Wildcats get ready to open district season

CLOVIS — Clovis High’s football team can’t exactly wipe the slate clean this weekend. But the Wildcats are, in a way, getting a fresh start.

The ’Cats are 2-4 so far, on a four-game losing streak, and will indeed carry that record and that streak into Sandia this weekend. But, when visiting the Monarchs on Friday (7 p.m.), Clovis will finally be starting its District 2/5-6A schedule. And the Wildcats are 0-0 in that.

“Our first season’s over; we throw it in the trash, no matter wins, losses, whatever it is. And now it’s a new season,” Clovis head coach Cal Fullerton said. “We’ve got to get ready to play Sandia in Albuquerque. It’s always tough to play in Albuquerque, so we’re going to have to have a great week of practice and our kids are going to have to keep believing in each other and be a team, and we’ll see what happens.”

Clovis routed Sandia 40-0 a year ago at Leon Williams Stadium. But that was last year. Different season, several different players, different locale. Sandia, in fact, is 2-1 at home, 0-3 on the road. So perhaps, advantage Sandia.

This year’s teams are the same in a couple of important ways. Like Clovis, Sandia is 2-4. And like Clovis, the Monarchs are coming off a lopsided defeat. Sandia lost 41-7 at Volcano Vista on Thursday, 24 hours before Clovis lost 40-2 at home against Lubbock Cooper. So each team will be battling for its third overall win, as well as its first in district play.

Sandia has a quarterback whose numbers are solid if not spectacular. The 6-0, 180-pound Junior Silva has passed in the triple digits a few times this season, including 178 yards and three scores during a 31-point Week 2 blowout of Atrisco Heritage.

The Monarchs’ strength and speed, according to Fullerton, could be something of concern to Clovis.

“I know they’re big,” Fullerton said. “I’ve talked with a couple of people in Albuquerque; I know they’re big, they’re pretty fast. They’ve got a kid that plays corner and receiver, I believe, that’s being recruited by Air Force. He’s a really good athlete. And every year, Sandia’s got great, great athletes and always has some big kids.”

The Wildcats’ advantage might just be what they recently went through — a three-game boot camp against quality, highly-skilled Lubbock teams. Monterey, Coronado and Cooper provided a brutal stretch for Clovis, and though the ’Cats were 0-3 against that Texas trio, what they learned could have toughened them for the upcoming district stretch.

“I told the guys after the game (against Cooper last Friday) that there are three seasons to a football year — non-district schedule, your district schedule and your playoffs,” Fullerton said. “And I really and truly believe we played the hardest first season of anybody in the state. And I thought we did some really good things in that three-game span that we’re going to be able to roll over with (in Sandia).

“I think these three (Lubbock) teams would be three of the top teams in New Mexico, if not the top three teams. Us being able to play those guys and hopefully being able to get some guys back that have been injured, hopefully we’ll be able to do some good things in district.”