Turnovers plague Rams in Road loss

ROSWELL — Turnovers reared their ugly head again for the Portales Rams on Friday night.

Senior Hiram McIntyre caught three touchdown passes from senior quarterback Stephen Lucero and returned a fumble 51 yards for a score as Roswell High blanked the Rams 48-0 at the Wool Bowl.

Lucero ran 21 yards to give the Coyotes (5-3) the lead just past the midway point of the first quarter, then converted a quick turnover by the Rams into a 30-yard scoring pass to McIntyre less than a minute later for a 14-0 lead.

The Coyotes' defense then had two returns for scores in the second period for a 28-0 halftime lead, both coming about a minute apart — senior linebacker Larenz Reese with a 38-yard interception return followed by McIntyre with his fumble runback.

Turnovers have plagued the Rams (2-5) much of the season; in fact, they've had a couple of six-turnover games.

"We didn't play very well from the beginning," Rams coach Jaime Ramirez said. "We didn't play like we'd played the last two ballgames.

"We had multiple turnovers and they turned into points for the other team. You can't do that against a decent team."

In the second half, Lucero and McIntyre hooked up on two more scoring passes before senior Jay Espinoza's 18-yard TD run capped the scoring in the final minute.

"We didn't click offensively," Ramirez said. "We left the defense out there too long, and after a while they ended up not playing very good.

"It seemed like when we did start to get the ball moving, we'd take a step back — whether it was a bad snap or dropped balls or whatever."

The Rams close the regular season with a pair of District 4-3A contests, beginning on Friday when they host Ruidoso at Greyhound Stadium.