Defense comes up big in Card win

Good defense was a pretty good offense for the Robertson Cardinals on Friday night.

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The Redbirds delighted a robust homecoming crowd with a 44-0 victory over outmatched Taos to improve to 2-2 overall.

Robertson’s defense accounted for two touchdowns and a safety in the blowout win over a future District 2-3A opponent.

Both defenses shined in the opening period. But the Cardinals, applying heavy pressure on Taos quarterback Waldo Martinez, struck harder, backing the Tigers deep inside their own territory. Scrambling to evade the pursuit of Antonio Arguello and Nick Archuleta, Martinez grounded the ball in his own end zone for a safety. At quarter’s end, RHS led 2-0.

Dalan Abreu, who also ran the ball well in Robertson’s win over Moriarty, had another strong night. Abreu took the ball from about 30 yards out and then rushed in for a score with 3:43 left in the second quarter. Keen Martinez, who’d go on to make all six extra-point attempts, made it a 9-0 score.

Brandon Baca intercepted a Martinez lob and ran it back for the Cards’ second defensive score of the night with 2:39 left before halftime. At intermission, the score was 16-0.

Neither side scored in the third quarter until its very end, when Jonathan Lucero ran it in from the Taos 5, making it 23-0.

Unable to muster anything significant offensively, the Tigers did pick off a Girard Maestas pass — only to have the turnover negated by a penalty.

Robertson went on to score on a 10-yard Lucero scamper, and it was 30-0 with 5:52 left.

Arguello, solid on both sides of the ball as a blocking fullback and linebacker, returned an interception 30 yards for a TD on the very next play from scrimmage.

In the last four minutes, coach Richard Martinez emptied his bench.

Josh Brito’s 40-yard punt return for a score and Keen Martinez’s sixth point-after try made it 44-0, which would be the final score.