The Albuquerque Academy Chargers did it again with another fantastic win! Varsity football beat Bernalillo on Sunday, October 3rd with a score of 14-7. For the first time in this school’s history, Academy held a night football game “Under the lights” at Harper Stadium.
Academy won 14-7 with Cole Conway and Mark McIntosh scoring the 2 touchdowns. With only 2 minutes and 48 seconds on the clock, Bernalillo was down by one touchdown and got possession of the ball at their own 10 yard line. The Academy’s hopes were high but this position was a tough one. The Chargers, however, never faltered and pushed through with their defensive line proving to be even stronger than before, intercepting Bernalillo’s final attempt at a Hail Mary. AJ Rivera stated, “The most important part of the game was that big defensive stop with about two minutes left. They had a good momentum coming into that and our defense just held ‘em.” Clark Hager ‘22, a lineman, noted that “they got the ball back at about the 10-yard line with about two minutes left, that defensive stop right there really sealed up the game for us.”

This is the first time in four years that Academy has beaten this rival team, and many players were very excited about this win. Tyler Wilson ‘22 had a great game. As the team’s wide receiver, Tyler had multiple receptions and interceptions ,and even a catch for 30 yards. He commented on the game, stating, “This is the biggest win for us. I know the seniors really wanted to beat Bernalillo.” Junior, Kellan Gehres, said “It’s great, the first time we beat Bernalillo. It’s an amazing feeling.” Quarterback AJ Rivera ‘23 remarked, “They have been a team that is kind of like our Achilles heel. For a while, we haven’t been able to catch them. We’ve thought we had them and they’ve always just come out and put it on us. It was nice to flip that around.” To most players, this game was very personal, as for the last time Academy beat Bernalillo the current seniors were freshmen.
A grand historical night for the chargers! With a win against Bernalillo for the first time in a long time, and the first “Football Night Under the Lights,” it was a very memorable night. When commenting about this night game Coach Gehres said, “I think that the players felt the energy of the crowd, because they can’t focus on anything outside but the field, I think it energized them. It’s just been really exciting so it was fun.” A way the Charger community can help their football team is by keeping the energy up as seen in this game. “When you see people just give them encouragement throughout the week for the football players.” One player said.
The Chargers are 7-1 on their winning streak and recently won their game 28-8 against Valencia at Los Lunas. With this district win against Bernalillo, the Chargers are looking at a very bright season this year.