District play awaits Wildcats

CLOVIS — Clovis’ football team owns the tasks of trying to rebound from a decisive loss, trying to win on its Homecoming night, and trying to get district play off to a positive start, all in one game.

When Sandia visits Leon Williams Stadium this Friday night (7 p.m.), the Matadors will indeed be the Wildcats’ Homecoming opponent and the first District 2/5-6A team on their schedule. And against Sandia, the ’Cats are hoping to respond well, hoping to shake off last week’s road loss to Lubbock Cooper, against which they surrendered 48 points for the second time this season.

Big stakes, big night, coming with the added pressure of the Wildcats’ missing their starting quarterback. No game of Chance – as in Chance Harris – this week, as an ankle injury is expected to keep the junior signal-caller out. Senior Devin Gillespie will get the start.

Amidst all of the above circumstances, Clovis (3-3) hosts Sandia (2-4). The Wildcats, though, are looking forward to it. They are ready to finally begin district play.

“It’s time, man,” Clovis head coach Cal Fullerton said. “Records are thrown out the window now. It’s like everybody’s 0-0; it’s a new season for everybody. So teams that don’t have a great record right now have new life. Teams that have really good records right now, it’s kind of irrelevant. So everybody’s starting fresh and starting our second season.”

At the center of this pivotal game is Gillespie, who has thrown some this year, reeled in catches, including the two-point conversion variety. Fate has now handed the 5-11 160-pounder with an opportunity, and Fullerton expects him to handle it well.

“He’s been around the program. His dad’s a coach,” Fullerton said. “He has a sharp football mind. We’ve got all the confidence in the world in him. He’s played receiver so he knows routes. He’s been back-up all year and he’s also been a quarterback in our swinging-gate stuff, so he knows what to do and he’ll get the job done for us.”

“I feel good about it,” Gillespie said after Monday afternoon’s practice. “It’s just next-man-up mentality, and I’ve got to step up and fill some big shoes, keep our playoff hopes alive.”

Gillespie says he is ready based on his mindset during practices. A reserve is always cognizant of the fact that he can be called upon at any time to take the reins, so Gillespie has worked this season with that possibility in his head.

“I just prepare like a starter even when I’m a back-up,” he said. “It’s not really anything different.”

What may be quite different is how Gillespie feels come game time Friday.

“I’ll be nervous, for sure,” he said.

He will have a whole team around him, one coming off a 48-28 defeat in Lubbock last weekend, three weeks after losing by that same score at Rio Rancho. Fullerton says the defense was off to a solid start Monday, working hard to put last week behind.

“They were good,” Fullerton said. “Monday’s usually an offensive day, and at the end of it we go over a little bit of defensive stuff, just lining up and formation recognition, stuff like that. So they’re pretty amped up.”

The Wildcats are facing a Sandia team coming off a 41-6 home loss to Volcano Vista, a Matador team that has lost three of its last four by a combined score of 122-23. But don’t let those struggles fool you, say the Wildcats.

“They’re pretty tough,” Gillespie said. “They haven’t been good in recent years, but they’ve got a lot of returners back, so it’ll be a good game.”

“They’re good, man,” Fullerton said. “They’re well-coached. Their head coach (Chad Adcox) was at Manzano two years ago when they won the state championship. He does a lot of similar stuff to what they were doing then. (The Matadors) are hard to defend; the defense is blitzing from everywhere. So they’re really good.”

Stopping that hard-to-defend offense, scoring against that blitz-happy defense, coming away with that important first district victory will involve a very basic and familiar formula.

“Same as each week,” Fullerton said. “We’re going to have to get better than we were last week, and that’s going to be the theme every week from here on out, to get better every week. Just cut down on turnovers and penalties. We had 145 yards’ worth of penalties last week, and that’s not going to be able to cut it in district. So we’re going to have to cut down on stupid penalties, ones that we can control.”

The Wildcats have the benefit of being at Leon Williams Stadium, where they haven’t spent much time recently. After playing their first two games at home, they’ve played three of their last four on the road, the last two in Lubbock. They can now settle in for a two-game home stand, starting with Friday’s return.

“It’ll be fun because it’s our Homecoming game,” Gillespie said. “So the stands should be full; it should be a good environment.”

“Hopefully we’ll get a good crowd, the community will come out and support the kids,” Fullerton said. “We’re excited about it.”