Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
PORTALES - When the Portales Rams hosted the Hope Christian Huskies in 2018, it was a clash of two title contenders in their respective classes - the Rams in 4A and the visiting Huskies in 3A.
Months after the dust had settled on that 10-3 overtime win by Hope Christian, both teams were in fact right in the title hunt with the Huskies falling to Robertson in the 3A semifinals and Portales losing to eventual 4A champion Taos in the final four.
The paths, however, were far different. That win by Hope was a catalyst to a perfect regular season and 3A's No. 1 seed. For Portales, it was one of many early bumps in the road on a 2-3 start. The Rams eventually found their way, and closed out the regular season with five straight wins and a 150-20 margin of victory in their three District 3/4-4A contests.
This year, the clash takes the teams to Hope Christian for a 1:30 p.m. tilt at Milne Stadium.
"We have to travel well," Portales coach Jaime Ramirez said of the game, the first of two road Saturday contests to open the season. "We have to come out with a lot of focus and just be ready to play."
Portales is coming off an impressive scrimmage with Robertson, albeit a different version than the Cardinals who hung Hope its only defeat last year.
The Huskies return six starters on offense and five on defense, but lost almost two-thirds of last year's offense to graduation with largely quarterback Nick Henry and running back Vince Quezada.
Likewise, Portales is replacing much of its offense after a 2018 that saw Julian Urioste pass for 1,740 yards and rush for another 1,317.
After the Huskies and a 1:30 p.m. Aug. 31 tilt at St. Michael's, the Rams should be in a good position to build momentum with a September featuring three home games and a bye.
Ramirez, however, isn't concerned about those September games, or even the Horsemen at the moment.
"One game at a time," Ramirez said. "That's all we want to be concerned about. Whoever we play that week, that's who we want to be 1-0 against."
