Rams scrimmage Littlefield

The Portales Rams got their first taste of outside competition this football season Thursday night in a 2 1/2-hour scrimmage against Littlefield, Texas, at the PHS practice field.

Texas teams are already in their third week of practice, a week ahead of their New Mexico counterparts. In addition, it was Littlefield’s second scrimmage — the Wildcats faced Olton, Texas, last weekend.

“We should look a little better than they do at this point,” said Littlefield coach Bryan Huseman, whose team went 9-3 a year ago and lost in the second round of the Texas Class 3A playoffs. “We made some progress (over the Olton scrimmage); we executed better. We didn’t have nearly as many busted assignments as last week.”

Rams coach Glenn Johnson said his squad competed fairly well against a quality opponent, noting that quarterback Tyler Rutherford and slot back Chris Carter had some good moments.

“What we’re looking to do is get our people out there one-on-one,” Johnson said. “Chris Carter can make some things happen.

“We did some good things on both sides of the ball. At times we had some mental letdowns, but physically we battled.”

Johnson said a pair of two-way starters, senior fullback-linebacker Tyler Johnson (strained foot ligament) and junior wide receiver-safety Daniel Aranda (flu symtoms), were held out of the scrimmage as a precautionary measure.

He said both should be ready for PHS’ season opener at West Las Vegas on Aug. 28.

“It gave us an opportunity to see some of our backup players,” Johnson said.