Familiar foes to meet Friday

It’s Week 5 for much of the local high school football teams, Week 4 for Farwell and Melrose, just Week 2 for Dora.

Whatever weekend it is for whatever team, it’s a full slate. Here’s a look:

Melrose (3-0) at Mountainair (2-1), 6 p.m. Friday

The Buffaloes are a long way from their goal of winning a fifth state title in six years. But Friday could be another step up ... well, the ‘Mountain.’

The undefeated Buffs visit a team that’s only once-beaten. Mountainair’s lone loss, though, was a big one — 44-12 at home against a Tatum squad that Melrose beat 42-6 the previous week.

The Mustangs now host that Melrose team, which is ranked second among the state’s eight-man teams and has outscored its three opponents 160-18.

Still, Mountainair is an opponent that Melrose head coach Caleb King doesn’t view lightly, an opponent he respects.

“It’s going to take a lot of discipline and communication,” King said. “Mountainair loves to run a lot of motion and move people around on offense and defense. We will have to make sure we talk well and understand what they are doing to be successful. It will be a great hard-fought game.”

Texico (2-2) at Farwell (1-2), 6:30 p.m. MDT Friday

Call it what you will — a border-town battle, the train-track rivarly. When neighbors Texico and Farwell clash on Friday, it should be a good one.

The Wolverines are trying to climb over .500 for the first time since Week 1. The Steers are looking for a return to .500 after dropping below it with last weekend’s 36-26 loss at Olton.

What can Farwell do to reverse course again?

“Tackle better!” first-year head coach Jhett Norman stated with emphasis. “We tackled at 41 percent in the game against Olton. That was our biggest area of concern. Also, we misaligned a few times on defense and it cost us. This was due to playing five new starters on defense due to injuries. We are definitely experiencing some growing pains in terms of having to grow kids up in a hurry to be able to play at the speed of the varsity level. Having said that, this will benefit us once we get into district play because we will have developed some depth at many positions.”

Texico, on the other hand, comes off a great game. The Wolverines last weekend had something in common with the New England Patriots — they won their game 43-0. Instead of the Miami Dolphins, it was Capitan.

Texico would like to keep its momentum going. But first-year head coach Bob Gilbreath expects Farwell to be a difficult opponent.

“I think they’ve got a really good program; they do a really good job there,” Gilbreath said. “Their kids are well-coached It’ll be a good test for us to see how much we’ve improved in the last couple of weeks.”

For Farwell, despite the poor tackling and team inexperience, there was a big positive from last weekend to carry over into this one.

“Offensively, we need to build upon the successes of our offensive line,” Norman said. “These guys played their best game by far this past week.”

Floyd (0-2) at Elida (4-0), 7 p.m. Friday

The numbers are impressive: Elida is 4-0, ranked No. 1 among the state’s six-man teams and has outscored its four opponents 246-37.

Floyd, the Tigers’ opponent this week, is still searching for its first victory. But the Broncos are conceding nothing when they visit Elida on Friday. They’re looking forward to the matchup, relishing it.

“As a coach and as a player, this is the type of challenge you should want before you,” Floyd’s first-year head coach Todd Horton said. “(The Tigers) have demonstrated throughout the season that they are the team to reckon with. We have been struggling adjusting to a new system and so the results would seem to be pre-determined. However, both teams still have to show up and play the game.”

Elida is looking forward to doing just that.

“We’re excited,” Tigers first-year head coach Jereme Woodruff said. “They tend to be a bigger team. They want to run, so controlling their run game is going to be a big deal.”

Throughout the season so far, depth has been a big key for Elida.

“That’s the great thing,” Woodruff said. “Some of these other teams, they have one or two guys they have to depend on.”

The Broncos are not one of those teams. In fact, depth should also be among their strengths — finally.

“After playing with 6-7 players the last two weeks we are finally going to get to use between 9-10,” Horton said. “So I believe we won’t have a tale of two games like we did last week. We are excited for the challenge.”

Pine Hill (0-2) at Dora (0-1), 7 p.m. Friday

Dora finally played a game last weekend, but was dealt a 40-point loss at Menaul.

This Friday against Pine Hill, though, brings a new opportunity. And that opportunity comes in the Coyotes’ home opener, with more encouraging numbers for them.

“This week we will be playing with a full team,” Dora’s first-year head coach Christopher Lozano said. “Last week we were down three starters on offense and defense due to injuries and other reasons.”

Pine Hill is off to a tough start as well, having lost to Alamo Navajo 30-6 and Logan 50-0, so perhaps Dora can cash in on those struggles. As of Monday, their preparation was going well.

“We had a great first day of practice,” Lozano said, “and will be motivated for Friday night.”