MOSCA – The Sangre de Cristo football team showed how physically and mentally tough it was when it hosted Holly in the season opener Friday at the Thunderbirds’ field.

Despite dressing only 11 players for an eight-man football game and starting a freshman at quarterback, the Thunderbirds prevailed over the Wildcats 36-14.

“That’s the way we wanted to get the ball rolling this year,” said Sangre coach Cory Anderson.

Deklin Beiriger was impressive in his high school debut at quarterback. He completed 13 of 34 passes for 206 yards and he threw two touchdown passes. He also ran for a touchdown and intercepted one pass.

“That’s a difference maker having a guy who can throw the ball like that,” Anderson said. “He was difference maker in this game for sure.”

It was Holly, however, that got off to a good start with the first score of the game. Jessie Pizaro took a handoff on the sweep and ran 59 yards for the touchdown. Drayden Williams ran in the two-point conversion for an 8-0 Wildcats lead.

The Thunderbirds scored the second time they had the ball. First Beiriger threw a 33-yard pass to Kolby Shellabarger and then a 16-yard pass to Carlos Cerrato-Flores to put Sangre into scoring position. Shellabarger wrapped up the drive with a 1-yard plunge. Joe Brown converted the two-point play to tie the score ay 8-8.

Holly scored on its first possession of the second quarter. Williams went into the end zone on a 1-yard run, however, his attempt on the two-point conversion was no good and the Wildcats led 14-8.

Beiriger put Sangre into scoring position again with a 20-yard interception return. He then threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Braiden Cantu to tie the score. Shellaberger then ran in the two-point conversion for a 16-14 advantage.

Holly got deep into the Sangre side of the field on its next possession. But Joe Brown sacked Alex Vazquez on the final play of the half to preserve the lead.

The Thunderbirds had the ball first in the second half and took advantage of five offsides penalties to drive deep into Wildcat territory. Shellaberger scored on a 2-yard run, but the two-point conversion was no good and Sangre led 22-14.

The T-birds scored again on their next possession as they went on an 80-yard drive. Beiiger scored on a 10-yard keeper, but the two-point conversion again was unsuccessful and the lead grew to 28-14.

Sangre then recovered a Holly fumble and took advantage of the turnover. Beiriger tossed a 5-yard scoring strike to Shellabarger for the latter’s third touchdown of the game. Beiriger threw to Cerrato-Flores for the two-point conversion.

Holly tried one more time to get into the end zone as it drove to the Sangre 10. The clock, however, ran out before the Wildcats could score.

Shellaberger was Beiriger’s top receiver with eight catches for 142 yards. Cantu had three receptions for 38 yards and Cerrato-Flores had two for 26 yards.

Shellabarger also led the Thunderbirds in rushing with 60 yards on 14 carries. Beiriger had 21 yards on nine carries and Joe Brown had 14 yards on six carries.

Holly had 306 yards of total offense with 218 coming on the ground. Pizaro led the Wildcats with 117 yards on 16 carries.

Vazquez completed six of nine passes for 62 yards. Pizaro was the leading receiver with three catches for 26 yards, and Dryvor Hatcher had two receptions for 48 yards.

Sangre de Cristo (1-0) will travel to Las Animas this coming Friday.

“Las Animas is going to be a rock-solid team,” Anderson said.” We have our work cut out for us and we have some work to do.”

Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

Sangre de Cristo 36, Holly 14

Holly 8 6 0 0 – 0

Sangre de Cristo 8 8 12 8 – 36

First quarter

H – Pizaro 59 run (Williams run), 10:39

SdC – Shellabarger 1 run (J. Brown run), 3:18

Second quarter

H – Williams 1 run (run failed), 8:12

SdC – Cantu 9 pass from Beiriger (Shellaberger run), 1:45

Third quarter

SdC – Shellabarger 2 run (run failed), 8:21

SdC – Beiriger 10 run (run failed), 2:34

Fourth quarter

SdC – Shellabarger 5 pass from Beiriger (Cerrato-Flores pass from Beiriger), 10:20