Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
STAFF WRITER
With two days before their first game of the season, the Portales Rams have finally named their starting quarterback and running backs.
Rams coach Jaime Ramirez named Junior Ramirez (no relation), who quarterbacked last year’s team to a school-best 11-1 record last season, the starter for Friday’s game against Robertson at the new Greyhound Stadium.
Junior Ramirez was the quarterback for the Rams during their 11-1 season last year and once again, head coach Jaime Ramirez, no relation to Junior, has named him the starting signal-caller.
Coming into this week, the coach said Ramirez and senior Emilio Lovato were competing for the starting spot. Jaime Ramirez said both had played well, but he made the decision based more on Lovato’s play on defense, where he led the team in tackles a year ago with 72.
“I just felt that because of Emilio’s impact on defense and him being on the field defensively all the time, I thought it was a better fit,” coach Ramirez said. “Emilio will still play offense, but Junior having the experience as the quarterback last year goes a long way. He’s been a quarterback his whole life since he started (playing) organized football.”
In the 12 games he played last season, Junior Ramirez threw for almost 1,200 yards and 16 touchdowns while running for almost 1,000 yards and 16 scores on the ground.
Coach Ramirez said senior Darion Ontiveros and junior Mark Lovato (no relation to Emilio) will share time as the starting running backs. Last season, Ontiveros pulled down 24 receptions for 446 yards and seven touchdowns as a wide receiver, and ran the ball once for 15 yards.
Jacob Salgado, a teammate of Ramirez last season and current linebacker coach for the Rams’ freshman team was pleased with the news that Ramirez would once again lead the team.
“He’s a great running quarterback who plays run-and-gun,” Salgado said. “He has the ability to do it all. He’s an all-around athlete. If he can do what he did last year, there’s a good chance for them to go as far as we did last year.”
