Rams face Ruidoso after opening victory

ALBUQUERQUE – Portales High’s football opener couldn’t have gone much better.

The same can’t be said for Ruidoso, which hosts the Rams in a 7 p.m. kickoff on Friday night.

While PHS ran roughshod over Class 5A Highland 45-0 on Saturday in Albuquerque, the Class 3A Warriors moved two classes up to take on 5A Gadsden, only to be met with a 42-0 shellacking.

Rams coach Jaime Ramirez warned not to put too much stock in that outcome.

“They’re a lot better than that score,” he said of the Warriors. “It was actually a pretty decent game; they just couldn’t put it in the end zone.”

Portales rode a four-touchdown performance – one rushing, three passing – from junior quarterback Paxton Culpepper to its easy win over the Hornets.

Culpepper scored on an 8-yard run late in the first quarter for a 14-0 lead, then tossed scoring passes of 46 yards to senior Zane Mayberry and 25 and 26 yards to senior Braden Beck.

“I thought the boys played really good,” Ramirez said. “We were around the football the whole game.”

Junior running back Zach Radloff added a pair of 5-yard TD runs for the Rams. Senior Toby Standifer was 6-for-6 on PAT kicks, and also added a 28-yard field goal in the third period.

“We wanted to give him an opportunity (at a field goal),” Ramirez said.

The defense was also up to the task.

“We had a bunch of tackles for loss, and a few sacks,” Ramirez said.

Longtime Warriors coach Kief Johnson stepped down after completing his 16th season in 2022 with his third Class 3A state title and an overall record of 107-76. Replacing him is Ruidoso alum Greg Crow, who had been an assistant at Rio Rancho Cleveland.

Ramirez said Ruidoso is similar to his team in style on both offense and defense.

“They look like they have a balanced attack,” he said. “We’ve played Ruidoso enough to know their coaches will have their team ready.”

Cats look to rebound at Canyon – After dropping their opener 41-13 to Hobbs on Friday at Leon Williams Stadium, Clovis High hopes to bounce back with a 6 p.m. (MDT) kickoff on Thursday at Canyon.

The Eagles won last year’s matchup at Leon Williams Stadium 42-6. Wildcats coach Andrew McCraw said graduation took away some of the team’s key personnel from a squad which finished 10-2.

“They had a lot of seniors last year, so they’ve had to do some replacing,” McCraw said. “But they’ve got a good coaching staff and I think they’ll be OK.

“They’ve got some big guys on their defensive line, a couple of linebackers that can play and a couple of good athletes in their secondary.”

Clovis turned the ball over three times on fumbles, and also missed an early field goal when the Cats were trying to get close after falling behind 14-0 in the first 5 ½ minutes.

“When we get down near the end zone, we’ve got to score,” McCraw said. “Defensively, we missed some checks and gave up some big plays. If we can make those checks and get lined up correctly, I think we’ll be OK.”