First and second down were not usually the problem for Santa Fe High on Saturday afternoon.

The Lovington Wildcats made their mark late in the series, especially on fourth down, scoring three of their touchdowns on that play as they rolled to a 62-20 win in Wildcat Stadium in both teams’ last nondistrict game.

In a rescheduled game that was postponed Friday night because of storms in southeast New Mexico, the Demons put themselves in positions to succeed. They just couldn’t finish those opportunities.

Lovington’s second drive of the game foretold those woes when quarterback Wyatt Gomez hit Elijah Rivero for a 32-yard touchdown pass on a fourthand-20 play for a 15-0 lead.

It has been a consistent pattern for the Demons (1-5) all season.

“In our losses, what we’ve done on third and fourth down is we give up these plays,” Santa Fe High head coach Andrew Martinez said. “We just don’t make the plays that get the other team off the field. Those are the most important downs to win.”

Gomez scored on a 1-yard touchdown run on a fourth-down situation at the 9:30 mark of the second quarter for a 29-6 edge as Lovington (4-3) eventually took a 43-6 lead into the locker room at the half.

The Wildcats had a chance to end the game via mercy rule in the third quarter when Gomez hit Cesar Gonzalez for a 25-yard touchdown pass for a 55-6 lead with 8:30 left in the third quarter, but placekicker Caleb Aranda missed the point-after kick to keep the game going.

In the fourth quarter, Wildcats backup signal-caller Patrick Sanchez hit Rivero for a 52-yard touchdown pass on a fourth-and-27 with 4:25 left in the game.

Lovington managed 464 yards of total offense, and it had six plays of

20 yards or more. Gomez threw for five touchdowns while recording 247 yards through the air.

Meanwhile, Santa Fe High continued to struggle to establish a ground game and protect quarterback Michael Abeyta, who was sacked eight times. The Demons had minus-17 yards on the ground, while Abeyta carried the offense to the tune of 298 passing yards on 15-for27 passing with three touchdowns.

One of them was a 60-yard strike to Gabriel Lujan that cut the margin to 55-12 with 5:40 left in the third.

Martinez said Abeyta has made significant strides over the past two games.

“He’s a lot cleaner and making good reads,” Martinez said. “He’s just got to protect the football.”

Santa Fe High starts District 5-5A play Friday when it plays host to Clovis at Ivan Head Stadium at 7 p.m.