Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Portales' Ethan Conrow returns the second half kickoff 75 yards in Friday's season opener against Moriarty. The Rams struggled at times on offense, but held on three red-zone possessions from the visiting Pintos to win 21-0.
PORTALES - High school football brings with it plenty of nail biters, and plenty of three-touchdown victories. Fans at Greyhound Stadium saw both Friday night, as Portales topped Moriarty in one of the closest 21-0 victories imaginable.
The visiting Pintos, coming off a 2-9 campaign in 2019, hardly looked the part and actually posted advantages of 202-198 in yardage and 11-9 in first downs. But Moriarty went 0-for-3 in the red zone, while the Rams went 1-for-1 and got a special teams boost from Ethan Conrow's 75-yard kickoff return to open the second half.
"We moved the ball well at times," Moriarty coach Gabriel Romero said. "Our defense played really well at times. Our offensive execution? We've got work to do. We missed assignments, we missed some blocks. Fumbles, incomplete passes we should have completed - small things we could have fixed."
The Rams had their share of rust as well, outside of the touchdown drives on the opening and final possessions.
Nearly two-thirds of the Ram offense came on those two drives - 40 on the opening drive that featured a 26-yard scoring reception by Dason Davis, and 88 on the game-icing 8-play drive with Baylor Diaz notching a 2-yard keeper with 4:08 left.
"We were slow," said Diaz, who carried the ball 13 times for 137 yards and threw for another 56. "We were just getting back into the groove. We only had a solid nine days to prepare for this game."
Portales coach Jaime Ramirez lamented a first quarter Pintos possession where Justin Carmona bobbled the fourth-down snap but took the broken play 12 yards for a first down.
"Defensively, we were good," Ramirez said. "We played great in the red zone. Special teams, we gave them a first down. We've got to shore that stuff up. That could have been a blocked punt, and we get the ball on the 30. Instead, they stay in the ballgame."
The Pintos, led by a 19-carry, 111-yard effort by Malcolm Denomme, will likely be without the services of Justin Carmona after he suffered an elbow injury in the third quarter. But Carmona was one of the louder voices in a postgame huddle that was especially upbeat considering the final score.
"The kids were excited to be out here," Romero said. "I think we've got some good senior leadership. Those kids are going to react, and I think they're going to lead us in a good way. I think good things are ahead for us."
