NEWS & NOTES COLUMN: CCS gets campaign off ground

After a week’s delay, Clovis Christian’s return to 6-man football finally got under way Thursday night as the Eagles beat the Hart junior varsity 33-6 at Jim Hill Field.

Their scheduled opener, against the Marfa (Texas) junior varsity at a neutral site in Garden City, Texas, was canceled last Saturday due to lightning.

First-year coach Josh Johnson said the lightning started in the Garden City area about 15-30 minutes before the scheduled 6 p.m. (CDT) kickoff. When lightning is in the area, it means an automatic 30-minute delay.

“Every time they spot lightning, they have to start the timer over,” Johnson said. “We were out there until about 7:30, and we finally reached an agreement to just call it.”

It was a long way to travel not to play. Garden City, located in the Midland/Odessa area, is about a three-hour drive for both teams, Johnson noted.

“It was tough for us (not to play),” he said.

Johnson said that because the team’s don’t have a common open date, the game will not be rescheduled.

• • •

Strange things happen sometimes on the opening weekend of football season, and last week was no exception.

Muleshoe overcame a 21-point halftime deficit with a 41-point second half to edge Levelland in the closing moments 48-46. Meantime, Melrose returned three punts for touchdowns in its 50-0 win over Mescalero, while half of Bovina’s six TDs in a 40-0 win over Plains came on special teams (two punt returns) and defense (fumble return).

Meantime, Santa Rosa’s Isaac Velasquez returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown and sealed the Lions’ 25-12 win at Texico with a 30-yard interception return for a TD in the final two minutes.

“It was just three or four plays,” Texico coach Ryan Autrey said of the loss. “Other than that, I felt like we played pretty well.”

• • •

Clovis High girls soccer coach Traci Sievers keeps having to make changes on her team’s schedule.

“It seems like we’ve had a lot of changes since the season started,” Sievers said after Thursday’s 10-0 win over Ruidoso at Leon Williams Stadium. “You’d think by now the schedule would be set.”

The Lady Cats have added a match at Roswell High for Sept. 18, with the JV contest set for 4 p.m. and followed by the varsity at 6 p.m.

She also said Sept. 30 JV and varsity matches at Hobbs have been moved up an hour, to 3 and 5 p.m., respectively, to accommodate a college soccer match at 7 p.m. for Hobbs-based University of the Southwest.

The Roswell High match was to have given the team a full 20-game schedule, but after Thursday’s blowout of the overmatched Lady Warriors, Sievers said CHS may just send a JV squad on the Oct. 21 return date at Ruidoso.

Sportswriter Dave Wagner can be reached at 763-6991 or at

[email protected]