two scores on eight attempts, with eight tackles and the game-sealing interception on defense.
Muleshoe kept themselves in the game, with a two-yard touchdown run from Sital. Sital ended up with 74 rushing yards and one touchdown on 10 carries, along with snagging four catches for 51 yards and the trick-play touchdown reception.
Heading into the final stretch, Dimmitt held a 48-34 lead.
The Bobcats began to pull away early in the fourth quarter, pinning Muleshoe’s punt team underneath the shadow of their goalposts. On a punt from Segala, Cortez ran back a 16-yard punt return for a touchdown.
“Cortez got some big shots in for us,” Carpio said of his teammate. “He’s an amazing receiver. In fact, every one of our receivers were big for us.”
Along with his touchdown reception and punt return for a six, Cortez picked up four tackles and a forced fumble. With 5:54 left in the game, the Bobcats created a sizable 55-34 gap.
Muleshoe refused to go quietly, however, as Ortega checked down to senior receiver Noah Hernandez. Hernandez then did the rest of the work himself, fighting his way for a 13-yard touchdown. Hernandez caught four passes for 57 yards and his lone score.
With 5:25 remaining, both teams crossed the century mark in the points department.
Carpio responded with his legs, striking paydirt from 11 yards out with 2:01 on the clock.
Arias was quick to credit his offensive line, which suited up four sophomores.
“The offensive line controls everything, and we’re young up front,” Arias said. “They’re starting to gel, and they opened up some big gaps. Muleshoe got after us, but we were able to lean on our backs with Joaquin Arias, (Carpio), and others, who got plenty of yards for us.”
Muleshoe did score one more time before the final, Ortega connecting with Sigala for a 34-yard touchdown with 1:05 left.
The Mules did recover the onside kick, before Ortega’s desperate heave was intercepted. That allowed Dimmitt to kneel and run out the clock.
Dimmitt saw Dominik Navarro provide balance on the ground, rushing for 107 yards on 12 carries. Junior defensive back Octavio Arias snagged one interception, as senior linebacker Marco Silva and teammate Gustavo Ornelas each compiled 12 total tackles.
Aiding Muleshoe’s efforts was Adrian Muniz, who caught three passes for 78 yards, followed by Ben Fleming’s two catches for 56 yards. The Mules accumulated 483 yards of total offense.
Photo gallery by Tyler Anderson:
