Wildcats rally to top Goddard, move to 3-1

ROSWELL — After a shaky first half where they were down by eight, the Clovis High Wildcats bounced back heading out of the locker room, shutting out Goddard the rest of the way and winning 27-14 Friday behind an opportunistic defense.

While the first half saw few gains offensively for the Wildcats (3-1), the second-half was a different story with Micah Gray leading the way. Gray finished the night with three scores and over 100 yards rushing.

Wildcats coach Eric Roanhaus said, “We hurt ourselves with mistakes. We got beat a couple times we shouldn’t have. You can’t make those mistakes and expect to stay in a game, but they made a mistake right before half, too ... In the three games we’ve won, the other team hasn’t scored in the second half.

“When they (Rockets) are fresh, they are tough, especially going north-south. But we hung in there and started doing some things right. Especially Micah, he really did a good job, especially in the second half, and started getting the rest of us going.”

The true highlight of Clovis’ game was its defense, though. Led by Fernando Acosta with double-figure tackles, including two sacks, the Wildcats not only shut out the Rockets (1-3) in the second half, but forced a staggering five turnovers. All of Clovis’ points came off of Rockets turnovers.

Skylar Wadas recovered a fumble by the Rockets on a punt return with 39 seconds left in the first half, leading to Clovis’ first score of the game. The Wildcats’ lone third-quarter score came off a drive started by a Tomas Gallegos end zone interception that snuffed a 14-play Goddard drive.

In the fourth, Wadas came up big again for the defense, recovering a fumble by Rockets quarterback Cameron Stevenson at the Goddard 4, which led to another Clovis score and a 20-14 advantage.

Clovis’ final score came off a pick-six by defensive lineman Rudy Ceniceros, who ran 40 yards and broke several tackles for the team’s first defensive score of the year.

“I was just so hyper and excited, really glad we were back in the game,” Ceniceros said. “We just had to keep each other up, stay consistent and keep playing tough.”

The Rockets’ fate was sealed when, with under two minutes left in the game, Wadas once again came up with the ball, this time picking off a pass near midfield.

While both the offense and defense had their ups and downs, Roanhaus may have summed up better than anyone why the team came out on top.

“Its a given when you’re the Clovis Wildcats, when you go on that field and wear the purple and white you’re going to play hard,” Roanhaus said. “It’s hard to play hard when you’re dampers are down like last weekend. But tonight, we played hard in the second half, particularly the fourth quarter. Any race you’re in, it’s not how you start but how you finished, and we finished tonight.”

When asked what the difference was between the first and second half, Acosta said, “I knew in the first half my brothers here were depending on me and I just had to do my job. In the second, I tried to work even harder. If they are coming my way, my brothers depend on me to stop it and when it goes the other way, I’m depending on them. They depend on me and I depend on them.”