Late field goal downs Wildcats

Special to the News-Journal

RIO RANCHO — Rio Rancho and Clovis have staged some epic football games in their long-standing rivalry.

Suffice it to say, the Rams’ 37-34 victory Friday night at Rio Rancho Stadium may have been the best of all.

Let’s call it “The drive.”

The Wildcats (3-2), who last won a game in Rio Rancho in 2007, trailed by three at halftime and three after three periods, 24-21 and 31-28.

link Clovis juniors Micah Gray, left, and Bubba Alonzo talk following Gray’s 58-yard touchdown in the second quarter at Rio Rancho. The host Rams beat Clovis 37-34.

Micah Gray, the workhorse all game and finishing it with 221 yards on 35 carries, gave Clovis (3-2) a tie at 34 with 42.8 seconds to play on a 1-yard run, his third TD of the game. All the Wildcats needed to seemingly spoil the Rams’ homecoming was a point-after by reliable Luke Bussen, who had been 4-for-4 on points-after earlier.

But a ferocious Rams rush somehow forced his attempt to sail wide right.

The Rams (3-2) had less than a minute and a long way to go when two players collided on the ensuing kickoff, giving RRHS possession on its 4.

Senior quarterback Steve Bailey handed the ball to his team’s horse, Josh Foley, who gained 11 yards on first down.

And then Bailey started throwing the ball, with his receivers darting out-of-bounds on each completion — in order — 20, 9, 13, 11 and 12 yards, getting the ball to the Wildcats’ 20 with 2.8 ticks on the clock.

After back-to-back timeouts, John Finnegan, who’d missed a 38-yard field goal late in the third quarter but booted a 32-yarder two minutes into the final quarter for a 34-28 lead, split the uprights from 37 yards out for the victory.

Both teams had their share of mistakes: The Wildcats fumbled the ball away three times in the first half, when Bailey fired a pass caught by Clovis’s Kurt Kelley and returned 56 yards for a pick-six and the game’s first points.

Gray scored on an 80-yard run late in the opening quarter to help Clovis grab a 14-7 lead; he bolted 57 yards with 3:53 to go before halftime, as Clovis pulled into a tie at 21.

Foley scored on runs of 2, 9 and 4 yards, giving him his second three-TD game in a row.

Clovis coach Eric Roanhaus was not on the sidelines. Efforts to contact Roanhaus were unsuccessful, and Superintendent Jody Balch declined to comment on personnel issues.

The Wildcats’ 38-8 win at Rio Rancho Stadium in 2008 is the last time Clovis left the city happy. Since then, Clovis has lost games at Rio Rancho Stadium in the odd years (’09, ’11, ’13 and this year) and at Cleveland in the even years (’10, ’12 and ’14).

Clovis heads to Frenship, Texas, Friday night, while the Rams face Atrisco Heritage Academy (1-4) in the Jaguars’ homecoming game Saturday afternoon.