Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Staff photo: Matthew Asher Portales junior Tyrese Dawson scrambles against Roswell Goddard during Tuesday’s scrimmage at Portales High. Dawson is one of four people vying for the Rams starting quarterback position.
STAFF WRITER
With less than two weeks before the season begins, the Portales Rams finally got a chance to quit hitting each other in practice as they hosted Roswell Goddard, Eunice and the Clovis junior varsity team on Tuesday at Portales High.
Staff photo: Matthew Asher
Portales junior Tyrese Dawson scrambles against Roswell Goddard during Tuesday’s scrimmage at Portales High. Dawson is one of four people vying for the Rams starting quarterback position.
Two weeks ago, seniors Junior Ramirez and Jeremie Karngbaye were not on the team as coach Jaime Ramirez, no relation to Junior, said both were focusing on basketball.
It seems like the allure of the gridiron was too much for them as they both are back on the team. However, since they have not participated in enough practices, neither was allowed to participate in the scrimmage.
Since Junior Ramirez wasn’t taking any snaps during this scrimmage, Jaime Ramirez let the other three players vying for the starting quarterback job, senior Emilio Lovato, junior Tyrese Dawson and sophomore Julian Urioste, take an equal number of snaps. Ramirez liked the efforts of all three quarterbacks.
“Emilio ran the zone read very well,” Ramirez said. “I thought we didn’t get Urioste enough time to sit back and throw but he did well also. Tyrese ran the speed option very well.”
The scrimmage started out a little rough for the Rams as Goddard took its first snap and ran into the end zone untouched. Following that play, the Portales defense settled down and limited the Rockets to just one more trip to the end zone in the next 14 plays.
“I think we were a little bit nervous and were shell-shocked at the first play,” Ramirez said. “We missed a tackle and they turned it into a touchdown. After that we calmed down and started to play in rhythm. I’m proud with how we responded defensively after that first series.”
The Rams and Rockets each had 15 offensive plays before taking a short break, letting the junior varsity teams play, then resumed for another 10 offensive snaps each. At the end of the first set, Goddard had a 2-1 score advantage. Both teams scored once in the second set.
“The second time was way better,” assistant coach Dusty Nusser said of both the Rams offense and defense. “I think our guys were still getting into the game the first set. That’s what we want out of a scrimmage. We want to get those bumps out of the way so we’re ready against Texico.”
Although Ramirez still has yet to name the starting quarterback and running back, as well as the offensive and defensive captains, he said he’s confident he’ll know all those positions next week, well before the Rams break in the new Greyhound Stadium when they host Texico on Aug. 26.
