Border battle slated

The first meeting in about 60 years between border rivals Texico and Farwell last season was pretty one-sided.

Steers coach Danny Brittain doesn’t think tonight’s 6:30 p.m. (MDT) rematch at Farwell will have any similarity to it.

“We’re going to have to play pretty good,” said Brittain, whose team did all its scoring before halftime in last year’s 31-0 win at Texico. “They (Wolverines) don’t run away from people, but they run over some of them.”

Texico (2-2) is coming off a quality road win over New Mexico Class 3A contender Clayton 20-6 last Friday. Wolverines coach Ryan Autrey, though, says his team is facing a different animal this week in the Steers (1-3), whose losses have all been to quality competition.

“They’ve got a lot of returners from last year,” Autrey said. “They’re big and physical and fast. We’ll have our hands full for sure.”

Both teams come into the game a bit beat up. Autrey said the Wolverines have lost a handful of players in the early going and are having to move people around, while Brittain noted the Steers’ injury problems started early.

“We’ve got eight kids (injured) that were projected to be varsity players, and six of them are out for the season,” Brittain said. “We’ve moved some people up from the junior varsity.”

Graduated QB J.J. Herrera threw for 253 yards and four touchdowns, all covering 28 or more yards, for Farwell in last year’s game.

“That might’ve been our best passing game of the year, to be honest with you,” Brittain said. “We’re going to have to throw and catch the ball this week. If not, they’ll keep more people in the box and we won’t be able to run it.”

Autrey said he’s wary of junior QB Heath Hadley and senior RB Adrian Aleman, who rushed for 152 yards in last year’s matchup, and added that senior Gerardo Martinez leads the Steers in both lines.

“We’ve got to contain the running back and the quarterback,” Autrey said. “If we can do that and get a few (successful offensive) plays off, I think we’ll be OK.”

Game day

Texico at Farwell

When: 6:30 p.m. (MDT) today

Records: Texico 2-2, Farwell 1-3

Last week: Texico won at Clayton 20-6. Farwell lost at New Deal 28-0.

Last year: In the teams’ first meeting in about 60 years, the Steers beat the Wolverines 31-0 at Texico.

— compiled by Dave Wagner