Cats focused on job

CLOVIS — Life goes on. You hear it dozens of times, but it seems a bit more poignant when it hits home.

Monday's tragedy at the Clovis-Carver Library has certainly hit home in the city of Clovis. A mostly quiet community doesn't expect to have any local fixture, especially a library, surrounded with yellow police tape.

But since that happened, life has indeed gone on, including at the athletic fields. It will keep going on at Clovis High tonight when the Wildcats (1-0) host Carlsbad (0-1), with kickoff slated for 7 p.m. at Leon Williams Stadium.

The Wildcats' goals remain unchanged, despite the understandable concerns early in the week.

"There were a whole lot of questions Tuesday morning," Clovis head coach Cal Fullerton said after Wednesday's practice. "After what happened, the kids were asking questions, whether they should be at school. We got most of them here at practice that morning, and all of them were here that afternoon. ... And I just talked to them a little bit about the community being able to lean on us, and us being leaders of the community.

"Friday night's giving the community something to do rather than think bad things, think about what happened this week. You know, give them two, three hours worth of being able to cheer, being able to be happy, something besides the negativity that's been going on this week."

"It's pretty sad," Clovis senior tight end/linebacker Cisco Cobian said, "but we've just got to do something for this community on Friday night, try to get them distracted and try to get their minds off it."

"Of course Monday was a tragic day. Many people lost family and friends," Wildcats senior free safety/wide receiver Joe Gallegos said. "But we've got to stay focused on what we're doing, especially the game we love, because we're one team, Clovis, we play for each other, play for the town."

The Wildcats won last week's opener by outlasting Hobbs 33-24 at home. Tonight they face a Carlsbad team that was blanked 34-0 at Artesia.

Still, the Wildcats take nothing for granted as they head into tonight's game.

"It's going to take a good team effort from both sides of the ball and special teams," Fullerton said, "because Carlsbad, they're physical. Coach (Gary) Bradley has been a couple different places and everywhere he's been, he's won. He brings a mental toughness to his team, they're well-coached, really big and strong up front, athletic in the backfield. So it'll take a team effort and a lot of focus on both sides of the football."

"We're going to have to be physical," Cobian said, "because they're a physical team."

"I know that they're a physical, good team," Gallegos said. "We haven't played that well against them; I don't know why. But we always come out with the 'W' by being physical and outplaying them."

On the subject of physicality, junior running back Andrew Jaramillo took his share of hits last week while carrying 20 times for a team-best 120 yards, and his right foot was injured by being stepped on during that effort. Fullerton hopes to have him available tonight.

"We'll see," he said. "He may be a game-time decision."

Fullerton said senior wide receiver/linebacker Nickolas Perez and senior offensive lineman/defensive end Hunter St. John have healed from injuries.

"They're two seniors that not only bring two good players back, but a lot of depth for us."

With that relatively good health and great town spirit, the Wildcats forge into Week 2, hearts a little heavier, resolve a lot stronger. And like any week, they want to win.

"It's going to be amazing. I'll be really pumped," Cobian said. "We're going to put our season in a good direction, and the fans are really going to love it."