November football heats up for regional teams

PORTALES — Three area teams embark on the NMAA postseason tonight, as Dora will look to get revenge on Tatum, following a first-round blowout victory over Pine Hill. Melrose, meanwhile, will also play in an 8-Man quarterfinal game tonight, as it seeks its 12th state title. Texico, on the other hand, travels to Dexter for 3A quarterfinal action.

As for nearby Texas schools, the regular season is coming to a close, as they look to do some fine-tuning ahead of the playoffs. Bovina already clinched a district title last week, and will look to secure the No. 1 seed this week. As for Muleshoe, it still could take its district tonight — not bad for a team that started the season 0-4.

8-Man quarterfinals: Cloudcroft (6-4) at Melrose (8-0), 7 p.m.

For the three-time defending 8-Man state champs, the last month has felt like an eternity. The No. 1-seeded Buffaloes (8-0) head into the postseason having not played a game since Oct. 13 — through no fault of their own.

Melrose (8-0) was slated to have a bye week on Oct. 20, followed by its regular season finale on Oct. 27. However, that game was forfeited by their opponent, and in the process, the Buffaloes were already scheduled to have a first-round bye for the 8-Man playoffs.

“The thing that I see is that they’re tired of practice,” Melrose coach Dickie Roybal said of his players. “Day in and day out, its’ the same thing over and over again. It’s hard to keep them, I don’t want to say hungry — because they’re very hungry and determined, but there’s a word I’m looking for. (Anyhow) it’s a tough situation for them.”

Few in the NMAA’s 8-Man state playoffs are likely to shed a tear for Melrose, however. The aforementioned three-time defending state champs are steamrolling their opponents by an average of 46.9 points per game and are allowing less than four points per game on defense (28 points allowed through eight games).

For Melrose to capture its 12th state title all-time, it will first have to go through Cloudcroft (6-4) in the quarterfinals. The No. 8 Bears are fresh off of a 38-36 first round victory over Carrizoza.

“We got to see Cloudcroft play last week, and they’re a big, physical team,” Roybal explained. “They’ve got good speed, but unfortunately, they’re down to their second-string quarterback, after losing their starter last week. If we get by them, then we’ll play either Tatum or Dora, and that’s a tough matchup. I don’t know how it’s gonna go.”

8-Man quarterfinals: Dora (6-3) at Tatum (6-3), 7 p.m.

The No. 5 Dora Coyotes (6-3) will look to redeem themselves against No. 4 Tatum (6-3) in an 8-Man quarterfinal that will likely match the winner up against No. 1 Melrose. Back on

Sept. 8, Tatum routed Dora, 69-44.

However, Dora head coach Mason McBee is feeling better about this go-round, as he was still breaking-in a young defense back then. “I think the biggest thing goes back to the defensive side of the ball,” McBee said. “The biggest thing about that first game is that we had some kids still adjusting to our defense.”

Dora has allowed 311 points this season, which is almost as many as Tatum (328) has scored all season. However, Dora has held its opponents to six points or less in three of its last five games, meaning things are starting to come together at the right time.

Offensively, Dora itself has no problem putting the ball in the endzone, after beating Pine Hill, 64-0, in the first round last Friday. Dora has scored 454 points (50.4 per game) already this season, and has a strong running game, led by Kaull Burton.

Burton rushed for 155 yards against Pine Hill, and is getting healthier and healthier each week. Speaking of health, Dora has faced a lot of injuries throughout the season — including quarterback. However, starter Hayden Skinner returned last week and looked spectacular, throwing for 79 yards, while completing all four of his passes.

“Our passing looked pretty good. I thought that we could kinda score at will with our running game. I kinda ran some of those passing plays to just rep some of our offense. I want to get through some of the things that I wanted to see. Of course, there’s some things we’re gonna do that are new (against Tatum),” McBee explained.

“But there’s certain things I wanted to see. For Hayden Skinner being his first game back, I wanted to see him read the pocket, and I wanted to see him throw the ball. I wanted to see him get the ball out of his hands, those are some of the things I wanted to see. We ran passes whenever generally we might not have passed in those situations.”

District 3-3A quarterfinals: Texico (2-8) at Dexter (5-5), 7 p.m.

The young Wolverines (2-8) are getting better every week, and finally got back in the win column last Friday night, after a 30-7 rout of Tucumcari. For Texico, execution on defense was key in the victory.

“We finally started gang tackling on defense,” Wolverines coach Pat Crowley explained. “Our offensive line played really well, and the offense looked real good (overall) — but, we turned the ball over five times. (However) we came out aggressive for that game and threw the ball.”

The No. 10 Wolverines travel to No. 7 Dexter (5-5) to take on the Demons in tonight’s 3-3A quarterfinals. Dexter shutout Texico on Sept. 1, 26-0, but as of late, the Demons have lost some momentum.

Dexter has dropped two-in-a-row, including losses to Tularosa (24-21 on Oct. 27) and Capitan (48-22 last week). Crowley describes Dexter as a team with strong offensive and defensive line play. Offensively, the Demons run a spread offense with lots of misdirection that the Wolverines must be ready to stop.

However, with Dexter’s recent slump and Texico’s recent resurgence, Crowley feels pretty good about tonight. It’s hard to beat somebody twice,” Crowley said. “Last week, we played our best game, despite the five turnovers. We’re most definitely playing our best football at the right time.”

Regular season: Bovina (6-2, 3-0) at Sudan (4-5, 3-1), 6:30 p.m.

The Mustangs (6-2, 3-0) will look to close out the regular season on a high-note, as they’ll try to officially clinch the No. 1-seed in the Texas 2A-2 division. Last week, Bovina won the 2A-2 Region I District 3 championship after beating archrival Farwell, 21-19.

“It was a big win, and it puts us in a good position in the playoffs,” Mustangs coach Jonathan Lambright said. “We played in the first round last year and didn’t do too good. This is my first win over Farwell in my five years here, and it feels pretty good.

“Bovina and Farwell is always like a playoff game when we play each other. You know how it goes with rivalry games.” This week, the ‘Stangs will face district foe Sudan (4-5, 3-1), who beat Springlake-Earth, 42-20, last Friday.

The Hornets are fighting for their playoff lives, and tonight’s home game would be an excellent opportunity to extend its season. “They look pretty physical upfront,” Lambright said. “We’re gonna have to play some pretty good defense again.”

Reg. season: Shallowater (8-1, 4-0) at Muleshoe (4-5, 3-1), 6:30 p.m.

The Mules’ (4-5, 3-1) luck finally ran out a week ago, as they lost to Littlefield, 24-19. The loss snapped Muleshoe’s four-game winning streak, dropping the Mules back under-.500, once again.

For head coach David Wood, the disappointing loss to a then-one-win team is a good learning experience for his Mules. “It was a disappointing loss, but our kids still know that whoever wins (tonight) is still district champions,” Wood explained. “So, we just gotta pick up the pieces and be ready.”

That’s right, Muleshoe can take the Texas 3A-1 Region I District 1 title, following an 0-4 start to the season. The Mules will face arguably their toughest challenge of the season when they host Shallowater (8-1, 4-0) tonight.

The Mustangs are averaging over 44 points per game, while giving up less than 20. According to Wood, Shallowater is very skilled at every position and does everything well, meaning that the Mules will clearly have to bring their best game, just to hang with the Mustangs.

As for the Mules’ mindset coming into a district winner-take-all game, well, it’s clearly better than how they felt after last Friday night. “With the big win over Friona the previous week, and coming in on Cloud-9, practices weren’t as sharp as you’d like, especially against a team like Littlefield,” Wood said.

“So this week, they learned some valuable lessons on life, like don’t let your guard down, or you’ll be exposed. I thought this week’s practices were much better for players and coaches. But when you get out there Friday night, you don’t know what to expect. But, we will be ready.”