Wildcats fall in district opener at Eldorado

ALBUQUERQUE — Clovis’ football team — like the hot-air balloons at the weekend festival being held in Albuquerque — got off to a soaring start before fading away on Saturday.

The Wildcats scored on the game’s first play from scrimmage against Eldorado at Wilson Stadium, in the District 2-6A opener for both teams. But, the Eagles struck back quickly and were continually able to make big plays when they had to, going on for a 35-26 victory.

Clovis lost its second-straight and third in the last four games after a 2-0 start, and fell to 3-3 overall. The Wildcats are 0-3 on the road.

Clovis played well for much of its defensive time on Saturday, but was burned at crucial times, often on slant patterns that turned to gold for Eldorado. The offense showed potential with senior Darian Goins starting and playing the entire game, but also fell short at critical times.

“Yeah, we’d stop ’em, stop ’em, and give up a big play,” Wildcats head coach Cal Fullerton said of his defense. “The same thing on offense. We’d get a good drive going and stall out.

“But, hats off to Eldorado. They played harder than we did.”

The Wildcats, though, were up, up and away on that opening play, which began at their own 26. Senior Demerious Milton took the handoff from Goins, burst through the holes pried open by his offensive line, and then it was just him in the open field, cruising down the right sideline. Near the Eldorado 10-yard line, he cut left and headed into the end zone, completing an impressive 74-yard scoring run just 21 seconds into the game.

Then, however, came one of the mental mistakes that have plagued Clovis all season. Goins was called for unsportsmanlike conduct, a 15-yard penalty that was assessed on the extra point, forcing kicker Kabel Brooks to attempt it from the 25, and he missed. That point loomed large all afternoon.

“No doubt,” Fullerton said. “We talked about it all week – control the penalties we can control. … That just kills us. We can’t get it across to them, I guess.”

The missed extra point, in fact, began looming right away. On the Eagles’ ensuing possession, they fashioned a nine-yard, 80-yard scoring drive, fueled in part with a 22-yard run to the Clovis 33 by junior quarterback Gabe Smith, followed by six-yard Richard Gallegos run, an offside penalty against Clovis, and then the capper – a 22-yard slant pass from Smith to Javien Chavez for a touchdown. Grady Dickman supplied the extra point, and Eldorado had a 7-6 lead.

The Eagles’ next possession began at Clovis’ 22, after a good return by Colin Barz, and lasted just one play – another 22-yard slant touchdown pass, this one to Trey Duran. Another Dickman PAT made it 14-6 with 6:15 still to play in the first quarter.

With 1:32 remaining in the second quarter, Eldorado increased its lead to 21-6 on a seven-yard Gallegos run and another Dickman extra point. But Clovis quashed the Eagles’ momentum a bit going into halftime, using their next offensive series to march 60 yards for a touchdown. The drive’s highlight was a leaping reception by Aaron Heredia, who snatched away a ball that at first appeared to be intercepted by Eldorado. It brought Clovis to the Eagles’ 20, and when combined with an unsportsmanlike penalty against Eldorado, moved the ’Cats half the distance, to the 10. The next two plays were a one-yard Milton run and a Milton 9-yarder for a touchdown. Brooks’ extra point made it 21-13 with 35.6 seconds left before halftime.

Eldorado punted on its first possession of the second half, but so did Clovis, and on the Eagles’ second possession of the half, they scored with a 27-yard pass from Smith to Barz, making it a two-score game again.

Clovis narrowed the gap to 28-20 early in the fourth, on a 2-yard Milton scoring run and Brooks’ second extra point, but Eldorado stretched it to 35-20 with a 14-play, 80-yard, clock-killing drive that ended with a 13-yard touchdown pass from Smith to Barz on third-and-12. Dickman knocked in his fifth extra point, giving the Eagles a 35-20 lead.

Clovis swiftly answered with a 55-yard scoring drive on Milton’s fourth touchdown run — a 20-yarder — but another uncharacteristic extra-point miss by Brooks kept it a two-score situation, with the Wildcats down 35-26 and just 2:23 remaining.

The ’Cats then had no choice but to try an onside kick, which was recovered by Eldorado. Clovis did stop the Eagles on downs, but a Barz interception iced it.

The Wildcats didn’t lose any of their three fumbles, but their inconsistency remains a problem. Fullerton was pleased with Milton’s day and how Goins fared taking every snap. Clovis had previously rotated between Goins and Brandt Davis.

“I thought he had done a little bit better the last two games, so I just tried to give him a shot, see how he’d do the whole game,” Fullerton said of Goins. “And other than that penalty, I thought he played a good game.”