West’s Gallegos Scores 8 Touchdowns Vs. Hilltoppers

Submitted by Carol A. Clark
on September 26, 2021
- 9:13 am

The Toppers spent most of the game trying to catch West Las Vegas Don’s Damian Gallegos who ran for 8 touchdowns and gained 330 yards rushing. Photo by John McHale/ladailypost.com

Jeremiah Hartzol blocks Cameron Padilla’s extra point attempt following the Don’s second touchdown. Photo by John McHale/ladailypost.com

By MIKE COTE
Sports

Rolling up 330 yards is a pretty good night’s work for an offense.

Unfortunately for the Los Alamos Hilltopper football team’s defense, that total was rolled up by one individual on the other side of the ball in about 3 quarters.

Running back Damian Gallegos had quite possibly the biggest individual performance by an opponent in Los Alamos football history. Gallegos rushed for 330 yards and scored eight touchdowns as the West Las Vegas Dons blew out the Hilltoppers 72-34 Thursday night in Las Vegas, N.M.

In three consecutive carries, Gallegos went for a 20-yard touchdown, a 61-yard touchdown and an 80-yard touchdown, all three of those virtually untouched.

Of those runs, it was actually Gallegos’ 20-yarder that was the backbreaker for Los Alamos (3-3), that occurring with no time left on the clock in the first half.

Los Alamos scored one of its two touchdowns on offense with 20 seconds remaining in the half as it tried to stay in the game with the Dons (5-0), but thanks to a big runback on the ensuing kickoff and a horsecollar tackle penalty tacked on afterwards, Gallegos had time for one more play in the half and made it count, making the score 52-27 at the break.

Due almost entirely to the struggles of the Dons’ special teams, they weren’t able to reach the 35-point running clock threshold until nearly the midway point of the third quarter. Gallegos still managed to get into the end zone three times in that quarter, then sat out most of the fourth quarter.

For Los Alamos, it scored four touchdowns in the first half, three of them coming on kick returns. Melaki Gutierrez ran back a kick for 80 yards midway through the first quarter and another for 74 yards late in the quarter, while Jeremiah Hartzol had a 90-yard return in the second quarter.

Hartzol would score again in the third quarter on a 26-yard strike from Jacob Green, while Teke Nieto scored on a screen pass from 25 yards out in the second quarter from backup quarterback Jake Sorenson, replacing Jakob Green after he took a hard shot to the elbow of his non-throwing arm during the last Hilltopper drive of the half.

Green, who would return in the second half, went 16 of 29 passing for 139 yards, but was intercepted three times by West Las Vegas’ stout defense.

The Hilltopper defense was shredded throughout the contest, by Gallegos and talented freshman quarterback CJ Perea, who took advantage of wide-open gaps in the middle of the field – most of the Hilltopper defense was bunched up at the line of scrimmage throughout the game and nothing was there to stop the Dons if they got past Los Alamos’ linebackers.

The Hilltoppers now head into District 1/2-5A play, and they are in a killer district for at least the next two years. They open district play Oct. 1 at home against Farmington, which was undefeated and outscoring its opponents by about a 6-1 clip heading into its game Sept. 24 against Del Norte.

Jeremiah Hartzol makes a good run up the left side; he also ran back a kickoff for 90 yards in the second quarter. Photo by Nate Limback/ladailypost.com