Portales’ district title defense starts tonight

STAFF WRITER

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After mercy-ruling Espanola Valley last week, the Portales Rams are ready to start District 4-4A play as they host Hope Christian in a 7 p.m. start today at Greyhound Stadium.

Similar to the last few opponents Portales (5-1) has faced, the Huskies (3-3) operate from multiple offensive formations.

Staff photo: Matthew Asher

Portales junior linebacker Kiki Cabral (45) tackles a teammate during Wednesday’s scout team practice. The Rams begin District 4-4A play tonight against Hope Christian.

“They have a spread offense where they play doubles and trips (wide receivers),” Portales coach Jaime Ramirez said. “They also go to the tight end and go doubles with the tight ends as well.”

Ramirez said his team is focusing on running backs Marcus Medina and Neal Taylor. In addition, Ramirez wants his team to pay attention to quarterback Vince Quezada.

“He throws the ball well and he’s elusive,” Ramirez said of Quezada. “They like to throw the ball deep, but they do short passes. They try to mix the ball up. We just need to do a better job of preparing for the deep ball. We work on it all the time.”

The Rams dominated the Sundevils last week, but shouldn’t expect such as easy game this time. Portales defensive coordinator Victor Lopez made sure his team spent time watching film of the Huskies.

“I’ve said it before, but we just try to get better at our techniques,” Lopez said. “Of course, we took a look at what Hope Christian does. They’re obviously a different team than Espanola, but we just focus on making sure we can play with our maximum effort on Friday night.”

Against Espanola Valley, Tyrese Dawson took over quarterbacking duties in the second quarter with the game well in hand. Coach Ramirez is planning on starting Junior Ramirez at quarterback, but said Dawson will get some work under center as well.

The Rams’ spread option attack will face a Huskies team that likes to stack the box (area from tackle to tackle) with seven players.

The beauty of the option offense is it allows for changes on the fly, depending on the defensive alignment. So, while running the ball inside and closer to the defenders may not always seem like the best approach, coach Ramirez said that if the situation presents itself it’s a possibility for Junior Ramirez, Dawson or Darion Ontiveros to cut inside several times throughout the game.

“We need to attack the perimeter with seven men in the box,” Ramirez said. “But we’re going to take what they give us.”