Clovis tops Portales 3-1

CLOVIS - Tuesday's Portales/Clovis boys soccer tilt at Leon Williams Stadium was won by the Wildcats 3-1.

Still, Rams first-year head coach Michael Aunan couldn't help seeing positives, and Clovis head coach Greg Trujillo couldn't help seeing ways in which his team needs to improve.

Trujillo was troubled by the fact that his Wildcats let Portales stick around, make it a 2-1 game well into the second half. Aunan was encouraged that his Rams did that sticking around.

"We keep improving each time out," Aunan said. "I'm happy with the effort that I saw; the effort, the heart, the drive in the game. We keep improving each and every day - practice, games. Clovis played one heck of a game; they're a really quality team. And to be able to get a score on them is good for us. It's a better result than the last time we played them (a 3-0 loss on Sept. 10), so we're moving in the right direction."

"We let them hang around," Trujillo said. "2-1, it's still up for grabs ... and then they're going to play above themselves. The thing about this game, it's a game of momentum. We controlled the game, but when you make mistakes ... you allow anybody to play with you."

The Wildcats seemed like they might run away with it early, getting an Alberto DeLeon goal off a Lupe Meza assist just a minute in.

"They got that early goal on us, which is always hard to play," Aunan said. "Especially against a quality team like Clovis. And it just adds that extra level of difficulty when you start playing from a deficit for basically the entire game."

"It's good when you set the tone," Trujillo said, "but then a lot of times when you set the tone, you tend to relax."

Clovis didn't score again until the 28th minute, when Jorge Barraza found himself open, maneuvered the ball a bit, then fired it into a pocket of the net on the left side to give his team a 2-0 advantage.

Portales threatened with less than nine minutes left before halftime, as Josiah Tellez went driving toward the goal. Jesse Roybal's defensive boot, however, prevented any danger, and Roybal's play caused him to tumble, do a half somersault. He was OK, and the Wildcats' 2-0 lead remained intact.

Less than two minutes later, Clovis fullback Reiney Houfek deflected a Ram shot with his foot, then a follow-up with his body, in a bang-bang sequence that lasted maybe three or four seconds.

Clovis carried the two-goal lead into halftime, and it still held well into the new half.

With 31:20 left in the second half, though, Portales finally struck, as Tellez found himself open on the right and blasted one into the left side of the goal, slicing the Wildcats' lead to just one.

Trujillo wasn't pleased.

"That's what you get," he said. "Carelessness with the ball always bites you."

And for a while, Clovis was unable to pad its lead again. In fact, with roughly 19 minutes left in regulation, a loose ball was headed toward the Wildcats' goal. And so was Tellez, after it.

But Clovis keeper Bruno Armendariz dove for the ball and corraled it just before Tellez arrived.

There went Portales' best chance to even the score. The Rams didn't threaten that seriously again, and Clovis finally added its insurance goal, supplied by Meza in the 70th minute.

By game's end, though a little frustrated with his own players' inability to pull away, Trujillo was impressed with their opponents' ability to prevent it.

"They're improving. New coach, new system," Trujillo said of the Rams. "They've got some good athletes."

Golden boot

CLOVIS - The Wildcats were back at it Thursday night, this time at Yucca Middle School, and pulled out a much more dramatic victory.

With the game scoreless, DeLeon buried a penalty kick in the 75th minute. The goal held up and Clovis prevailed 1-0, improving to 10-2-2 and pushing its unbeaten streak to 11.

The Wildcats will carry that streak into District 4-5A competition, which begins for them Tuesday at Carlsbad (6 p.m.).

Portales went into Saturday afternoon's game at East Mountain with a 2-7 record. The Rams will be home to face Lovington this Tuesday , beginning at 3 p.m.