Are you ready for some championship football teams?

Area high school football fans haven’t had a lot to cheer about the past two years … at least not by our standards.

In the past two seasons, not one team from Curry or Roosevelt counties won a state title.

That just might change this year.

Heading into the season’s eighth week, at least four squads are playing well enough to keep their fans hopeful.

Portales is generating the most optimism. The Rams are 7-0 heading into their bye week. And they’ve not been challenged yet.

Here are the scores of Portales’ games so far:

45-0 … 54-0 … 48-14 … 51-0 … 41-0 … 38-13 … 45-7

You’ll need a calculator, but that adds up to 322 points scored, 34 points allowed. That’s an average margin of victory of 35 points.

Texico, Grady and Melrose are also off to strong starts. Melrose, of course, is a perennial contender – six state-title appearances since 2014, including five championships.

All schools start their second seasons when district play begins, and those district games determine who goes to the playoffs. Clovis went 1-5 in its non-district season, but the Wildcats find themselves atop the District 5-6A standings this morning. They won their district opener, 42-12, over Albuquerque High on Friday night.

In case anyone has forgotten, the Beasts from the East won 11 state football championships from 1977 through 2001. Their DNA is all over Leon Williams Stadium.

Local teams outside Curry and Roosevelt counties also are looking strong, most notably Muleshoe at 6-0.

It’s probably too early to compare this year’s grid lineups to the teams of 2019 when Portales, Melrose, Texico and Elida all played in state championship football games. But our crisp fall Friday nights are shaping up to be a lot of fun.

David Stevens is editor and publisher of Clovis Media Inc.  Email him at: [email protected]