Prep soccer: Hobbs boys seal district title

HOBBS — For now at least, the Hobbs boys soccer team has Clovis’ number.

The Wildcats lost 3-0 at Hobbs on Saturday, enduring their second District 4-5A loss of the season, both of which came at the hands of the Eagles.

Eight minutes in Saturday, Clovis was down 2-0. And the Wildcats could never get anything going offensively, dropping to 2-2-1 district, 15-2-1 overall as a result. Hobbs, meanwhile, improved to 5-0 district, 15-3 overall.

“All in all we didn’t play too bad,” Clovis head coach Greg Trujillo said, “but our mistakes were very, very costly.”

Hobbs scored its first goal about two and a half minutes into the game, as a ball hit a Clovis defender’s hand, leading to a penalty kick that junior co-captain Keaton Hartman buried in the net for a 1-0 Eagles lead.

“It is what it is; those things happen in a soccer game,” Trujillo said. “You can’t complain about the call. The refs saw that and we respect that.”

In the eighth minute, a 1-2 pass from Hartman to senior co-captain Roger Villalobos led to the latter scoring Hobbs’ second goal.

The score remained 2-0 until the second half, when Hartman sent a through ball to senior co-captain Zach Zavala, who scored in the 70th minute.

“He took our defender to the cutline,” Trujillo said of Zavala. “Our defender gave a little too much cushion and left a one-on-one with our keeper.”

Roughly 10 minutes later, it was over. Clovis had absorbed another loss to Hobbs.

“We had a lot of possession of the ball in the first half,” Trujillo said, “we just couldn’t get any quality attempts on goal.”

Hobbs keeper Vicente Cortez preserved the shutout, recording five saves in the process. Clovis goalie Bruno Armendariz made eight saves.

Clovis will conclude its regular season on Tuesday at Leon Williams Stadium, with a 6 p.m. game against Roswell.

“We’ve got the last one,” Trujillo said, “and we’ve got to take care of business.”

And who knows? The Wildcats might see Hobbs again a bit later in the fall.

“I would like to play them again,” Trujillo said. “Maybe we can play some defense.”