Cats look to position for district crown

CLOVIS — A few weeks ago, Clovis High’s football team didn’t necessarily expect to be in a position to win a district championship.

Still, after dropping their first six contests, the Wildcats find themselves at 2-0 in District 5-6A heading into Thursday’s 7 p.m. matchup against Santa Fe Capital (4-4, 1-1) at Leon Williams Stadium.

With a win, the Cats would be playing for a district title next week at idle Los Lunas (3-0, 5-4).

Coming off a 53-0 rout of Santa Fe High on Oct. 7, first-year coach Andrew McCraw said his squad used its bye week to work on fundamentals and heal some bumps and bruises.

He expects a tough test from the Jaguars.

“We definitely need this one,” McCraw said. “We’ve played well the last couple of weeks. Capital plays really, really hard and executes well, and we’ll have to do the same thing.”

McCraw said he expects the Jaguars to blitz a lot on defense. Among their top players are junior wide receiver/cornerback Elijah Rodriguez, who also returns kicks, and senior running back/linebacker Francisco Diaz.

McCraw said he played the Jaguars twice last year while coaching Belen, including once in the playoffs.

“I’m pretty familiar with what they do offensively and defensively,” he said. “Defensively, we’ve just got to execute and be sound.”

While the Cats should be relatively well-rested, Capital is coming off a 36-20 home victory over Albuquerque High on Saturday.

“We probably have a little fresher legs going in,” he said.

Rams take on Bernalillo — After a resounding 42-7 win at Albuquerque Academy in last Friday’s District 4-4A opener, Portales High looks to keep it rolling when it hosts Bernalillo (2-5, 0-1) at 7 p.m. on Friday at Greyhound Stadium.

“I think we match up good with them,” Rams coach Jaime Ramirez said of the Spartans. “They’re a better team than their record, for sure.”

Academy scored on its first possession in Friday’s tilt, but the Rams (7-1 overall) were able to shut the Chargers down after that. They pulled away with the help of four touchdowns (three passing, one rushing) from sophomore quarterback Paxton Culpepper.

Ramirez said Bernalillo possesses decent overall speed. Top players are sophomore quarterback Uriel Castro, senior running back David Llanex, senior wide receiver Jacob Pino and junior wide receiver Mason Espinda.

With rival Lovington looming next week in a possible showdown for district honors, Ramirez said that’s the furthest thing from his mind right now.

“All I care about is Bernalillo,” he said. “Bernalillo is a good football team. We need to play good football Friday night.”