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H.S. FOOTBALL: Clovis, Portales scrimmage Friday night

High school football scrimmages are almost like playing with house money. They don’t count in the standings, don’t cost teams much barring injury, but they are among the most valuable matchups of the season.

Coaches get opportunities to see their players go up against actual opponents from other schools, not each other. They get chances to see how their teams stack up against specific schemes. They can finally solve position battles.

So, although Clovis and Portales are a week away from kicking it off for real, they head into tonight’s scrimmages with anticipation and excitement. Portales hosts New Mexico Military Institute and Eunice, beginning at 5 p.m. Clovis takes on Roswell and Mayfield at Roswell’s Wool Bowl, starting at 6 p.m. And everyone involved with each program couldn’t be happier.

“Our boys are tired of hitting each other,” said Portales’ sixth-year head coach Jaime Ramirez, who guided last season’s Rams to a 4-A state title. “So any time they get an opportunity to go against another team and compete, I think it’s a good day for us. They want to showcase what they can do. There are a lot of boys who are new to the team. They are excited and nervous at the same time. I think it’s going to drive our boys into a good scrimmage.”

“(The Clovis players) are antsy to get on the field with another team,” said Cal Fullerton, beginning his first season as Wildcats head coach after stepping up from co-offensive coordinator to succeed Eric Roanhaus. “We just hope it doesn’t take two or three plays to get going. We hope we can bring the fight to them. In the last couple of years we’ve started slowly in almost every game, so that’s something we’ve talked about, we harped on. We need to be the ones to start fast, we need to be the ones to set the tempo, offensively and defensively.”

Fullerton says defense will be of primary concern tonight because injuries have left three open spots on that side of the ball to be scrutinized and evaluated. “We’re rotating a bunch of guys who have never played these positions,” he said. “You hate to see kids get hurt, but we try to look at it in a positive way. In a way it helps us. The kids that are injured, we know what they can do, so this is going to give us a little more depth once those kids heal up.”

Ramirez wants to look at several aspects, including how his team handles specific schemes. He says NMMI uses a 4-2-5 defense and an I-formation offense; Eunice runs a 50 defense and a spread offense.

“We’re going to see two different fronts,” he said. “We’re going to go against an even front and an odd front in terms of the defensive alignment, so I think it’s going to give us a good evaluation of where our offensive line is. And I think going up against a spread team and a power run team gives us the opportunity to evaluate our defensive line.”

Specifically, Ramirez wants to move closer to determining his starting quarterback — senior Tyrese Dawson or junior Julian Urioste.

“That’s one position that I really want to look at as a coach,” Ramirez said. “They’re both very talented, they both bring some good speed and both of them have strong arms. What I’m trying to see is who’s going to lead the team.

“Honestly, I don’t care who wins the position because either one of them is a good receiver, so whichever one doesn’t win the quarterback spot, he’ll go to receiver.”

Ramirez says there are other spots to be evaulated. “There are some receiving positions and d-line positions that we’re really going to concentrate on,” he said.

Fullerton’s Wildcats are almost in the position of Rocky Balboa in Rocky IV, when he told his crew that he was seeing three of Ivan Drago, and Paulie offered: “Hit the one in the middle.” Clovis is kind of seeing double, having to prepare for two different teams this week.

“It’s got our kids a little confused,” Fullerton said, “so our main goal is just to play as hard as we can.”