Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Portales High junior quarterback Paxton Culpepper throws over the outstretched hands of Valley junior linebacker Tavyon Norris during Friday night's football game at Greyhound Stadium. Culpepper threw for three touchdowns as the Rams pulled away to a 45-7 win and improved to 7-0 for the season.
• Diaz, Faust get pick-6s
as Portales pulls away
to beat Valley 45-7.
Portales High has put together a potent offense this season. The good thing, though, is that in those times when the Rams struggle a bit, their defense can hold the line.
Seniors Devin Diaz and Layton Faust each had two of Portales' six interceptions – each returning one for a touchdown – as the Rams eventually overwhelmed Valley 45-7 on Friday night at Greyhound Stadium.
Portales (7-0), ranked second in Class 4A by MaxPreps behind District 4-4A rival Lovington (3-3), gets a bye week before opening district play at home against Albuquerque Academy (4-2) on Oct. 13.
All four teams in the district are ranked in the top seven.
"That tells you how good our district is," Rams coach Jaime Ramirez said.
The Vikings (3-3) managed to hold PHS off the scoreboard in the opening stanza, but the Rams tallied three TDs in both the second and fourth quarters to win going away.
"It seemed like we went back and forth in the first quarter," Ramirez said. "Our defense played really well. They played great all night."
Senior Toby Standifer, who booted all six PATs for the Rams, broke the scoring ice with a short field goal in the first period before senior running back Zach Radloff made it 10-0 with a 2-yard touchdown run about a minute into the second stanza Then, after Valley closed to 10-7, Diaz returned an interception about 20 yards for the go-ahead score.
Another INT by Diaz set the Rams up for an 11-yard scoring pass from junior quarterback Paxton Culpepper to junior wide receiver Tommy Lopez about two minutes before halftime and a 24-7 lead.
After a scoreless third segment, the Rams turned it into a runaway in the final frame with three touchdowns in a span of about three minutes.
Culpepper connected with senior Zane Mayberry for an 13-yard TD pass early in the period. On the Vikings' next possession, Faust returned an interception 44 yards for a score to make it 38-7.
The Rams tacked on one more on a 25-yard pass from Culpepper to senior Andru Ontiveros with about eight minutes to go.
Mayberry and senior Braden Back also had interceptions for the Rams.
"They were a pretty good football team, physical up front," Ramirez said of the Class 5A Vikings. "We made some mistakes. We had some holding penalties that kind of stalled us out."
Lovington, which has played its usual difficult early schedule, jumped the Rams in the MaxPreps poll a couple of weeks ago. The Wildcats had Friday's game at Santa Fe High postponed by weather and were slated to make it up on Saturday.
Meantime, Academy (4-2) and Bernalillo (6-1) were ranked sixth and seventh, respectively. The Spartans absorbed their first loss on Friday night 26-19 against Los Alamos.
