It was a tale of two halves for the Santa Fe High School football team Friday night at Ivan Head Stadium.

The Demons took a 27-14 advantage over Piedra Vista into halftime, but saw their lead evaporate in the final two quarters, as they lost a
28-27 heartbreaker in the season opener for both schools.

The loss extended the Demons' losing streak to 13 games, dating back to the 2008 season.

Santa Fe High head coach Ray Holladay said his team wore down in the second half of the physical contest.

"Guys got beat up, guys got tired," said Holladay. "And the number-two guys have to be more ready to go in there and compete."

The Demons looked poised to earn their first win of Holladay's tenure in the first half, however, as they quickly put the visiting Panthers on the back foot.

Demons junior quarterback Jason Fitzpatrick tossed a pair of touchdown passes in the opening 2 minutes, 51 seconds of the first quarter for a 13-0 lead.

The first touchdown came on a
23-yard strike to Jordan Homer-Booth with 9:20 left, and the second score came moments later on a
13-yard pass to Joshua Roybal, after Piedra Vista lost a fumble courtesy of a botched snap on its first play from scrimmage.

Fitzpatrick added a third touchdown pass on a 10-yard completion to Jerry Chavez with 2:42 left in
the first, for 20-6.

The teams then traded touchdowns in the second quarter, with Fitzpatrick hitting receiver Ryan Fitzpatrick down the sideline for a 38-yard touchdown with just 27.6 remaining in the half.

All told, Jason Fitzpatrick went 13-for-19 in the first two quarters, with four touchdowns and 167 yards passing.

Unfortunately for Santa Fe High, the tenor of the game changed in the final 24 minutes.

Piedra Vista opened the third quarter with a methodical 50-yard drive that took nearly five minutes off the clock and ended with backup quarterback Dominic Valdez scampering in from
7 yards out after breaking several tackles.

The Panthers added a two-point conversion on another Valdez scramble, to cut the Demons lead to 27-22 with 7:05 left in the third.

Piedra Vista would add a final touchdown with 9:56 left in the fourth quarter, as sophomore running back Stratton Waller capped another 50-yard drive with a 4-yard touchdown run.

Although the Panthers' two-point conversion failed, they grabbed their first lead of the game at 28-27.

The Demons drove deep into Piedra Vista's territory on their ensuing possession, but the frantic drive stalled out on Panthers' 4-yard line, as Jason Fitzpatrick was stopped on quarterback sneak on fourth-and-2 with 7:19 remaining.

The Demons wouldn't come close to sniffing the goal line again.

"I put the ball in our best player's hands," said Holladay of the fourth-down play. "I thought at first that he was going to get into the end zone, but he just came up short."

The win was a much-needed lift for the Panthers, meanwhile, who lost senior-to-be Kyler Beaty in an fatal auto accident on June 24.

The team honored Beaty before the game, with the Panther captains carrying his helmet with them to the pre-game coin toss.

"We desperately needed this," said Piedra Vista head coach Jared Howell. "We really needed something positive to happen."

Fitzpatrick finished the night 18-for-32, with 219 yards and one second-half interception to go with his four first-half touchdowns.

Valdez finished with 94 yards rushing and went 8-for-13 with 104 yards passing after replacing starter Richard Gonzalez, who left the game in the first quarter with a knee injury.

Contact Jon Sward at jsward39@gmail.com.