Clovis High football team routs Sandia

CLOVIS — It may have been a chilly night at Leon Williams Stadium, but the Clovis Wildcats certainly came out red-hot. The Wildcats had a lot on the line coming into Friday night's matchup with District 2-6A rival Sandia, as both were looking for their first district win of the year, and in the process, were both looking to keep postseason hopes alive.

Ultimately, Clovis (5-4, 1-2) lit up the first-half scoreboard with 33 points, en route to a 40-0 shutout victory. Senior running back Seth Lopez had arguably the best game of his Wildcat career, as he gained 221 total yards of offense and scored four total touchdowns.

"You know, I talked to them before the football game, I said, 'We need to win all three phases — special teams, offense, defense,' and I think we did that," Clovis coach Cal Fullerton said. "We won the field position battle, we had the ball on their end of the field the whole first half it seemed like. We put a lot of points together in the first-half and the defense shut 'em down. Pretty good football game for us."

The Wildcats stormed out of the gate with a six-play, 52-yard drive in their second possession of the ballgame. Demerious Milton blasted up the middle for 23 of his 103 yards on just the second play from scrimmage, before Chris Gurule punched it in four plays later from 1 yard out to give Clovis the early 7-0 advantage.

After a Sandia (4-5, 0-3) three-and-out, Clovis went right back to work. This time, the Wildcats marched 58 yards in 10 plays. However, the drive almost died several plays earlier, when the Wildcats were forced to punt on fourth-and-5 from their own 47-yard line. However, Clovis punter Montez Wright saw an opening on the left side, and proceeded to take the ball 21 yards into Matador territory.

Eventually, Milton ran it in from 13 yards out to double the Wildcat lead. After yet another Sandia punt, Clovis drove 48 yards on six plays to extend its lead to 20-0, early in the second quarter. Wildcats quarterback Darian Goins connected with Aaron Heredia on a 19-yard completion, before Lopez scored his first touchown of the night, two plays later.

Lopez broke one tackle, and then ran over a defender at the 5-yard line, before storming into the endzone. "It was great. Like coach said, senior night — I had to show up for the hometown," Lopez said. "Last home game potentially, and I just wanted to go out with a bang."

Lopez certainly was not done, however. Lopez added a 2-yard score two possessions later, before scoring on the first play of the Wildcats' next drive, following another Sandia punt. Goins threw a bubble screen to Lopez, who then somehow tight-roped the sideline — even after a Matador defender tried to forcefully push him out of bounds, before racing 90 yards to paydirt for his third score of the half.

"(Seth's) had some good games this year, but I think tonight was his best game of the year," Fullerton explained. "Just shows what he can do with the ball in his hands - he's explosive, makes people miss. You don't see the other stuff when people have the ball, (because) I think he did a good job blocking, too. Seth just had a great night."

Lopez capped-off his big night with a fourth score, late in the third quarter. Lopez took a swing pass and raced down the near-sideline, 49 yards to the house to extend the lead to 40-0. The senior finished with 221 total yards, including 162 receiving and 59 rushing, while the Wildcats' offense amassed 257 rushing yards, including 206 by halftime.

For Clovis, however, it was a total team effort, as the Wildcat defense was equally impressive, forcing a shutout and allowing just 133 total yards to the Matadors. "We showed our urgency all week in practice, and what you do during the week always carries over, and it showed tonight," Fullerton said.

"The guys understood all that, and hopefully we can come back and have a good week of practice and play a really good La Cueva football team next week. I think our chances are as good in that game as they are every week, if we can prepare right for them." La Cueva is ranked No. 2 in the state, and for the Wildcats, a win would put them in the playoffs for sure, as things are still a little up in the air, for now. The trip to Albuquerque will definitely be as big of a challenge as the Wildcats have faced all year, but Friday's win proved that Clovis can handle the pressure.

"Oh, our confidence level is way up. We got a goose egg, so that's good," Lopez said, smiling. "Our defense is gonna show up for us (next week). (We have to) play with the same intensity (next week that) we played with tonight — like it's our last game, every game. Because, it might be, and if we win, it's just gonna raise our stock in the playoffs."