STAFF REPORT

MAY – The May Tigers were so efficient Friday night, they only needed half a game to beat the Santa Anna Mountaineers 51-0 in District 13-1A Division I.

May upheld its No. 5 statewide ranking in Class 1A DI in a game stopped at halftime by the 45-point mercy rule in six-man football. Nine May players carried the ball and seven Tigers scored touchdowns. No May player carried more than three times.

Keith Cross, normally a lineman for May, carried the ball for the first time this season and wound up leading the Tigers in rushing Friday with 63 yards on three carries, including a 20-yard touchdown. Lane McGinn, who also doesn’t play running back, had only one carry prior to Friday. He finished with 22 yards rushing on three carries.

The seven May players who scored touchdowns were Chris Flenniken on a 37-yard pass from Rory Bustamante, Isidro Salinas on a 32-yard run, Kaden Halk on a 28-yard run, Aaron McGinn on a 31-yard run, Bustamante on a 52-yard run, Cross on a 20-yard run, and Korbin Bass on a 29-yard run.

In just half a game, May rushed for 278 yards and finished with 315 total yards.

“It was very important to get everyone involved,” 17-year May coach Craig Steele said. “Especially when you’re playing half a game, everyone needs to get some good conditioning. You can’t duplicate game conditioning in practice. We worked a lot of players in and out to give everybody some work.”

Salinas, Halk, Bustamante and Aaron McGinn all scored a touchdown on their only rushing attempt of the game. The Tigers scored touchdowns on their first three offensive plays.

May was even efficient through the air. On the Tigers’ first offensive snap, Bustamante passed to Flenniken for a 37-yard touchdown on what turned out to be May’s only pass attempt of the game.

May’s defense also enjoyed a dominating performance. The Tigers’ defense limited Santa Anna to no first downs, minus-42 yards rushing on 14 carries and minus-25 total yards. The Mountaineers longest gain of the game was a 17-yard pass from Jaxson Diggs to Silas Lara in the final two minutes of the second quarter.

“We’ve got some kids that like to hit and play physical defense — and that’s usually a good combination,” said Steele, whose Tigers posted their fourth shutout this season on Friday. “We pride ourselves on our defense. Coach Chad Dail does a great job with the defense.”

The Tigers improved to 7-1 and set up District 13-1A DI showdown next week with Baird, a second-year six-man program. Santa Anna, which has only two seniors on its roster, fell to 5-3 overall and 0-2 in district.

“Santa Anna is going to be good. They only have two seniors, and they have a good junior high team,” Steele said. “They’ll be good in two years.”

But this season is May’s time. The Tigers have nine seniors on a mission after losing three playoff games over the last three years by a combined 20 points.

“They’re a locked-in group right now,” Steele said of his seniors — Salinas, Flenniken, Bass, Bustamante, Cross, Jayce Blankenship, Lane McGinn, Ethan Self and Hayden King. “We still have a couple more district games to get through, but these seniors have big aspirations. They’re working hard for the future.”

May 51, Santa Anna 0

Score by Quarters:

Santa Anna 0 0 — — — 00

May 30 21 — — — 51

First Quarter

M — Chris Flenniken 37 pass from Rory Bustamante (Bustamante kick), 8:13

M — Isidro Salinas 32 run (kick failed), 8:03

M — Kaden Halk 28 run (Bustamante kick), 5:29

M — Aaron McGinn 31 run (Bustamante kick), 1:47

Second Quarter

M — Bustamante 52 run (kick failed), 9:28

M — Keith Cross 20 run (Bustamante kick), 4:36

M — Korbin Bass 29 run (Flenniken pass from Bustamante), 2:42

SA May

First Downs 0 9

Rushes-Yards 14-(-)42 17-278
Passing Yards 17 37

Total Yards (-)25 315

Comp-Att-Int 1-8-1 1-1-0
Punts 5-34 0-0
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0

Penalties-Yards 4-27 2-15

Individual Statistics
RUSHING: Santa Anna – Silas Lara 1-1, Devan Ray 1-(-)3, Johnny Graves 2-(-)11, Jaxson Diggs 10-(-)29. May – Keith Cross 3-63, Rory Bustamante 1-52, Korbin Bass 2-40, Isidro Salinas 1-32, Aaron McGinn 1-31, Kaden Halk 1-28, Lane McGinn 3-22, Damian Salinas 2-12, Blake Harrell 1-1, Team 2-(-)3.

PASSING: Santa Anna – Diggs 1-8-1 for 17. May – Bustamante 1-1-0 for 37.

RECEIVING: Santa Anna – Silas Lara 1-17. May – Chris Flenniken 1-37.