ROOSEVELT CO. YEAR IN SPORTS: Elida keeps adding to state titles

One Roosevelt County team made its way back to the top, while another just refused to leave it.

The Portales Rams are football champions once again, and Elida is the volleyball and girls basketball champion, seemingly as always, with 2016 coming to a close.

Whether it is basketball or volleyball, Elida High seems to have it figured out.

In 2016 both the Elida Lady Tigers basketball and volleyball teams won their respective class 1A titles and kept alive some of the longest streaks in the state.

Rams football: Redemption, vindication, success — whatever the word may be, the 2016 Rams football team accomplished everything they set out for, winning the class 4A State Championship to wrap up an almost flawless season.

Having lost to Robertson High in the semi-finals to finish their 2015 season, the Rams got some payback by beating a then undefeated Roberston in the 2016 state championship game, 43-14.

Finishing with a 12-1 record, their only loss coming to Dexter, 24-13, in midseason, the Rams finally overcame rival Robertson to win the state championship on Saturday. They rolled through their wins with an average margin of victory of 31 points.

"First, I think that the loss to Dexter, we weren't real focused," Rams coach Jamie Ramirez said on Monday. "It was homecoming and I think the boys were more focused on homecoming activities than the game. That being said, I think it was a blessing in disguise, because it focused us and allowed us to come out and improve every week, get better every game."

Having played Robertson 15 times over the past decade, Portales posted a 5-10 record against the Cardinals, going 0-5 against the team from Las Vegas in the playoffs during that time. The win was made even sweeter for Portales' fan base by handing Robertson its first loss of the season.

The backfield duo of Junior Ramirez and Darion Ontiveros carried the offensive load for the Rams, combining for 44 touchdowns and 3,021 yards on 378 carries. While many teams tried different defensive schemes and strategies to halt the Rams duo, most came up short, with the team averaging 270 yards rushing per game.

That offensive line that helped carry the two backs to the endzone time and time again consisted of Mario Cordova, Trenton Small, Jeremy Karngbaye, Luke McSperit, Isaac Gomez and Bart Molina. The big guys up front allowed the backfield to regularly chew up huge chunks of yardage, giving the speedsters the chance to find the holes for their patented breakaway touchdown runs.

While the Portales offense may have stunned many of its foes, it was the rugged Rams defense that set the tone all season long, showing consistently that Portales could make an opponent pay for any mistake or misstep.

Led in tackles by Karngbaye and Emilio Lovato with 80 and 78 tackles, respectively, the line presence of Karngbaye and Trenton Small was no small obstacle for opponents to overcome. Both players, especially as the season headed into the final stretch, were a huge part of the team's success.

As with the offense, coach Ramirez pointed out that all season long it was the defensive line that helped win games. With Karngbaye, Small, Mcsperit, Molina, Lorenzo Armijo and Colin Williams packing the defensive front, every team facing Portales found it difficult to find success. The Portales defense held the Cardinals to a mere 128 yards of total offense in the championship game.

The Rams will enter next season with a different look, losing most of the players mentioned here to graduation. Coach Ramirez said that while his staff hasn't thought too much about next year and is enjoying the recent success, it shouldn't be a concern.

“We always had the mentality that we will put players where they can best help the team,” he said. “With our coaching staff and players, we should be able to make it work.”

Lady Tigers volleyball: For the seventh straight year, and ninth time in school history, Elida won the New Mexico small-school state volleyball champions after sweeping Melrose 25-21, 25-23, 28-26 in the Class 1A final on Nov. 12 at Rio Rancho’s Santa Ana Star Center.

Elida, which began its streak in the former Class B, now owns the longest streak in state prep volleyball history, topping the record it shared with Texico (2006-11) entering the season.

Elida (22-3) ended its season on a 19-match winning streak, with 13 coming via sweep. The Lady Tigers also improved to 100-0 against their own classification since the 2010 season.

The state final was the fourth meeting of the season between the two District 4-1A teams, with Elida getting the better of the Lady Buffs (17-8) all four times.

“I was actually more worried about Melrose in the district tournament because I thought we may get complacent,” Elida coach Darrell Chenault said. “Once you step on the main gym at the Santa Ana Star Center, it’s all hands on deck.”

While Elida did sweep Melrose, it was anything but easy as the Lady Buffs never trailed by more than a handful of points and had a chance to win the third set.

“Both teams played extremely well,” Chenault said. “They struggled at times, we struggled at times. It was back-and-forth all night long. We led through most of the third set, but (Melrose) kept fighting back and they took the lead and were serving for set point.

“Crazy ending. I’m really proud of our girls and our community. Melrose is the same way. They love their kids and are a small community. It’s tough to see a loser that way.”

Lady Tigers basketball: Elida used a 30-3 run to best No. 2 seeded and district rival Grady 55-31 at The Pit in Albuquerque to claim the team’s sixth straight championship and seventh in school history.

Senior Lauren Stone scored 14 points and now-senior Madison Haley had a double-double with 10 points and 11 boards to lead a balanced effort for the Lady Tigers, who finished the season 27-3 and have posted an 89-game winning streak against their classification since a 2010 loss to eventual then-Class 1A champion Floyd.

The streak has held up through two different classifications and three coaches, and has right now reached where it began — with a victory at The Pit over Grady.

“It can be a close game, then one or two turnovers and you’re up eight,” said Elida’s Jaden Isler, who took over the team after his father died in a car accident early in 2015. “Our girls pressed smart these last two games. You can say you want to press and be uptempo, but if the girls don’t want to do it and they aren’t smart, you can’t do it.”

It caught on with his players, and without any action from the team the theme was soon on T-shirts and gym banners all over the tiny eastern New Mexico town.

“I think it’s partly the community,” Isler said of the team’s success. “They give all of their support, their unconditional support, to these players.”

Elida’s only losses of the 2015-16 season came to Class 2A Tatum, Class 3A champion Texico and Class 2A champion Melrose.

Here’s how Portales’ other teams finished out the year:

Portales boys soccer (2015 record, 4-12-1. 2016 record, 15-4-1): The Rams had a turnaround season in 2016, winning 11 more games than 2015 and making it to the second round of the Class 1-4A state playoffs as the fifth seed.

After a first round, 8-1 win over Desert Academy, the Rams were bounced out by fourth-seeded Bosque 4-2.

Portales girls soccer (2015 record, 4-13-1. 2016 record, 6-14): The Rams continue to show signs of improvement, winning two more games than the previous year. Ending on a high note, the Portales girls soccer team beat Ruidoso 3-2 in overtime to wrap up its season.

Portales volleyball (2015 record, 13-10. 2016 record, 11-12): Heading into the fall off a 2015 district championship and an early exit from the state tournament, the Lady Rams took a slight step backwards this year.

Losing in the district tournament semi-finals to Moriarty 3-1, the Rams once again found themselves on the way home early from the state tournament.

After beating Shiprock in the first game 3-1, Portales was on the losing end of a 3-1 decision to St. Michael’s to end the season.

Portales boys basketball (2014-15 record, 17-10. 2015-16 record, 18-10): The Rams would repeat their performance from 2015, winning the district championship but falling short in the state playoffs to Robertson, 65-53. While the only real room for improvement would have been to win a state title, the Rams did finish one game better than the previous year.

Portales girls basketball (2014-15 record, 23-7. 2015-16 record, 24-4): Winning their second district championship in a row, the Lady Rams again faced Hope Christian in the state tournament. Having lost to Hope in the 2014-15 finals 47-42, Portales was out for payback. Alas, the Lady Rams once again fel just shy of advancing, losing to the Huskies in heartbreaking fashion 35-34.