It’s not like Connor O’Toole didn’t expect his team to win state.
He did.
And it’s not like his program didn’t already have a target on its
back because of all of its past winning. It did.
That said, his La Cueva team entered the 2018 6A state final as
an underdog in a battle of unbeaten teams, his against No. 1 seed
Cleveland. Turns out O’Toole and Company had the Storm right where
they wanted them.
“Cleveland was expected to win that game but we came into it with
a chip on our shoulder and played our best game of the season at just
the right time,” says O’Toole, a 6-foot-4, 210-pound wide receiver and
linebacker. “It was a battle of unbeatens, so we expected a hard game
but that’s not how it turned out.”
Sure didn’t. While the La Cueva defense held the state’s top scoring
offense to a single offensive touchdown, the Bears offense rolled up nearly
600 yards of total offense in a 33-14 victory. The state title was the programs’
first since 2009.
Right in the middle of it all was O’Toole, who was named first-team allstate
after catching 43 passes for 867 yards and eight touchdowns, adding
211 yards rushing and three more TDs. Those numbers might suggest a high
flying, keep-my-uniform-clean sort of player but that’s definitely not the case
with O’Toole.
“I know my job is to make plays in the passing game but I like putting my hand in the dirt and
getting physical. The more physical, the more fun,” he says with a certain glee in his voice. And
12 2019 Albuquerque High Schools Football Yearbook