Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
TEXICO — Sophomore Alex Fuentes scored six touchdowns on Friday night and No. 2 seed Texico roared into the state Class 2A football playoff semifinals with a 62-12 thrashing of Tularosa.
On Friday night, the Wolverines (8-3) travel to third-seeded Santa Rosa (9-2) for a 7 p.m. semifinal tilt. Texico rallied to edge the Lions 23-20 at home on Aug. 26.
Santa Rosa, which has won eight in a row, thumped Loving 56-13 in the quarterfinal round.
Friday’s winner advances to the Nov. 19 championship game against either top-seeded Jal or No. 4 Eunice, who meet on Saturday at Eunice.
Fuentes scored on runs of 23, 25 and 60 yards in the opening stanza as the Wolverines stormed to a 28-6 lead. He added a 14-yard run in the second segment, an 8-yarder in the third and a game-ending 20-yard run early in the final period.
Other TDs for the Wolverines came on a 7-yard run by junior quarterback Cade Figg, a 44-yard interception return by junior Ariel Garcia and an 8-yard pass from Figg to sophomore Taye Smith.
Meantime, the seasons came to an end on Friday night with semifinal playoff losses to unbeaten opponents for Melrose in 8-man and Dora and Elida in 6-man.
Fort Sumner 38, Melrose 14 — At Fort Sumner, junior Dathan Yeary’s 34-yard run and 2-point conversion run pulled the Buffaloes to 16-14 early in the third stanza, but the second-seeded Foxes (10-0) scored the final three touchdowns to pull away.
Fort Sumner travels to top-seeded Lordsburg (10-0) for Saturday’s 1 p.m. championship clash.
Junior quarterback Joaquin Segura rushed for a pair of touchdowns in the final period, and also threw scoring passes to Clay Norman in the initial canto and Junior Vigil in the third. The other TD came on a 45-yard halfback pass from Seth Saiz to Norman late in the first period, giving the Foxes a 16-6 advantage.
Junior MIchael Cardonita got the third-seeded Buffs (7-5) on the board midway through the first frame with a 45-yard TD run.
Mountainair 67, Elida 54 — At Mountainair, the Tigers fell into a 33-14 hole in the first quarter, but outscored the second-seeded Mustangs 40-34 the rest of the way. Mountainair (11-0) has outscored its foes 683-184 this season.
Senior Mason Pritchett tallied five TDs for Elida (8-3), seeded fourth, covering 20, 30, 50, 5 and 18 yards. Junior Seth Jimenez added scoring runs of 20 and 3 yards, while senior Dalyn Taylor went in on a 40-yard run early in the final stanza.
Mustangs coach Robert Zamora (1992) and Tigers coach Jereme Woodruff (1995) are both Mountainair alums.
Gateway Christian 31, Dora 6 — At Roswell, the Coyotes gave their District 2 rival pretty much all it could handle for the second time in three weeks, trailing just 12-6 early in the third quarter after a 35-yard pass from senior Lane Faver to junior Cole Kircher.
On Oct. 22, the Warriors (10-0) pulled away from a 12-6 halftime lead for a 38-12 triumph in the regular-season finale. Those are the only two games this season in which they were held under 50 points.
Gateway, which has outscored its foes 494-45, hosts Friday’s 7 p.m. championship game against Mountainair.
