Clovis routs Capital 40-6, dashing Jaguars' playoff hopes

Oct. 21—When the Clovis Wildcats smell blood in the water, they know what to do.

Facing a Capital team that had five days between District 5-6A games, the Wildcats on Thursday night leaned on their physical, flexible offense and the tradition of playing in big games. They plowed the field to the tune of 362 rushing yards, leaning on the duo of quarterback Jett Stone and running back Kash Roberts as they combined for 239 yards and two touchdowns.

Meanwhile, the Jaguars struggled to manufacture any offense.

More importantly, their lack of discipline was exposed in oh-so-many ways in a 40-6 drubbing at Leon Williams Stadium. The win kept Clovis (3-6 overall) alive in the playoff chase as it improved to 3-0 in district play. Clovis will play Los Lunas for the district title next week.

Meanwhile, Capital (4-5, 1-2) saw its postseason hopes evaporate in a rash of errors, whether they were penalties, turnovers or a lack of execution.

That, Capital head coach Joaquin Garcia said, has been his team's biggest problem all season.

"We didn't do a good job in any aspect of the game," Garcia said. "We just weren't disciplined."

It didn't help Capital had to deal with the absences of linebackers Eli Dominguez, who has a leg injury, and Fabian Ryan, who has a fractured finger. Their absence was felt almost every time the Wildcats lined up for a play.

They needed just four plays to go 56 yards on their first drive, and Roberts burst through the left side of the line for a 31-yard touchdown run in the first 2:30 of the game.

Only once was Capital able to force a punt, and it did get a turnover in the third quarter when it trailed 21-0. However, the Jaguars turned the ball over three times, allowing Clovis to score 14 points.

Clovis head coach Andrew McCraw said the turnovers were the latest sign the players had bought into the first-year head coach's system. He has a "Turnover Tuesday" practice in which the goal for the Clovis defense is to force turnovers.

The enthusiasm has been infectious during the team's three-game winning streak.

"I think they've locked in on what our schemes are supposed to be," McCraw said. "We kinda settled on who needs to play where, and some of these older guys — especially the seniors — felt the clock ticking. That helped their focus."

Perhaps the biggest play of the game came on the Jaguars' opening drive of the second half. They gained just 56 yards of offense, and to show how poorly the rest of the team was playing, quarterback Julian Muñoz had 64 rushing yards.

Again, Capital leaned heavily on its senior signal caller, and he almost single-handedly moved the ball 33 yards to the Clovis 35-yard line. On a second down-and-8 play, Muñoz escaped the Wildcats pass rush and threw to receiver Javier Martinez, but the pass hit Martinez in the right shoulder pad and ricocheted to cornerback Brian Weiss, who returned it to the Clovis 44.

Muñoz said the team was tired from its 36-20 win over Albuquerque High on Saturday afternoon. Since the game was moved to Saturday because of a lack of officials, Capital had just three practices to prepare for the Wildcats in a game that also was set a day earlier than usual because of the dearth of officials.

As it was, Muñoz finished with 104 rushing yards and 96 passing yards with a touchdown, but he was just 7-for-23 on the night.

"I feel like we came out here and didn't go as hard as we should have," Muñoz said. "We didn't play how we should have played."

It set up a series of turnovers by both teams before Clovis finally collected the back-breaking score. Clovis quarterback Jett Stone fumbled a snap on a fourth-and-1 at the Capital 17 that the Jaguars recovered, but the respite was only temporary.

On the second play from scrimmage, Muñoz hit Martinez for a 16-yard gain, but Martinez fumbled the ball at the Capital 34. Clovis sophomore Seven Chapman fell on it there, and the Wildcats quickly cashed it in. On the second play of the ensuing drive, Roberts exploded over the right side of the line of scrimmage and dragged a Jaguars defender into the end zone for a 29-yard touchdown for a 28-0 lead with 16.2 seconds left in the quarter.

Roberts finished with 128 yards on just 10 carries and two scores. Meanwhile, Stone was efficient in running for 110 yards on 15 carries, often picking up important first downs that kept drives alive.

He also threw for a pair of touchdowns, including a 16-yards score to Tyler Conley for a 14-0 lead with 8:21 left in the second quarter.

"Jett has really taken control of the offense," McCraw said. "He has done a very, very good job. He's really picked it up. And Cash has been our bell cow all year. I worried about getting him to districts. He had a lot of carries, but he has been a leader on offense all year."

The wear and tear of the week and the constant pounding of the Clovis offense wore down the Jaguars. They also lost defensive end Kristopher Trujillo to a knee injury, plus defensive tackle Fernando Martinez and cornerback Andrew Rodriguez to ejections in the second half as frustration set in with every Clovis carry.

Senior offensive tackle Lazerus Griego also played defensive tackle and was on the entire second half to try and stop the bleeding.

By the end of the night, he barely had enough energy to make it to the locker room.

"It's rough," Griego said. "I don't have enough cardio for that."

Unfortunately, Capital didn't have a lot of options.

Even worse, the Wildcats knew it.