Portales football finalizes spring slate

Times have changed. Fast.

But the love of sports hasn’t. So while playing football in the spring might seem a bit weird, the consensus is that it’s better than not playing at all.

And so with that attitude, defending state 4A champion Portales will go charging into its 2020 season — in March 2021.

Postponed beats canceled any day.

“And that’s the thing we try to sell the kids on — ‘Hey, we’re going to play,’” Portales High Athletic Director Mark Gallegos said. “‘It’s going to be different; it’s going to be unique. It’s going to be something you can tell your kids — Hey, we played football in the spring, took the summer off, and came right back and played in the fall of 2021.’ … Two football seasons in 2021; it’s kind of hard to fathom that or say that.”

Well, fathom away, Portales fans because here comes spring football.

The reigning 4A champs will begin their abbreviated seven-game slate with a Saturday afternoon matchup in Albuquerque on March 6, when the Rams open against Pius X at either 1 or 2 p.m., according to Gallegos.

Portales’ home opener at Greyhound Stadium will be March 12 at 7 p.m. against Artesia.

On March 19, the Rams visit Dexter, also kicking off at 7 p.m.

Then it gets interesting. During the weekend of March 26-27, the Rams play Hatch Valley at a neutral site — Ruidoso.

After hosting Ruidoso in the district opener on April 2 at 7 p.m., the Rams turn around and re-visit Ruidoso for another neutral-site game — this time against district foe Silver, probably on April 10 at 1 or 2 p.m.

“If Ruidoso isn’t home that weekend it could conceivably be a Friday night game,” Gallegos said. “We’re just waiting on Ruidoso to finalize their schedule; more than likely (the game will be) Saturday. … We should know within the next week or two.”

As if the altered schedule wasn’t wacky enough, two neutral-site matchups make it a bit wackier.

“They’re both long trips, they’re both extensively long trips,” Gallegos said. “One or the other would have to travel and stay overnight.”

Meaning that next spring they will have to meet in the middle. “Because there are no overnight trips,” Gallegos said. “The NMAA has said there won’t be any overnight trips.”

Following the Silver game, Portales concludes its regular season on April 16 with a 7 p.m. home game against district rival Lovington.

“It’s a really solid schedule,” Gallegos said. “We don’t know what will happen if our basketball team is in the playoffs that first game against St. Pius. It’s one of those deals where we could conceivably have kids playing basketball and football in the same week. We just don’t know how that’s going to work.”

The state football quarterfinals are scheduled for the weekend of April 23-24, the semifinals for the weekend of April 30-May 1, and the championship for May 8.

So the schedule has jelled to a large extent, with a few particulars falling in the to-be-announced file.

Now it just has to be safe enough to play football in the spring. Same for sports in the fall and winter. Flexibility might have to come into play.

“For example,” Gallegos said, “there’s already a contingency plan in place. If something happens (in the fall), volleyball and cross country will be pushed to the springtime. We just hope and pray that we can get those in. Volleyball and cross country are going to be the ones that are going to show us the way, so to speak. And we’re also going to play fall golf, so those are the three that will happen in the fall.”

Everyone hopes the adjusted seasons — fall, winter and spring — will be a go. For now it’s like watching a roulette wheel spin and waiting to see where it stops.

“This is my 32nd year of doing this — either as a coach or an athletic director — and I never expected to go through anything like this,” Gallegos said. “You just live and learn. I’m just fortunate to have a coaching staff that’s willing to just roll with the punches and do what’s necessary.”