Cats welcome Albuquerque High
Sep. 28—CLOVIS — Will this be the week Clovis High's football team breaks through for a win?
Wildcats coach Cal Fullerton certainly hopes so.
The Cats (0-4, 0-1 Class 6A District 2/5) take on Albuquerque High (2-3, 0-1) in a 7 p.m. kickoff at Leon Williams Stadium.
The Bulldogs are coming off back-to-back losses, but showed well last week in a 16-6 district-opening setback against Eldorado.
"They played Eldorado pretty close, and they played Volcano Vista (the week before) pretty decent," Fullerton said. "It'll be a game where I think we'll have to play well to win, for sure."
Albuquerque High isn't in the caliber of last week's foe, La Cueva, but nonetheless will present a number of challenges. After a season-opening forfeit win over Highland, the Bulldogs have been outscored 79-70 by their last four opponents, although that includes a 50-0 victory over Del Norte.
"They're pretty big up front," Fullerton said. "They've got a quarterback (senior Gilbert Marquez) who likes to run around back there and throws it pretty good."
The Cats are trying to shake off last week's 55-13 loss to La Cueva, in which the Bears (5-1, 2-0 district) broke open a scoreless game with five second-quarter touchdown passes from senior QB Aiden Armenta.
"We've just got to focus on ourselves and getting better every day," Fullerton said. "A big focus this week will be tackling."
This is the first year in the district for the Bulldogs, although they had been scheduled to join in 2020 before COVID-19 affected everything.
Fullerton said senior middle linebacker Manny Bustillos sustained a separated shoulder in Friday's loss, and is likely to miss at least this game.
"It's probably not something where he'll get to play this week, but it probably won't keep him out for the year," Fullerton said of the injury.
Area games — Seven small-school area games are on tap for Friday night, including a matchup which sends Snyder (4-1) to Muleshoe (2-3), while Bovina (1-4) takes on Santo (5-0) in a game to be played, ironically, at Snyder in games set for 7 p.m. (CDT). Meantime, Farwell (4-1), which absorbed its first loss of the season last Friday at Sundown in overtime, has an open date.
On the New Mexico side, Texico (1-4) welcomes former district rival Tucumcari (1-5), Mesilla Valley (3-1) travels to Melrose (-0), Mountainair (1-2) visits Elida (2-4), Clovis Christian (2-1) goes to Roy/ Mosquero (3-1), while the only district matchup has Floyd (0-2, 0-2 6-man District 2) playing at Lake Arthur (0-1, 0-1). All games are set for 7 p.m. (MDT).
