Portales runs Elks, advance to Class 4A quarterfinals

Staff writer

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Facing Pojoaque for the second time this season, Portales knew the formula for winning was to run the ball and force turnovers. The Rams did just that in a 41-18 win Friday in a Class 4A first-round game at Greyhound Stadium.

“We just came out here prepared,” said tailback Bronte Staugaard, who ran for 137 yards and a touchdown. We knew what was going to happen and knew what we had to do.”

The Rams were leading 7-0 after the first quarter on a Matt Martinez 42-yard TD run, when they busted out for three TDs in the second. Martinez and Staugaard had TD runs, and after Rams linebacker Jonathan Montiel intercepted a Chris Quintana pass with less than a minute left, Martinez hit Travis Connell with a 28-yard pass for a score.

“We started off pretty good,” said Martinez, who ran for 158 yards and threw for another 87. “But after that first drive we kind of relaxed a bit and they came back on us. But we kept scoring and held them off.”

The Rams racked up 386 total yards and held the Elks (5-6) to two completions the entire game, but it wasn’t enough for Rams Coach Jamie Ramirez, who thought his team played a sub-par game.

“We didn’t play well to be quite honest with you,” Ramirez said. “We’ve played a lot better than this. Penalties hurt us the whole first half and in the second half we didn’t have the ball much. It just seemed like we never got into a rhythm.”

Up 27-6 entering the third quarter, the Rams were fooled with an onside kick by the Elks, who recovered. The Elks went on a nine-play drive of all runs, which ended when Darren Montoya pushed his way through the line for a 2-yard score to it 27-12.

After the teams traded punts, the Rams went on a seven play drive aided by two 15-yard penalties by the Elks. The drive ended when Martinez hit Darion Ontiveros over the middle of the end zone for a score and the Rams never looked back.

Although he didn’t think his team was very focused, Ramirez did have some good things to say about their play.

“We ran the ball well,” Ramirez said after the game. “We ran our counters really well and between the tackles. And I thought when we needed to Matt threw the ball great.”

The Rams defense also had a solid game intercepting three Quintana passes in the game. The Rams will now travel to Silver City to take on the Fighting Colts and they know it’s going to be a tougher game this time around.

“We’re going to have to start off with a really intense week of practice and not take any days off,” Martinez said. “On the way to Sliver we have to remain focused and make sure everybody knows what they need to do.”