Cats close strong

CLOVIS — If it didn't look like Clovis' day when it was down 1-0 in the first minute Thursday, it should have been obvious when the Wildcats gave up a first-minute goal in the second half too.

But things flipped on a red card, and the Wildcats scored three times in the final 20 minutes, including a Markus Baumann tap-in with two minutes left as Clovis shocked Sandia Prep 3-2 at Yucca Middle School.

"We had the momentum once we got that equalizer," Clovis coach Greg Trujillo said of Jared Garcia's tally in the 72nd minute. "We started moving the ball really well.

"Once we started attacking the wings, the middle opened up for us. It was looking pretty bad when we make a mistake (in the) first seconds of the game and the first seconds of the second half. We had a ton of opportunities and didn't convert until the 78th minute (when Baumann scored)."

The Wildcats (3-4) first got on the board in the 61st minute, when Lee Ortega buried a penalty kick after a Sandia Prep player came in high with his cleats inside the goal box.

Clovis missed on an earlier penalty kick in the second half, but Trujillo said the red card issued to Sandia Prep meant the Sundevils had to play a man short for much of the second half.

The Sundevils' goals both came courtesy of Cole Hanrahan. Trujillo said he was stunned to see first-minute tallies on both Spencer Rollins and Bruno Armendariz. Rollins started the game, while Armendariz took over after halftime.

Rollins had seven of the Cats' 11 saves.

The game, which was moved to Thursday earlier in the week, was almost called off out of fears from Sandia Prep about various threats following Monday's shooting at Clovis-Carver Public Library. The same scenario canceled Clovis' volleyball game against Espanola Valley.

"I told him, 'Everything is OK. We're having a (freshman) football game (too), call my AD,'" Trujillo said. "He called and was put at ease."

The Wildcats resume the season Tuesday at New Mexico Military Institute.