Eagles soar past Cats

CLOVIS – Clovis High football coach Andrew McCraw said his team didn't make the plays it needed in Friday's season opener against Hobbs at Leon Williams Stadium.

Eagles coach Ken Stevens pointed to something else after his team's 41-13 victory.

"They had a lot of guys playing on both sides of the ball," he said of the Wildcats. "I think we wore them down."

Hobbs, ranked fifth by MaxPreps in Class 6A coming into the season, got three touchdown passes and a scoring run from junior quarterback Brock Beaty in what turned into an easy win.

The Eagles needed only 11 total plays to tally on their first two possessions, then weathered a bit of a storm from the Cats, who marched 77 yards in seven plays to pull to 14-6 late in the quarter and were inside the Hobbs 20 again early in the second stanza.

But Clovis missed a field goal attempt at the end of that drive, and Hobbs churned out an 82-yard march in 15 plays to make it 21-6 with under three minutes left in the half.

"They (Cats) made a game of it for a while," Stevens said. "It was big to get that score before the end of the half."

Senior slotback Josh Mondragon scored on a 27-yard pass from senior quarterback Jett Stone late in the opening frame, but the Cats didn't strike paydirt again until senior Kash Roberts went in from 26 yards out in the final minute of the game.

"You've got to execute," McCraw said. "The plays were there; we just missed them."

He acknowledged fatigue may have been a factor, but said it wasn't something the Cats couldn't overcome.

"We still had chances to make plays," McCraw said. "Yeah, we're tired, but you just have to play."

Stevens said getting out fast was important against an opponent which relies heavily on an option attack.

"We got off to a quick start," he said. "Because of the offense they run, I felt it would be to our advantage. Once we got ahead, we could kind of dictate the game."

The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Beaty finished 11-of-21 through the air for 173 yards. He capped the first drive with a 35-yard TD pass to senior Justin Black, then connected for 23 yards with senior Jeremiah Jaquez for the second touchdown.

Jaquez later caught a 32-yard scoring pass from Beaty, who added a 1-yard TD run in the second stanza. Hobbs finished with a 357-236 margin in total offense over the Cats, while sacking Stone three times and recovering three Clovis fumbles on defense.

Last season, against the same schedule, the Cats went 0-6 in predistrict play, then won their first three District 4-5A games before losing the finale and a chance for a postseason berth at Los Lunas.

"Hobbs ran the ball really well," McCraw said. "We just didn't tackle them. We've got to be more physical in the defensive line."

Roberts finished with 77 rushing yards for the Cats, while Mondragon caught two passes for 34 yards.

The schedule doesn't get any easier with a trip to Canyon on Thursday. The Cats then return home to face Canyon Randall the following week.

"The kids are definitely upset they didn't win, and that's a good thing," McCraw said. "They know they can do better. Now it's our job as coaches to get that out of them.

"We still have a chance to be really good."