Area preview: Elida hopes to continue hot start

Elida is coming off one of its biggest wins ever. Texico is coming off a loss, but a close one against a reigning state champion. Melrose is coming off a bye week, Farwell off a lopsided loss. Floyd just wants to finally play some darn football.

Last Saturday, Elida routed defending state six-man champion Animas, 62-12. Texico was leading defending 2A champ Dexter late in the fourth quarter before the Demons rallied near the end. Melrose hasn’t played since opening with a 54-point win of Dulce nearly two weeks ago. And Floyd has had to wait until this coming weekend to open its season against Carrizozo.

Vaughn (2-0) at Elida (2-0), 7 p.m. Thursday

The Tigers will have some momentum after walloping Animas, the only team to beat them last season.

“It was a very intense game,” Elida’s first-year head coach and former assistant Jereme Woodruff said. “And I’m very proud of how my boys pulled through it.”

Though confident in his players, Woodruff was surprised they won by 50.

“Yeah, yeah, I was,” he said. “I knew we had a pretty special team this year. We have a lot of really good returning seniors. A lot of these guys have played together since they were in the third grade. But to be honest with you, I was just hoping we would be able to beat (Animas); they’re still a really talented team. I did not expect to beat them by 50. I was just hoping that we would come away with the win, hoping at best to be a couple of scores better than what they were.”

Big win, but now it’s on to Vaughn with very little turnaround. The Eagles are undefeated without having yet played a game, because they were awarded forfeits from Grady/San Jon/House and Roy/Mosquero.

“It’s going to be Vaughn’s first game,” Woodruff said. “I know they graduated a really good player last year in (quarterback/linebacker) Morgan Berumen. But they have some speed. It’s going to be tough for us coming off a short week. We had a really intense game on Saturday and turn around five days later and play another game. That’s really hard to do. We’re just trying to get everybody focused and rested up and ready to play on Thursday.”

Vaughn, even without Berumen, should be a challenging opponent that seems to be on the upswing.

“They’re kind of like Elida,” Woodruff said. “There are times when they have good numbers and there are times when they struggle to put a team together. Last year they were a pretty good team. They played us really tough. ... We expect them to come in and play hard. Their advantage is that they come in fresh; they haven’t had the two games where they have scrapes. ... They also come in with the advantage of the opportunity to get some scouting on us, where we are not really sure what they’re trying to do this year.”

Woodruff says Elida’s advantage is not having a junior high game this week, so some talented eighth-graders and freshmen can give the Tigers even more depth.

“We’ll have them available for this game,” Woodruff said, “so that’ll make it a little easier to be able to spread the load around a little bit.”

That leaves one item on this short week’s agenda — avoiding a letdown after such a big victory.

“That is one of our biggest concerns, keeping our guys humble,” Woodruff said. “I talked to them (Monday) and told them we’re going to prepare every single week like we’re preparing to play Alabama. ... It doesn’t matter who we’re getting ready to play; we have a standard that we prepare to every single week and it never changes. We’re going to be intense.”

Texico (1-1) at New Mexico Military Institute (2-0), 7 p.m. Friday

The Wolverines might actually have some momentum off their loss last week, considering how close they were to beating one of the state’s best small-school teams.

Following that home opener against Dexter, Texico now heads back on the road, down to Roswell, and will face undefeated NMMI on Friday.

The Colts have beaten Fort Sumner/House 23-19 and Capitan 28-0 to earn their perfect start. In comes a hungry Wolverine team hoping to get back on the fun side of .500 by toppling NMMI.

“I think they’re a pretty good team,” Texico’s first-year head coach Bob Gilbreath said. “It’ll be another road game for us. We’ll have to rebound from a tough loss and we’ll have to have a good week of preparation and go down and work on our execution.”

It should be challenging, but the Wolverines are up for it.

“I think these kid are excited about another opportunity to go get better,” Gilbreath said. “They’re excited about the direction our football team’s headed.”

Melrose (1-0) at Tatum (2-0), 7 p.m. Friday

This is a tough early-season test for the Buffaloes.

Tatum pounded its first two opponents by a combined score of 100-18 — Mountainair, 44-12, and Gateway Christian, 56-6. It’s probably a good thing that Melrose comes in with an extra week to prepare, an extra week to heal the bumps and bruises. The Buffaloes will probably need to be tip-top if they’re going to bring down a formidable Tatum squad.

“Yeah, they’re really good; they won the state championship last year and only graduated a few kids,” Melrose head coach Caleb King said. “They have a lot of team speed and they’re big. They have guys that are over 6-2 and over 200 pounds, a lot of strength. When you have that, you’re a really good football team.”

So, how does Melrose beat that team?

“It’s going to take playing a really good game,” King said. “It’s going to be a battle. The team that makes the fewest mistakes is going to win. ... Hopefully in the end we execute and get the win.”

Floyd (0-0) at Carrizozo (1-1), 6:30 p.m. Friday

At last, Floyd gets on the field for an actual game. The Broncos finally get their Week 1 against a Carrizozo team that’s playing its Week 3.

The Grizzlies have seen very mixed results in their first two games, blanking Reserve 46-0 before getting routed by Springer/Maxwell 63-12.

They’ll host a Floyd team raring to go. First-year head coach Todd Horton is among the Broncos who’s pumped and ready.

“I am really excited to be able to see how all of the hard work these young men have put in translates onto the field against competition,” Horton said. “The players have bought into everything we are trying to create, and I believe their effort and hard work will show this season. They are ready and eager to get out there and show what they are capable of.”

Horton knows his players will be tested right away by a tough Carrizozo team.

“From what I’ve seen from their play, Carrizozo will present us with a nice challenge and will serve as an early gauge of where we are at,” Horton said. “They were one of the top teams in the state last year in six-man and are traditionally well-coached. They lost their first game to a talented Springer/Maxwell team who I believe is going to be one of the teams to contend with in six-man this year. They beat a Reserve team that I haven’t seen any video on. Based on their game against Springer/Maxwell we will have to play at our best in order to beat them.

“Carrizozo has more team speed than we do and we will need to be sound on defense and tackling in order to limit their success,” Horton added. “Offensively, we have to be able to run the ball effectively and will rely on our quarterback Ricky Ramirez to be able to demonstrate a stable passing attack as well. I believe offensively we are ahead of where we are defensively. We need to avoid turnovers. If we can play hard for four quarters, I believe that we will find ourselves in a position to be in the mix for a win which will be a great start for what we are trying to begin building. ”

Crosbyton (0-1) at Farwell (0-1), 7 p.m. (CDT) Friday

Both teams are coming off blowout losses — Farwell 61-6 at Friona and Crosbyton 63-0 against Vega. So each will be looking to rebound big time.

Farwell has the advantage of playing at its own friendly confines, with Friday serving as the Steers’ home opener. Crosbyton, meanwhile, is beginning a three-game road stretch.

How each team responds could help define its season going forward. The Steers are hoping to be the team that emerges 1-1 with a new energy and positivity to carry into Week 3 and beyond.

“We must play with more aggression than last week,” Farwell’s first-year head coach Jhett Norman said. “In addition, our D-Line must fire off the ball and recreate the line of scrimmage. Offensively, we must get into a rhythm early and not miss reads.”

Despite Crosbyton’s Week 1 woes, Norman knows his team has a fight on its hands.

“Crosbyton is a physical football team that wants to run the football,” Norman said. “They struggled last week against Vega due to turnovers and difficult field position. Defensively they line up in a 50 front and challenge each gap from tackle to tackle. They play man in the secondary.”