Rams fall in 4A title clash

Lovington used the run to keep Portales High's defense honest in Saturday's Class 4A state football championship game at Greyhound Stadium.

Meantime, the Rams had no answers for the Wildcats' potent passing attack, led by senior quarterback Wyatt Gomez.

Riding six touchdown passes from Gomez, including five in the first half, Lovington was simply overwhelming. The Wildcats scored on eight of nine possessions in the game en route to a 57-21 victory.

If it weren't for Lovington, the Rams (11-2) might have had state titles over the last couple of years. Dating to a 39-7 loss at Lovington in the finale of a 2-8 campaign in 2021, five of Portales' last six setbacks have been at the hands of the Wildcats.

Three weeks earlier, the Rams dropped a 29-21 decision at Lovington in the District 4-4A and regular-season finale in which all of the scoring came before halftime. There was no stopping the Wildcats in this one, though.

"They did a good job against us today," said Rams coach Jaime Ramirez, whose charges have dropped six in a row to the Wildcats since beating them twice in 2019 en route to a 4A title. "We fought, but they executed really well."

Gomez, who was 25-of-27 in a semifinal victory over Silver, nearly matched that against the Rams. He finished 25-of-31 for 358 yards, constantly finding open receivers in the secondary.

"That's how Wyatt is," said seventh-year Lovington coach Anthony Gonzales, who also led the Wildcats (10-3) to a 4A title in 2021. "He wants to get out there and sling it. He's pretty special. For the last three years, he's wanted to be the starting quarterback, and we told him to be patient.

"Our mindset coming in was we've got to be able to establish the run against them. When you do that, they've got to bring safeties into the box and we were able to take advantage of that."

Senior Anson Marquez caught TD passes of 20 and 9 yards in the first quarter and 4 yards in the fourth for Lovington. Senior Cesar Gonzales had nine catches for 144 yards and two TDs, while sophomore Elijah Rivero grabbed four passes for 103 yards and a score as the Wildcats finished with a 524-336 advantage in total offense.

The only time the Rams stopped them came on a nine-play drive that bridged the third and fourth quarters and ended on downs at the Portales 8.

PHS was without senior running back Zach Radloff, who sustained a broken ankle in the team's last-minute 28-21 semifinal win over Bloomfield a week earlier.

m proud of the boys getting to this game," said Ramirez, who was seeking his third state title in 12 seasons at PHS. "I know we came up short, but I was proud of their effort."

Junior quarterback Paxton Culpepper threw for 327 yards and three touchdowns for the Rams, but Lovington's stout defense limited PHS to a net of nine yards rushing.

Portales pulled to 21-7 midway through the second quarter on a 39-yard pass from Culpepper to senior Zane Mayberry. The Rams took the second-half kickoff 80 yards in eight plays with junior Kaidyn Cordova capping it on a 13-yard TD reception, while the final tally came in the opening minute of the fourth stanza when senior Braden Beck found himself wide open on a 92-yard pass play, making it 43-21.

Gonzales said he thought it might have been tough for the Rams to return to the level they played at in their semifinal win over the previously unbeaten Bobcats.

"Last week was a really emotional game for them," he said. "I know it took a lot out of them, and we were able to take advantage of that."

Beck finished with four catches for 126 yards, while Mayberry caught three passes for 73.

Ramirez said it's a little too early to look ahead to next season.

"We're going to evaluate what we have coming back," he said. "We plan to work really hard in the off-season, and we plan to be back here again next year."