Buffs seek return to top

MELROSE — A run of four consecutive 8-man state championships came to an abrupt end for Melrose in last year’s semifinal round.

The Buffaloes are looking to possibly start a new streak this season when they face a familiar foe in District 3 rival Tatum for the championship in a 6 p.m. kickoff on Friday at Melrose.

Both teams are 10-1 coming in, and each is responsible for the other’s loss — on the other’s home turf, no less.

“It doesn’t happen in football very often,” Melrose coach Caleb King said of a third meeting in the same season.

Both teams won handily last week — on the road — with the third-seeded Buffs beating previously unbeaten Menaul 62-40 in Albuquerque and the defending champion and top-seeded Coyotes spanking Logan 46-12.

King said it took the Buffs a while to separate themselves from Menaul.

“We had a tough game on Friday, so it kind of got us prepared (for the title tilt),” he said.

Obviously, there won’t be any secrets between the teams.

“They’ve got some big kids,” King said of the Coyotes. “They like to run some tight sets and beat you at the line of scrimmage.

“I’m sure they’ll do something to try to take advantage of us, but it’s really a matter of who can execute the best.”

Texico (7-4, third seed) at Hagerman (7-3, 10th), 2 p.m. Saturday, in a Class 2A semifinal

The Bobcats pulled a bit of an upset on Saturday, beating second-seeded Lordsburg 14-8 in the quarterfinals. Meantime, Texico won at home on Friday over Capitan 41-0.

Wolverines coach Bob Gilbreath said the Bobcats are similar in style to Capitan, but may have better personnel.

“They’re scrappy,” he said. “We’ll have to play well to beat them. They’ve got two or three athletes who, if they get loose, can take it to the house.”

Senior running backs Jose Rodriguez and Hector Salazar are among Hagerman’s best players, Gilbreath said.

“Offensively, we’ve got to protect the football,” he said. “In the playoffs, you know you’re going to get the other team’s best effort. In any big game, it starts with ball security, and on defense, you’ve got to try to force turnovers.”

The other semifinal, also on Saturday, sends fourth-seeded Fort Sumner to top-seeded Eunice. If the Wolverines win, they would wither host Fort Sumner or play at Eunice in the championship game.

Farwell (7-3) vs. McCamey (3-7), 7 p.m. (CST) Friday, in a Texas Class 2A Division II bi-district game at Lamesa

The Steers are looking to bounce back from Friday’s 55-12 home loss to unbeaten Sudan in a battle for the District 2 championship, but coach Jhett Norman said he doesn’t think that will be an issue.

“From the way we practiced today, there’s not a lot of hangover,” Norman said Monday. “We challenged some of our position groups to play better this week.”

Norman said the Steers will probably have more players going both ways in the playoffs than they did during the regular season.

The Badgers, who absorbed a 42-14 loss on Friday to Wink, are capable of scoring, having tallied 235 points through 10 games this season.

“They’re pretty big up front on both sides of the ball,” Norman said. “The quarterback (junior Ivan Rubio) is a big, thick kid who can throw the ball.

“Defensively, they’re probably similar to Texico as far as how they line up.”

Norman said sophomore Nano Rodriguez is probably McCamey’s best athlete overall. The Badgers’ top players on defense are junior linebacker Juan Jaramillo and sophomore linebacker Orlando Rodriguez.

If the Steers win, they would advance to an area round game the following week, probably on Friday against Stratford, at Dick Bivins Stadium in Amarillo.