Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
DORA — If the Dora Coyotes intend to be among the eight-man elite, they’re bound for a pretty good test Friday night.
The season kicks off for the Coyotes with a 7 p.m. home game against Mesilla Valley.
The teams also opened last season against each other, with the SonBlazers taking a 66-34 victory in Las Cruces. Dora coach Mason McBee thinks the Coyotes have a better shot this time around because they’d never seen Mesilla Valley before last year and that game had some Dora players sitting out as a punishment for violating school rules.
Mesilla Valley is coming off a 7-3 season. The SonBlazers were the fourth seed in last year’s eight-man field, and fell in the semifinals to eventual runnerup Gateway Christian.
McBee said Mesilla Valley is somewhat analagous to Hope Christian. Just like the Huskies seem to always gather Albuquerque’s best basketball talent, the SonBlazers get some of the best eight-man players in the Las Cruces area.
“We played them in 7-on-7 this summer, and they had a few guys I hadn’t seen before,” McBee said. “They’re going to be solid. All of their guys are pretty athletic.”
The SonBlazers return junior quarterback Josh Castillo, who last year had 35 touchdown passes and 2,273 passing yards against five interceptions.
“We’ve got to stop their deep ball more than anything else. That’s what they do really well. Those kind of things are easier said than done, but if we can take away the deep bal we’ve got a pretty good chance.”
Dora, as the sixth seed, blanked Menaul 54-0 in the first round before falling 54-44 to Magdalena in the quarterfinals.
Not so fast, my friend — The defending 1A six-man San Jon/Grady Coyotes anticipated opening their season on the road against the Eagles at Vaughn.
It looks, however, like title defense is going to have to wait one more week, as Vaughn canceled the game Tuesday afternoon.
Jones said the Coyotes will have defensive players who will have to learn on the go as the season progresses. He said the team is ready for a new season and committed to winning another state championship.
The Coyotes will now open the season at home Sept. 1 against Hondo.
