Wildcats pound Carlsbad in district opener

Rick White, CNJ managing editor

Carlsbad — Clovis junior offensive lineman Aaron Simon wasn’t complaining. He just wished sometimes he had more time to catch his breath between Phillip Williams’ forays into the Carlsbad secondary.

Exploiting a stunting Cavemen defense, Williams dodged and darted for 273 yards rushing and three touchdowns as Clovis opened District 4-5A play with a convincing 28-0 win Friday at Ralph Bowyer Stadium.

“He’s hard to keep up with,” Simon said of Williams. “You have to run downfield a long ways just to get back to the huddle.”

Williams, who topped the 270-yard mark for the second time in three games, did most of his damage by bouncing outside on plays designed to go off tackle and on counter traps in which the offside guard and tackle pulled and ran interference for the speedy Clovis senior.

“Our angles were terrible,” Carlsbad coach Kelley Wilson said. “We were getting too far upfield and he would just bounce it outside and keep running.

“He’s just a darn good running back and there wasn’t much we could do about it.”

Clovis (4-3) took control of the contest by scoring on its first three possessions of the second half, including a seven-play, 80-yard drive to start the third quarter. Williams capped the drive with a 33-yard burst down the right sideline to put Clovis up 14-0.

“That was huge,” Wilson said. “They kept us off balance. We never got a good hit on anybody.”

Clovis didn’t have that problem, limiting Carlsbad’s wishbone offense to 132 yards and eight first downs. The Wildcats also forced three turnovers en route to their second straight shutout.

“We just came out ready to play,” Clovis senior defensive end Jason Burns said. “We knew the team that was the most physical would win and we just took it to them.”

Burns said earlier in the season it would take the first series of the first quarter for defense to start playing well.

Clovis defensive coordinator Darren Kelley said his defense is getting better every week.

“We did a good job of keeping them in second and third and long,” Kelley said. “You can’t let them get three of four yards on first down.”

Clovis dominated the first half, but had only a 7-0 lead to show for it as a fumble, a pair of holding penalties and a special teams mistake kept them from reaching the end zone more.

“We were a little frustrated,” Simon said. “But we knew if we came out and continue to play hard it would work out.”

After being limited to a pair first downs in the first half, Carlsbad put together its best drive of the game after Clovis’ second touchdown.

With Alex Bustos replacing starter Bryan Barnes at quarterback, the Cavemen drove to the Clovis 25. But Alex Everett sacked Bustos for a 6-yard loss on fourth down to end the 10-play drive.

Clovis responded with a four-play, 69-yard scoring drive to go up 21-0.

Senior quarterback John Props hit Williams behind the Carlsbad secondary for a 38-yard gain. Two plays later, Williams scored easily around the right side.

The Wildcats finished with 423 yards.

“The line did a great job of picking up their stunts,” Kelley said. “And John (Props) did a good job of checking into the right plays.”