Clovis readies for Manzano in Albuquerque

SPORTS EDITOR

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Continuing with district play, the Clovis High football team will head to Albuquerque today to take on Monzano High in what is currently a matchup between the district’s two best teams.

With each team sitting at 4-2 and 1-0 in district play heading into today, they are the only teams in the district without a loss. The winner will head into next week with a game advantage on the rest of the district, something that could play a major factor as the season heads into the home stretch.

The Wildcats will have to overcome a little adversity to top the Monarchs though, as starting quarterback Sebastian Roanhaus will be out of action due to an injury suffered in last week’s win over Eldorado.

Head coach Eric Roanhaus said, “Skylar (Wadas) will be playing quarterback. He (Sebastian) will suit up, but I cant see a situation we’d play him. We will be limited in the passing game a little bit, but we have things we can do with Skylar that we can’t do with Sebastian and vice versa. We also have Brandt Davis our other quarterback, so we’ll be all right. I have every bit of confidence in Skylar.”

Wadas, a senior who is mostly used at the linebacker position but has also punted and ran the ball for Clovis on offense this season, played a series in last week’s game immediately after Sebastian went down. While he didn’t throw any passes, Wadas picked up 11 yards on two carries, along with a first down.

Defensively for the Cats, they will be keying in on arguably the fastest prep athlete in New Mexico, Jordan Byrd. Playing wide receiver, quarterback and running back, a big part of the Monarchs offense is getting Byrd the ball in the open field as often as possible.

Responsible for 10 of Manzano’s 25 touchdowns on the year, Byrd is also an accomplished track runner, having won state titles in both the 100 and 200 meter dashes — this is one of the things Roanhaus wants his team to be aware of and focus on.

“Our defense has to continue to play like it has the last three of four weeks. Our offense can’t put our defense in a bind by giving them a short field,” said Roanhaus. “Our defense getting lined up and tackling, they have the fastest kid in the state. We have to keep their speed under us and tackle well.”

One aspect of Clovis’ offense that has really attributed to their success is the team’s lack of turnovers. Having coughed up the ball only three times through the first six games, Roanhaus sees this as not only a key to success for the Wildcats, but football teams in general.

“We have to make them earn everything they get — we can’t give them anything. I’m one who firmly believes there are more football games that are lost than there are won. Football teams will go out and shoot themselves in the foot.”