Cats look to secure spot in 6A playoffs

Clovis High’s football team has been down this path before – last year, as a matter of fact.

The Wildcats on Friday night will look to secure a spot in the Class 6A playoffs and win a district title in the process when they entertain fourth-ranked Los Lunas at Leon Williams Stadium.

It’s the same scenario as last year, except that one was played in Los Lunas and won overwhelmingly by the Tigers 54-0. As was the case last season, both the Cats (4-5) and Tigers (7-2) come into the tilt at 3-0 in District 6-5A play.

“If we go out and execute, I think we’ll be OK,” CHS coach Andrew McCraw said. “I’m excited; I think it’ll be fun.”

Clovis is coming off a 34-21 win at Sante Fe Capital last Friday, the Tigers enjoyed a bye week.

To this point, none of the Tigers’ games has been particularly competitive – their seven wins have come by a combined score of 285-141 (with no game closer than 18 points, while in losses to Class 6A No. 2 La Cueva and Class 5A No. 1 Roswell High they were outscored by a total of 89-13.

Sophomore Kaiden Reese and senior Damacio Kaneshiro alternate at QB for the Tigers. Kaneshiro is a better thrower, while Reese leads the team with seven rushing TDs and 441 yards on the ground for an 11.3 per-carry average.

“Last year kind of left a sour taste in our mouths,” McCraw said of the Los Lunas tilt. “This year, we’re motivated to end the (regular) season well.”

While Los Lunas is essentially assured of making the 12-team playoff field, the Cats – currently 13th in 6A – ostensibly need to win to qualify. McCraw said he thinks the team would be “anywhere from a seven to 10” seed with a win, meaning they’d have the potential for a first-round home game (No. 7 or 8) with a victory.

Rams, Lovington also in replay of 2022 – Portales High (9-0. 2-0 District 4-4A), which hasn’t played a game closer than 25 points yet, could well be challenged by the Wildcats (6-3, 2-0).

“Their only losses are to (bigger) opponents,” Rams coach Jaime Ramirez said. “We’ve been playing each other for a long time. They put out a good football team every year.”

Much like Los Lunas, the Wildcats’ games have generally not been close. Their three losses were to Roswell High (45-18), Seminole, Texas (76-21 and Artesia (44-0), while their wins are by a combined score of 247-150.

Ramirez said the Wildcats have several good players on offense, including senior quarterback Wyatt Gomez, senior running back Alec Holguin and junior running back Camon Ochoa. The leading receivers, seniors Cesar Gonzales and Demarcus Thompson, have combined for 100 catches this year for nearly 1,700 yards and 26 touchdowns.

Lovington has a number of players who go both ways.

A year ago, the Wildcats beat PHS 20-14 at Greyhound Stadium to wrap up the district championship, then eliminated Portales at home in the quarterfinal round of the Class 4A playoffs.

This season, the Rams are in line for, if not the top seed, a top-two or three spot.

“We just want to be the best version of ourselves on Friday night,” Ramirez said. “Everything else will take care of itself.”