Rams rule in 4A

PORTALES — After a seven-year drought filled with disappointments, rebuilds and upsets, the Portales High School football team is a state champion once more, beating rival Robertson 43-14 Saturday to claim its first blue trophy as a Class 4A school

While it wasn't smooth sailing all game for the Rams (12-1), the team was able to overcome some costly first-half mistakes that let the Cardinals (12-1) tie the game at 14 apiece heading into the locker room.

The third quarter was all Portales though, as the Rams quickly pulled away from Robertson on their way to a fifth state title.

The 1-2 punch of of Darion Ontiveros and Junior Ramirez struck hard, as the two combined for 367 rushing yards on the ground and five of the team's six scores. Ramirez finished with three touchdowns and 173 yards, while Ontiveros went for 194 yards and two scores. Both finished with 28 carries.

"We basically, as we've been doing all year, go off what they give us," said Ramirez. "If they give us the outside we go there, if they let us go down the middle, we attack there. We just got to keep attacking the holes and eventually break one free."

It wasn't just one. Ramirez scored a 57-yard rushing touchdown on the third play of the opening drive, and Ontiveros turned it from win to blowout with a 75-yarder in the fourth.

"As long as we executed like we know how we'd be fine," said Ontiveros, who led the Rams with 198 yards on 28 carries. All season we did that. Both times they scored that was on us, those were our mistakes. We knew we'd be OK. We changed a couple things at half time and it worked."

Even with Ramirez and Ontiveros leading the way on offense, Portales' staunch defense that led the team the entire way. Holding the Cardinals to only 128 yards, the defense also forced two turnovers and recorded four sacks.

"Our defense has been solid all year long," Portales coach Jaime Ramirez said, "and we thought that if we could come out and stop them in the second half (we would) get the ball and score again, because we moved the ball so well in the first half. We just made a couple of mistakes in the first half on offense and in special teams that let them stay in the ball game."

Spotlighting the defense were Jeremy Karngbaye and Trenton Small, who both teams knew were going to be big factors when determining the outcome of the game.

"When you win championships it's always in the trenches, and they dominated us today in the trenches," said Robertson head coach Leroy Gonzalez.

Down by two scores heading into the fourth, the Cardinals were forced to drop back and pass obviously more than they were used too. A stifling Rams secondary quickly nixed that plan, holding Robertson to only three completions on the day and a total of 41 yards through the air.

"Robertson is a good football team," Jaime Ramirez said, "so coming in we felt like we needed to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. We thought if we could do that we'd have a good night, and fortunately for us we did."

The fortunes weren't there for the Cardinals, going for their third title in school history and instead finishing as 4A runner-up for a second-straight year.

"Scoring at the end and then getting the kickoff," Gonzalez said, "we thought we could get something going; maybe take a lead and put some pressure on them. But it didn't work out. It's tough to lose a state championship and its even tougher to lose your first game of the year in the state championship."