Rams prep for All-Star double dip

PORTALES — Albuquerque plays host to the first weekend of several over the next few weeks for its North-South All-Star games.

Portales fans, however, could be excused if they think Albuquerque is hosting a Ram double feature.

Both the Class 3A/4A boys basketball and football games are being handled by Rams coaches, and there’s a contingent of Rams playing each night.

Tonight at 7, four players from Class 4A champion Portales will be on the football field — Junior Ramirez, Darion Ontiveros, Jeremie Karngbaye and Trenton Small — and they will be coached by Portales’ Jaime Ramirez at Community Stadium.

Then Saturday, those four players join Rams basketball coach Rickie McBroom for the 3A/4A North-South basketball games at Cibola High School at 7:30 p.m.

Coaches have had a week with their players for the senior-only games. In each case, coaches don’t try to cram too much information into the players’ heads — and the rules would stop them if they tried.

“They allow us to have a couple of formations on offense and defense,” said Ramirez, who previously coached in the game during his time at Loving. “You have to declare your defense, and you’re not allowed to blitz. Also, you’re not allowed to run trick plays on special teams.

“The whole playbook is not open, for sure.”

Ramirez said he’ll likely keep Junior Ramirez and Ontiveros on offense, and Karngbaye and Small on defense.

For the basketball game, teams aren’t allowed to play zone defense, which means plenty of isolation and drive-and-kick-out situations.

“Offensively, you can’t do a lot,” said McBroom, who last coached in the series while at Moriarty. “You’ve got talent, so you want to create some sets you can score out of. I think we’ve got a group that will play together pretty well.”

Local players selected for weekend North-South games include:

• Class 1A/2A girls, 6 p.m. Friday: Melrose’s Reagan Carthel, Grady’s Sage Starbuck, Fort Sumner’s Micah Crist, and Elida’s Bonnie Bennett and Madi Haley.

• Class 3A/4A football, 7 p.m. Friday: In addition to the Portales players, local selections included Tucumcari’s Antonio Norton and Texico’s Mason Golden and Kolten Wines.

• Class 3A/4A girls basketball, 6 p.m. Saturday: Jasmine Gannon of Texico, Kaycee Lease of Tucumcari.

• Six-man/Class 2A football, 7 p.m. Saturday, Community Stadium: Jonathan Pena and Dylan Roberts (Dora), Edgardo Chavez (Floyd), Jerome Earle (Logan) and Justly Pierce (Melrose) for the South. Jason Hughes, Aarron Chavez, Brandan Duke and Hunter Sparks (Fort Sumner), Daniel Edwards and Jayden Garrett (Grady) and Joseph Benavidez and Daniel Lee for the North.