Belen soars to high-scoring start

BELEN, N.M. (KRQE) - It's what the Belen football team has done of late that has earned the Eagles the latest KRQE Team of the Week honors.

The Eagles are off to a 3-0 start this season, scoring 155 points in the process. Belen opened the season at home with a 42-6 win over Deming. The Eagles followed that with a 63-34 victory at Aztec and a 50-0 win over Los Lunas.

"The thing that's impressed me the most about this team is that we've improved week to week, from our first scrimmage to our first game, our second game, our third game," Belen coach John Lerma said.

"We used to be a real running team," said Eagles junior running back Danny Jaramillo. "But now passing is part of our ammunition. We're just becoming an all-around offense now."

Belen's early season offensive explosion has caught the eye of the Eagles defense too.

"It's fun seeing the offense work," said Eagles senior linebacker Sean Willis. "You don't want the offense to go out there and fail.

"And as a defense, it's rewarding to get the three-and-outs and the punts and then have them score for you."

The Eagles early season success has given the team a big boost of confidence.

"A lot of teams think we're an unstable team and we're just going out and showing our dominance and that we can hang with some of the high caliber teams in the state," said Jaramillo.

The Eagles will travel to southeastern New Mexico Friday to face Roswell.