Lovington wins district after upending Rams

PORTALES - Lovington's football team showed on Friday night that it's not necessarily how you start the season, but how you finish.

After a rugged early schedule in which they'd certainly taken their lumps, the Wildcats entered their final pre-district game at Class 6A Santa Fe High with an 0-6 record before blowing out the Demons 55-8.

They continued their momentum straight through District 4-4A play, capping it with a 20-14 victory over Portales High at Greyhound Stadium.

Lovington (4-6, 3-0 district) was still ranked fourth in 4A heading into the game, and was likely headed for a higher seed in the 12-team playoff bracket which was to be announced on Saturday night by the New Mexico Activities Association.

Meantime, the Rams (8-2, 2-1) were ranked second this week and certainly figured to still get one of the four first-round byes.

Portales had four trips into the red zone against the Wildcats, and came away with only one score. Lovington held the Rams to just 18 net yards rushing, including four sacks of sophomore quarterback Paxton Culpepper.

"I'm proud of our defense," sixth-year Wildcats coach Anthony Gonzales said. "We came out in the second half and stopped them. We were able to move the ball in the third quarter, which helped us run down the clock."

Early, the Wildcats grabbed control, taking advantage of an interception by freshman cornerback Elijah Rivero to set up sophomore Alec Holguin's 3-yard scoring run, then driving 79 yards in seven plays for sophomore Camon Ochoa's 22-yard TD run and a 14-0 lead at the half.

"They played a good first half, and we played a good second half," Rams coach Jaime Ramirez said. "But we're going to learn from this and get better."

PHS benefited from two Lovington special teams miscues to get its only points, scoring when junior Zach Radloff returned a blocked punt 15 yards for a TD in the third quarter and going 44 yards in five plays after recovering a punt which bounced off a Lovington blocker early in the fourth. That drive culminated when sophomores Paxton Culpepper and Tommy Lopez connected for an 18-yard score with 6:50 remaining.

In between, the Wildcats covered 72 yards in 11 plays, with senior QB Ashton Aranda's 26-yard pass to Holguin making it 20-7 with 9:56 left. Senior Lucas Contreras' PAT kick, though, hit the left upright, leaving the door ajar a bit for the Rams.

After PHS cut the margin to six, the Rams forced a three-and-out. Starting from their own 13, they mounted a steady drive which eventually gave them a first down at the Lovington 14.

But after a 1-yard run and an incomplete pass, junior Demarcus Thompson and senior Ezekiel Guzman sacked Culpepper on back-to-back plays to give the Wildcats possession with 46 seconds left. With Portales out of timeouts, Aragon took a knee twice to end it.

Aragon completed 12-of-21 passes for 151 yards, and also rushed for 40 yards.

"We had our opportunities, but we battled all the way through," Ramirez said. "We did not establish the run, and I thought they did a good job of establishing their run.

"When you play a good team, you have to score in the red zone. When you don't, it's hard to win."

Gonzales said the Wildcats' early schedule was hard on them, but left his squad prepared for a potential postseason run.

"Our whole non-district schedule was very tough," he said. "Part of that is geographical, but those games made us what we are right now."

Culpepper suffered two interceptions, but threw for 199 yards, with junior Zane Mayberry catching four passes for 94 yards and Lopez grabbing three for 59.