The Bloomfield Bobcats lined up in a spread-em' and go-get-em' formation, looking to bury the dagger into the St. Michael's Horsemen at Brother Abdon Field on Saturday.

Horsemen junior inside linebacker Michael Aranda was staring at a five-receiver set lined up at the St. Michael's 3-yard line. The scoreboard directly behind Aranda read St. Michael's 20, Bloomfield 19. The Bobcats wanted a two-point conversion that would have almost certainly meant a win with 1 minute remaining in the fourth quarter of the season-opener for both teams.

Aranda had played defensive end all through two-a-days, and was inserted as a starting interior linebacker on Thursday. Aranda said he usually blitzes against that spread lineup, but he waited for Bobcats junior quarterback David Salcido to make a move at the snap.

"He kept pump-faking and pump-faking, I knew he was going to run it," Aranda said. "Emory (Atterberry) was on the other side. I grabbed (Salcido) and tried to twist him."

Salcido stretched his lanky body out as Aranda was wrapping up and the ball was moving toward the goal line. But Salcido's reach fell short as the ball came to rest inside the 1.

The Horsemen took over possession after a failed on-side kick attempt and ran out the clock. Bloomfield head coach Bruce Hatch didn't second-guess his decision.

"On the road, first game of the year, you look and it's a foot short," Hatch said. "The loss hurts, but in no way do we feel bad. We just missed."

The Horsemen were fortunate to escape. With St. Michael's up 20-13, Bloomfield turned the ball over on downs with 2:41 left in the fourth quarter, giving St. Michael's the ball near its own 25. After two short gains, the Horsemen faced third-and-5 and were called for illegal motion. St. Michael's sophomore quarterback Michael Wiegel was buried for a loss of nine on the next play.

Bloomfield took over the ball at the Horsemen 40 with a minute-and-a-half left. On second-and-13, Salcido completed a pass to wide receiver Brian Detrick in the left flat. Detrick put a move on outside 'backer Kenneth Kinderwater and was gone up the far sideline for a 63-yard touchdown.

It was the summation of a pair of trends on the day: Bloomfield's ability to score on the big play and St. Michael's tendency to temporarily lose focus.

"That can't happen," said St. Michael's head coach Joey Fernandez. "We had some breakdowns. I don't mind giving up 5, 10 yards once in a while. But the big runs, that's not going to win games."

The Bobcats' touchdowns came on plays of 67, 65 and 63 yards. Their first score came on a counter by Alex Garcia that went around the right side in the second quarter. The second score was a trap play by Robert Aleshire that went up the middle in the third quarter.

Garcia had 10 carries for 95 yards.

"I knew it was going to happen," said Fernandez of the ups-and-downs with so many new faces, including Wiegel who was the back-up until about a week and a half ago.

His debut was solid, dotted with flashes of potential. His highlight came on the first series of the second half.

St. Michael's converted a third-and-19 when Wiegel dropped back and tossed a pretty touch pass on a flag route to sophomore slot back Russell Disch for a 32-yard score. Wiegel was 4-for-9 passing for 53 yards. The Horsemen ground attack was led by senior tailback Manuel Trujillo, who pounded out 93 yards on 15 carries.

"After they scored, I thought, '(Shoot) we're going to overtime," said Aranda. "But I'm glad it worked out."

It did, for St. Michael's. By anywhere from one yard and one foot, depending on the vantage point.