Cats had the 'Wright' stuff

Clovis High senior Montez Wright was teary-eyed after Friday night's 32-21 victory at Hobbs, knowing it would be the last time he'd play a football game against the Wildcats' arch rival.

Actually, it was Wright who made Hobbs plenty sad.

Wright plays running back, cornerback and punter for Clovis and had a deep impact at all three positions Friday at Hobbs High School. Consider this:

- Wright ran for a touchdown from one yard out in the first quarter, which as it turned out gave Clovis the lead for good.

- He faked a punt on fourth-and-23 and dashed 33 yards for a Clovis first down in the second quarter.

- He had a pick-six early in the third quarter, intercepting a Micheal Greenough pass and returning it roughly 30 yards down the left sideline into the Hobbs end zone.

- And all night long, there was the punting. Oh, the punting.

Even with all Wright did to help Clovis start 1-0, the job he did booting the ball and consistently giving Hobbs bad field position stood out.

Once he gave Wright a congratulatory hug after the game, Clovis' second-year head coach Cal Fullerton raved about the senior.

"You can't say enough about Montez Wright tonight," Fullerton said. "His punting was huge. He was the best player on the field."

Wright punted eight times, averaging 49.4 yards per punt. That's an NFL-caliber average.

Two of those eight punts wound up as touchbacks. Three of them included great punt coverage from Wright's teammates. Malik Phillips downed one Wright punt at the Hobbs 5 and another at the Eagles' 7. C.J. Gutierrez downed yet another Wright punt at Hobbs' 5.

One of the punts pinned Hobbs at its own 12.

Take your pick

Clovis' defense forced six turnovers, three of which were interceptions.

There was, of course, the Wright pick-six. The game's first interception, though, occurred early — while it was still daylight — and was grabbed by senior linebacker Ian Yruegas, which actually helped set up Wright's one-yard, go-ahead touchdown run.

In between was an interception by sophomore safety Jeston Webskowski, who stepped in front of Hobbs' Jackson Kinney to make the play. Webskowski's pick came at a crucial time for the Wildcats — they were leading 20-7 in the second quarter, but Hobbs had momentum after stopping Wright on fourth-and-inches in Eagles' territory. Hobbs had already picked up one first down on the ensuing possession and Greenough was looking for another when trying to find Kinney open.

Actually, he was indeed open momentarily until Webskowski got in the way.

Aside from creating the turnovers, Clovis defenders were getting after it, bulling their way regularly into the Hobbs backfield.

"No doubt," Fullerton said. "You say enough about the big plays our defense made all night."

'Chance' meeting

Friday marked the first official varsity start for sophomore Chance Harris at quarterback.

Not surprisingly, Harris had his good moments and also showed some room for improvement, expected from such a young player.

Harris did throw two touchdown passes against one interception, connecting with Caden Zarikta for a 10-yard score early in the second quarter and with Phillips for a 35-yard touchdown during the third.

Each pass included some yards-after-the-catch. Zarikta ran about three yards into the end zone, but Phillips journeyed about 30. On the initially-short pass to Phillips, Hobbs defensive back Presley Greenough insisted the ball had hit the ground and even pleaded his case to one of the refs. It remained a catch, though, and after Phillips sailed the rest of the way for a score, Harris had his second touchdown pass and the Wildcats had a 32-14 lead.

After Clovis had prevailed by 11, Fullerton discussed the play of his new signal-caller.

"I thought really good some times," Fullerton said. "He did have a lot of people in his face all night. His toughness is great."