Rams open district play on road

PORTALES — The last long trip that the Portales football team made — back on September 16 against St. Michael's in Santa Fe — didn't turn out like the Rams had hoped. Portales snapped an 11-game winning streak in the loss to the Horsemen, falling to them 21-20.

For Rams coach Jaime Ramirez, a sluggish first half by his team contributed to the problem, and tonight, he hopes history doesn't repeat itself. Portales (5-1) will travel to Albuquerque to face Hope Christian (3-3), at 7 p.m.

"We definitely want to get off the bus. We want to travel well, we want to make sure that this game is a game where we come out and do well," Ramirez said. "It's our first district game, and we've had a good week of practice. So, we want to finish it with a victory on Friday night."

Since the down-to-the-wire loss in Santa Fe, Portales' defense has yet to allow a single point. The Rams spoiled Dexter's homecoming with a 27-0 shutout on Sept. 22, then followed that up with a 37-0 home win over Socorro last week.

The Ram defense will face a Huskies offense that plays out of a base I formation, but isn't afraid to mix it up. Other formations that Hope Christian morphs into include trips, no backs and tight end doubles.

For Portales' defense, it should make for an interesting matchup. And while the defense is coming into the game with a lot of confidence, penalties still need to be cleaned up. Last week, the Ram defense was guilty of four offsides penalties.

"Defensively, we had a little bit more (penalties last week) than we had in the past. We harp on that all week long," Ramirez said, smiling. "It's not something we just talk about every once in awhile, it's all week long. It was just uncharacteristic for us to have four (defensive offsides) in one game like that."

As for the Huskie defense, they run a 5-2, but play a man defense in certain situations. Hope also uses a man free formation, in which they'll shift to a 4-2 defense in the box. Overall, Hope Christian possesses a very young team.

Portales, meanwhile, didn't always finish drives like it should have last week. However, when the Rams did, it was very obvious, as the team scored three touchdowns of 20 or more yards, thanks to big nights by running back Timothy Garcia and quarterback Tyrese Dawson.

For Ramirez, having so many talented skill guys who can score at the drop of the hat is just one of the many perks of coaching at Portales.

"It's nice, we're blessed," Ramirez said. "I tell everybody all the time that, 'I'm blessed with where I'm at. I've got good kids, good coaches and I have good administration.' It's just a plus that my kids have talent, also."