Rivarly renews

PORTALES — Longtime rivals Portales and Lovington played only three weeks ago.

They meet again on Saturday, with much more on the line this time.

The Rams (10-1), seeded second in the Class 4A state playoffs, invade third-seeded Lovington (7-4) in a 1 p.m. semifinal clash.

Even though PHS won the earlier district meeting 35-13, locking up its fifth consecutive district title, Rams coach Jaime Ramirez figures this one will be tougher on the Wildcats’ home blue turf.

“We know each other well; we play every year,” Ramirez said. “They know us as good as anybody.

“They’re going to make adjustments and we’re going to do the same. Both teams are going to be better, and I’d say it’ll be a competitive game with both teams playing for an opportunity to play for a state championship.”

Playing on the road is usually challenging, but Ramirez said he expects his team to be up to the challenge and not worry about it.

“Both teams know each other so well, it makes for a great football game,” he said. “I just want us to be the best version of the Portales Rams every week, whether we’re playing at home or on the road.”

The Rams have dominated the series lately, winning the last five matchups as Lovington has fallen on some hard times in recent seasons. The Wildcats’ last win over Portales was a 28-12 decision in 2014.

Lovington, which is reaching the state semifinals for the first time since 2011, was hurt badly by turnovers in the earlier matchup with the Rams, fourth-year coach Anthony Gonzales said.

“We felt like we missed out on some opportunities in that game,” he said.

He added that the Wildcats played “probably our most complete game” of the season in the rout of Aztec.

Junior quarterback Baylor Diaz returned to action for the Rams in the earlier meeting after missing four games due to injury. In limited time, he completed 7-of-11 passes, but four of them went for touchdowns.

“That was the first game where pretty much everybody was healthy for a couple of weeks,” said senior wide receiver-safety Kellan Hightower. “We had a good game plan that night. We contained their quarterback, Casey Perez; that was a key in the game.”

The Rams hope to be able to do it again, but they know it will be a challenge.

“Their quarterback is very good,” Ramirez said. “We expect him to be hitting on all cylinders (this week).”

Hightower was a major factor in the earlier win with five receptions for 207 yards, including scoring passes of 58, 86 and 41 yards from Diaz.

Those big plays — senior Wromiah Gbassagee added a 63-yard TD run as well — were enough to put Portales in control.

“We wanted to stop their running game, and we did that for the most part,” Gonzales said. “But they had about five or six explosive plays that broke our back.”

Gonzales had high praise for Hightower, as well as Rams senior two-way lineman Philip Blidi.

“No. 3 (Hightower) is a good player,” Gonzales said. “He makes them a dynamic team with him in the slot.

“And I don’t know anybody in the state who has as talented a lineman, in any class, as that young man (Blidi).”

Hightower said he expects to get the Wildcats’ best shot this time around.

“They’ll come out and try to get us off our game,” he said. “We’ve just got to stay focused. It’ll be a tough game, for sure. They’re a good ballclub.”

Fourth-seeded Grants visits top-seeded Bloomfield in Saturday’s other semifinal game, also set for 1 p.m. If the Rams win on Saturday, they would either host Grants or travel to Bloomfield for the championship game on Nov. 30.