Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Wesley Poling heads to the sidelines as quarterback Teagan Burton throws a block in Friday's game against Hondo. Elida received the second seed and a first-round bye into the six-man state playoffs.
ELIDA — There weren’t too many surprises in the New Mexico six-man football bracket on Saturday night, with undefeated Animas taking the top seed and 8-1 Eilda taking the second seed.
They’ll both be sitting out the first week of the six-team playoff, as the quarterfinals begin Friday night.
Fourth-seeded Springer/Maxwell will host No. 5 San Jon/Grady for the right to play Animas, while No. 3 seed Carrizozo hosts No. 6 Hondo Valley for the right to face the Tigers. Both games kick off at 7 p.m.
“The bracket was pretty much how I guessed it would be,” Elida coach Jarred Hestand said. “I kind of figured they would (put Hondo Valley in the bracket), but it was a tossup.”
Elida, which suffered its only loss against Animas, has wins over Carrizozo and Hondo Valley. The Tigers closed district play Friday with a 77-47 win over Hondo, and edged Carrizozo 42-35 Sept. 15 at Elida.
The Grizzlies (7-2) have already faced Hondo Valley (3-6) this season, winning 48-12 on the road. Hestand is assuming Carrizozo will produce a similar result at home.
“I’m sure Carrizozo can beat them,” Hestand said. “Hondo’s a good team, but they’re young and Carrizozo has more size. We’re going to try to plan a little more against Carrizozo. We’re kind of prepared for Hondo (having played them most recently). They’re both good ball teams.”
The six-man title game will be Nov. 10.
Hestand said the Tigers should enter their semifinal game relatively healthy. The Tigers will be without junior Colton Ferguson due to a broken collarbone that will likely cost him an early stretch of the basketball season, but senior Levi Kline is handling light duty at practice this week before he gets to full speed next week.
