Hobbs dominates Cats in 46-7 romp

HOBBS — It wasn’t exactly the start that Andrew McCraw was looking for as Clovis High’s new football coach — and that’s putting it mildly.

Hobbs’ Kaden Trevino returned the opening kickoff 89 yards to the house, and the Eagles never looked back from there in blowing out the Wildcats 46-7 in Friday night’s season opener for both teams.

“It’s not what we wanted, for sure,” McCraw said. “But it’s a bunch of fixable mistakes that hurt us. We’ve got to get those things worked out by next week.”

The Eagles didn’t post huge offensive numbers, but they never had to punt and had CHS down 46-0 with more than four minutes left in the third quarter. Senior quarterback Omar Argott completed 10-of-15 passes, throwing for one score and running for another.

“I thought we had a good week of practice,” McCraw said. “We just didn’t (carry it over) to the game. I just wish we’d played better.”

Seven players scored a touchdown apiece for Hobbs. Senior Ethan Vanlandingham had only one carry in the contest, but was the Eagles’ leading rusher for the game after racing 46 yards for a score on the tote. That staked the Eagles to a 27-0 lead late in the half, and Ortega found junior Jeremiah Jaquez on a 41-yard scoring pass with just over a minute left to make it 33-0 at the intermission.

The Cats didn’t score until only 2:25 remained in the contest. Junior Kohen Matus capped a six-play, 48-yard drive by catching a seven-yard TD pass from junior Jett Stone to break up the shutout.

The Cats will look to flush this one quickly as they prepare for their 6:30 p.m. home opener on Friday against Canyon.

McCraw said he hadn’t seen much on the Eagles, who will be playing their season opener, but he figures it’ll be another tough test.

“I know they have a good, solid program,” he said. “I know they have a bunch of smart, tough kids.

“They’ll execute their game plan well, and we’ve got to match that, for sure.”

District 5-6A standings

Dist. All

W-L W-L

Albuquerque High 0-0 1-0

Los Lunas 0-0 1-0

SF Capital 0-0 1-0

Clovis 0-0 0-1

Santa Fe High 0-0 0-1

Friday’s results

Hobbs 46, Clovis 7; Albuquerque High 22, Organ Mountain 20; Los Lunas 45, Belen 0; SF Capital 57, Grants 6; West Mesa 56, Santa Fe High 12.

Friday’s games

Canyon at Clovis, 6:30 p.m.; Los Lunas at Alamogordo, 7 p.m.; St. Michael’s at SF Capital, 7 p.m.; Roswell High at Santa Fe High, 7 p.m.