Clovis ready for rematch with Manzano in 6A quarters

CLOVIS — You probably remember the commercials from a few years back: “Hi, I’m Rob Lowe, and I have the product I want you to buy.” And then, “Hi, I’m For-Various-Reasons-Quite-Substandard Rob Lowe, and I have the product I want you to get rid of.”

Clovis High’s football team was a lot like the two Rob Lowes when last meeting top-ranked Manzano on Oct. 13. In the first half the Wildcats were leading men, literally, taking a quick 7-0 lead with a crisp, fluid game-opening touchdown drive, then making two second-quarter defensive stands deep in their own territory, allowing them to hold a 7-6 halftime lead.

Even though the ’Cats trailed by the end of the third quarter, it was only 14-10. They still had a chance against the state’s best 6A team.

Then came the fourth quarter, where lapses on offense (interceptions) and defense (long touchdowns allowed) transformed a four-point deficit into a 34-10 loss.

When the teams clash again tonight, the stakes will be much higher. They play at Albuquerque’s Wilson Stadium (7 p.m.) in the 6A state quarterfinals. Last month’s late-game struggles against Manzano didn’t sink the Wildcats’ season, obviously; they’re still afloat now. But, they will have to show four quarters’ worth of quality plays if that season is to continue past tonight.

Motivation this week was certainly not a problem.

“They’re pretty fired up, man,” Clovis’ first-year head coach Cal Fullerton said. “You’ve got eight teams left in the state and the loser goes home. That’s enough motivation right there.”

The offense’s theme this week could be ‘Back to the Future.’ Senior Darian Goins, who made six straight starts through last week’s first-round playoff win at Atrisco Heritage, banged up his knee this week. Fullerton says he is about 75-80 percent, so returning under center will be senior Brandt Davis, who began the season as the Wildcats’ starter.

Davis was the main man for the Wildcats’ first three games against Hobbs, Carlsbad and Rio Rancho, then was part of a rotation with Goins where they alternated series in the Weeks 4 and 5 games against Goddard and Lubbock-Cooper. Goins became the every-down starter in Week 6 at Eldorado, though Davis did see some action in the Oct. 13 game against Manzano at Leon Williams Stadium. Both quarterbacks had interception woes against the Monarchs that night, but each has seen the defensive fronts, the schemes, so each knows what to expect.

Though Davis will start, it’s not impossible that Goins could take snaps, depending on how things go.

“Brandt’s had a good week of practice,” Fullerton said. “We’ll be relying on him. And if something happens to Brandt we’ll be going with Darian.

“Pretty good options whoever we go with,” Fullerton added about his two battle-tested seniors.

Davis will be tasked with keeping the offense flowing, like it was under Goins’ guidance during that opening touchdown march five weeks ago. But Davis will need to keep it flowing throughout the entire game.

“After that first drive (on Oct. 13) our offense kind of stalemated a little bit,” Fullerton said. “We had a few first downs here and there, but we’d find ourselves in first-and-15 and first-and-20 after we got those first downs. So we’ve got to avoid those penalties. We’ve got to help our defense out by keeping their offense off the field. The fresher our defense is, the better.”

Especially against a Manzano team that has so many explosive players on offense, so many ways to burn a defense, rested or otherwise. Senior quarterback Jordan Byrd, junior running back Xavier Ivey-saud and senior receiver Andrew Erickson were all players the Wildcats knew about going into last month’s game, but all three proved tough to stop, especially as the game wore on.

“They’ve got a guy at every skill position that can really go,” Fullerton said. “They’re a great football team all around.”

But, seeing first-hand just how dangerous those skill players can be is an advantage, the advantage of familiarity. Instead of having to watch film of what the Monarchs did against other teams, the Wildcats have been able to absorb film from their own Oct. 13 game, point out exactly what went wrong, what went right, try to extract as much as possible from the latter and be like the good Rob Lowe.

“We watched our film a ton this week, for sure,” Fullerton said. “We’ve got to be better up front offensively and defensively. We’ve got to cut down our mistakes. ... make good calls and really get after them to be successful.”

As for the bus ride up to Albuquerque, that’s become par for the course lately. Today, the ’Cats will make their third straight trip to the state’s largest city, after having played at La Cueva in the Nov. 3 regular-season finale and at eighth-seeded Atrisco Heritage in last week’s 6A first round.

“We told our kids we’re going to be road warrors going in as the nine-seed,” Fullerton said, “and they bought into it. It’s just another Friday for us.”