Del Valle gets back on track against Hanks, stays in District 1-5A Division II title race

The El Paso Del Valle Conquistadors never figured to stay down for long, and they didn't.

A week after suffering their first loss of the year in a shocking upset to Chapin, the city's former No. 1 team regained its swagger in a 49-14 statement win against Hanks Friday night at Excalibur Stadium.

Del Valle scored touchdowns on each of its first three possessions and intercepted Hanks three of the first four times the Knights had the ball, bolting to a 21-0 intermission lead and seeing that home.

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What is means for Del Valle

With the win, the Conquistadors went to 6-1 overall and 4-1 in District 1-5A Division II, while staying a game back in the loss column of Andress. Hanks fell to 3-3, 3-2.

Senior quarterback Jake Fette, an Arizona State commit, accounted for all three first-half touchdowns, rushing for two and throwing for another. One of those rushing touchdowns, a 5-yard run through traffic, came a play after he hit Josiah Nunez on a 73-yard bomb.

He also accounted for the first two touchdowns of the second half, one rushing and one passing as he finished with more than 100 yards rushing and 250 yards passing.

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But the key for Del Valle in the first half was three interceptions and a blocked field goal. Hanks moved the ball well in the early stages of the game, but interceptions by Dominic Rueda, Abraham Garcia and Isiah Herrera rendered that moot and sent Del Valle out to a big lead.

Hanks got its first points at the 5:31 mark of the third quarter, at which point the Knights were down 28-7. On the first snap of the fourth quarter, Del Valle's Nayden Avila scored on an 80-yard interception return and once again the Conquistador defense was matching the Hanks offense in scoring.

Up next

Hanks heads to central El Paso to take on El Paso High. The Friday, Oct. 17 kick is at 7 p.m. Del Valle hosts Horizon on the same date and time.

Bret Bloomquist can be reached at [email protected]; @Bretbloomquist on X.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Del Valle Conquistadors rebound in big way against Hanks Knights