Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Portales junior Jordan Garcia slips past St. Michael's junior Brandon McAlister on a second-quarter punt return in Friday's game at Greyhound Stadium.
Portales junior running back Romeo Gbassagee escapes the jersey-grab tackle attempt from St. Michael's junior Brandon McAlister in the second quarter of Friday's game at Greyhound Stadium. The Rams scored the first 21 points and held on for a 21-6 victory.
PORTALES — The Portales Rams scored touchdowns on each of their first three possessions against St. Mike’s on Friday night to earn their first win of 2018.
Portales quarterback Julian Urioste went 5-of-7 for 66 yards in the air and had both a passing touchdown and rushing touchdown in the first half of the 21-6 victory.
“Yeah, that was nice. Three possessions, scored three touchdowns — that’s how you draw it up,” Rams coach Jaime Ramirez said, smiling. “You want to take the ball, drive it down the field and score. Our defense played great and we had good special teams.”
The Rams (1-1) opened the game with a seven-play, 65-yard drive. Romeo Gbassagee had a 34-yard run up the left sideline to take it down to the St. Mike’s (0-2) 11 yard line. Two plays later, Urioste looked left to pass, then got pressured, spun out of it, and then went right and walked into the end zone from 8 yards out.
A Horsemen three-and-out quickly got the ball back into the Ram offense’s hands, where they proceeded to march 47 yards in just five plays. Runs of 21 and 12 yards by Jordan Garcia and Urioste, respectively, set up a first-and-goal from inside the 1. Gbassagee finished it off with the easy score, extending the lead to 14-0, with 5:43 to play in the opening quarter.
Finally, Portales’ third drive appeared to have stalled. A dropped touchdown pass on third-and-goal forced the Rams to try a 36-yard field goal. However, after a Ram false start, Ramirez trotted the offense back out onto the field, needing to go 24 yards in one play.
Urioste scrambled around to the right sideline, stepped up and threw the ball on the run, and found Jalen Allen in the back-right corner of the end zone, extending the lead to 21-0 early in the second.
“(St. Mike’s would) bring pressure, and I didn’t have enough time to stay in the pocket for (my receivers) to get on their routes,” Urioste explained. “So, I rolled out, I broke a tackle, and then when I was running, I was planning on running it, but then I seen Jalen Allen in the back of the end zone. The cornerback was up in front of him by like five feet. So, I just threw it up, and (Allen) caught it.”
Defensively, the Rams allowed just 73 rushing yards all night, with 26 coming on one play. That defense also did a good job of making some second half stops, preventing the Horsemen from getting back into the game.
A Ram muffed punt early in the third allowed St. Mike’s to put together a 14-play drive. The drive, however, stalled on third-and-goal from the Rams 10, as Garcia picked off a pass in the back of the end zone.
Offensively, meanwhile, Portales could not find its groove, following those first three possessions.
Nonetheless, Friday night resulted in Portales’ first win of the season, and an important building block for a team that will not play a home game in the month of September.
“We had a little setback in the second half, offensively, so there’s some things we gotta work on, coming into this next week,” Ramirez said. “If we close those up, I like what we can do.”
The Rams’ three-game roadtrip begins at West Las Vegas next week.
