Cats pull out first win

CLOVIS - From domination to collapse to comeback, Friday had a crazy five minutes for the Clovis Wildcats and their new district rival.

Senior Milo Acosta, just minutes after throwing what appeared to be the deciding pick-six, escaped a sack just long enough to deliver a 91-yard strike to Robert Nora that just flipped a 25-24 decision the Wildcats' way at Leon Williams Stadium.

Clovis, in avoiding its first 0-5 start since 1999, did just enough to come away with a victory. The Cats led 19-3 with 13 minutes left, but shockingly trailed 24-19 with a fourth and 21 conversion needed for survival.

"It just happened to be one of them things that can never be duplicated in history," Bulldogs coach Tim Johnson said of Acosta's throw down the left sideline as an Albuquerque High defender wrapped up his legs. "It happened. To be honest, we should have had the sack. He was running around, and he launched that ball off his back foot. There happened to be someone there to catch it. A broken tackle, no one there to catch him. That was just a perfect storm."

When the ball found Nora, who got Clovis on the board in the first with a 46-yard rushing touchdown, he had gotten behind the defense and just had one tackle to shake off before flying down the left side as a packed homecoming crowd let out screams that were clearly part excitement and part relief.

Clovis coach Cal Fullerton recalled a wild double overtime game at Lubbock Cooper, but said it wasn't even in the neighborhood of craziness as to what had just transpired.

"To go from being up and having momentum to being down and having a fourth down with the quarterback making the play and us making the catch and run," Fullerton said, "I aged about 10 years right there."

The Wildcats (1-4, 1-1 District 2/5-6A) were reeling, seeking to protect a 19-10 lead with five minutes to play. A nine-play Bulldog drive aided by a pair of Clovis personal foul calls ended on Anthony White's 30-yard touchdown reception, and just two plays from scrimmage later the Wildcats relented their lead when Acosta lofted a ball that found Albuquerque's Jabulani Cooper and a clear 22-yard path to the end zone.

It was almost enough, but the Wildcats just made enough plays, including an onside kick recovery following the touchdown that helped Clovis salt away most of the final two minutes. The Bulldogs (2-4, 0-2) did get one final chance from their own 22 with 39 seconds left and no timeouts, but Wildcat corner Jett Stone ended things by picking off a slight overthrow from Carlos Sisneros.

"I'm just extremely proud of the boys," Johnson said. "They traveled down here to an environment like Clovis and were able to play competitive football to the last minutes of the game. That shows we're growing as a football team, a coaching staff, a community.

"I don't know the last time Albuquerque High played Clovis like this - not since I've been here. So for these boys to play a competitive game, I'm proud. We're getting better each week. We're getting over our bumps, bruises, fixing the mistakes week in and week out. One day, one night, that will change."

Clovis has plenty of fixes to make as well, with the coaching staff bewildered postgame by a finish that felt impossible after Ezequiel Coronado's 20-yard touchdown run had seemingly put things on ice at 19-3. But impossible became plausible when the Bulldogs answered with a two-play drive and Andres Aguirre's 36-yard scoring run just before the third quarter closed.

But it's better to win by a crazy play than lose by one.

"(Milo) looked like Pat Mahomes when he was falling and put it on (target); great job by him," Fullerton said. "It says a lot about our kids showing no quit. There's obviously stuff we have to work on. We haven't been up like that. We've got to learn to play with a lead, keep playing as hard as we did to earn that lead."

The district matchup is only the fourth time the schools have played in the modern era of New Mexico football, and the first time since Clovis defeated the Bulldogs in the 1979 Class 4A semifinals. The series is now tied 2-2, with Albuqueque winning 13-0 in 1953 and via forfeit the following season.

"We didn't want to get into a hole in district," Acosta said. "We want to try to ride on this wave from here on out."

Both teams put up respectable offensive nights, with Aguirre's 123-yard rushing night and White's eight catches for 106 yards making up most of a 279-yard offense. Nora, meanwhile, led the Wildcats in both rushing (14 carries, 49 yards) and receiving (2 receptions, 93 yards). Coronado and Angel Chavarria each had 36 yards rushing, with Chavarria's 1-yard burst putting the Wildcats up 12-3 going into halftime.

Clovis plays at Santa Fe this week, while the Bulldogs take on Sandia.