Portales routs Silver to reach 4A semifinals

PORTALES — Outmanned and outmatched, the Silver High football team was handed a one-sided loss Saturday, with Portales High dominating from start to finish on its way to a 47-6 victory in the state Class 4A quarterfinals at Greyhound Stadium.

Leading up to the game, Rams coaches and players said they would take what the Colts gave them. It turned out to be plenty.

Staff photo: David Norton

Rams running back Darion Ontiveros cuts through the Silver defense on the way to his second touchdown of the day during Portales’ 47-6 win over the Colts in Saturday’s Class 4A state quarterfinal matchup at Greyhound Stadium. Second-seeded PHS hosts No. 6 St. Michael’s in a 1 p.m. semifinal game on Saturday.

“We wanted to start fast, especially when they won the toss and deferred to us,” Rams coach Jamie Ramirez said. “Our mindset was, ‘Get the ball and shove it down their throat and then let our defense do what our defense does.’ We dominated on every side of the ball.”

Portales (10-1) moves on to a 1 p.m. Saturday semifinal against No. 6 St. Michael’s, which upset third-seeded Moriarty 36-33 on Friday night.

As long as Portales stays alive, it will stay at home. Class 4A’s other semifinal will feature No. 1 Robertson and No. 5 Hatch Valley.

The tone was set in a 19-0 first quarter, with the Rams’ Junior Ramirez and Darion Ontiveros just gashed the Colts on the ground play after play. While Ontiveros broke the seal just over a minute into the contest with a 34-yard score, Ramirez quickly added to the lead with a 5-yard rushing touchdown of his own, only to follow that up with a 16-yard pass to Adrian Short in the closing seconds of the period.

“That’s always our game plan, just get what we can when they give it to us,” Ontiveros said. “We just have to adjust. Its a big advantage, pretty much, having a running back with an arm.”

It seemed whenever the Colts (5-7) keyed on Ramirez or Ontiveros, the other would keep the defense honest with a big gain.

“Any time you run the speed option the way we do, you have to defend both of them really well,” Junior Ramirez said. “When you try and focus on just one player, I think that the dynamic is trying to make their defense wrong, and I think that’s what we did.”

The second quarter saw both teams score only once, but it was back to the rout with a 21-0 third quarter.

After another touchdown run by Junior Ramirez, Tyrese Dawson took over behind center and called his own number for a pair of touchdown runs, the second a 40-yarder where not one Colts player touched him.

It wasn’t just the offense for the Rams that was dominant, as their defense continuously stopped the Colts drive after drive.

Portales won on special teams, too, with a pair of blocked punts and an onside kick recovery.