Cats, still seeking first victory, host Randall

CLOVIS – Pre-district play has been a little bit like Murderer’s Row for Clovis High’s football team the past couple of seasons.

Last year, the Wildcats went 0-6 and were outscored 265-64 prior to the start of their District 6-5A schedule, then won three in a row to challenge for a playoff berth before losing at Los Lunas 54-0 in their finale.

This season has started off 0-2 heading into Friday’s 7 p.m. matchup with Canyon Randall at Leon Williams Stadium, but coach Andrew McCraw sees some encouraging signs.

“We did some good things,” he said of Thursday’s 43-15 loss at Canyon High. “We’ve just got to play a complete game for sure.”

The Cats never led against Canyon, but were within 20-15 before the Eagles scored just before halftime.

Randall, which beat Clovis 35-10 last season, is coming off a season-opening 32-21 home loss to Andrews on Friday night.

“They’ve got a new coach (Dan Sherwood) and they’re learning a new system,” McCraw said of the Raiders. “They play hard, so we’ll have to match that.”

Top players for Randall include senior defensive end Daniel Grant, junior wide receiver Collin Miller and junior running back Dylan Ray. Miller caught six passes for 86 yards and a touchdown against Andrews, while Ray carried 18 times for 73 yards.

The key, McCraw said, is execution.

“Our offense moved the ball,” he said of Friday’s loss. “Defensively, we’ve done a really good job on first and second downs, but we’ve got to play better on third down.”

Rams look to keep it rolling – After two lopsided road shutouts, Portales High returns to Greyhound Field this week to begin a stretch of five home games out of six over a seven-week period.

Currently ranked second by MaxPreps in Class 4A behind Bloomfield, PHS faces West Las Vegas in its 7 p.m. home opener on Friday. The Rams’ only other road game before a District 4-4A trip to Bernalillo on Oct. 20 will be on Sept. 22 when they visit Eunice.

Coach Jaime Ramirez said a stout defense has helped allow the Rams run up a 99-0 scoring advantage over their first two foes.

“We’ve played really good defense so far and gotten a lot of short fields,” he said.

West Las Vegas (1-1), which has beaten Escalante and lost to Dexter so far, posted a 45-38 win at Greyhound Stadium two years ago. PHS won last year’s matchup 55-30 at Las Vegas.

“They’re really aggressive,” Ramirez said of the Dons. “They’re pretty balanced between run and pass.”

West Las Vegas junior quarterback C.J. Perea, starting for the third season, had a big night in Portales two years ago as a freshman. Other top players are junior running back-defensive back Daniel Bustamante, junior wide receiver Deshaun Kensey, senior tight end-linebacker Pablo Montano and junior running back-defensive back Jeremiah Ortega.

Ramirez said the Rams are trying to two-platoon as much as possible.

“We want to play as many kids as we can, especially on the offensive and defensive lines,” he said. “It just makes us stronger overall.”