In a game full of offensive fireworks, the Clovis Wildcats couldn’t douse the Manzano Monarchs.
Ryan Trujillo accounted for 573 yards of offense and seven touchdowns to push visiting Manzano past the Wildcats 66-48 Friday night.
Manzano (6-1) posted 637 of Friday’s 1,190 total yards of offense, took control with 22 unanswered tallies in the second quarter and and pulled away with another 17 consecutive points to bridge the third and fourth quarters.
“I thought it was going to be a back-and-forth game and we’d have to pull it out in the second half,” longtime Monarchs coach Aaron Ocampo said.
Technically, he was right, as the Wildcats’ offense kept pace much of the night. The Wildcats (3-5) put together 553 yards on their own — 346 on the ground, 207 in the air — but failed to gain possession on a pair of onside kicks and never really slowed down the Monarchs’ offense.
Manzano had only four plays of negative yardage all night, and one of them was Trujillo kneeling on the ball to end the first half with a 42-27 advantage.
“We were never out of the game, because we could score any time we wanted,” Clovis assistant Darren Kelley said. “We’ve got to be able to get a stop, and we didn’t get a stop all night.”
Trujillo scored on carries of 22 yards, 15 yards and 1 yard, and completed four touchdown passes of 30 yards or more between just three receivers.
“We have some pretty good receivers, we have a good quarterback, and the line played well,” Ocampo said.”The one thing we strive for is to be balanced.”
Not quite, but the Monarchs will take a 385-yard night in the air and 252 on the ground. Josh Bowen led Manzano with five catches for 181 yards and two touchdowns.
“Most of the time they were so open, all (Trujillo) had to do was fire it up in the air,” Kelley said.
Other Monarchs touchdowns came from Kevin Reaves (one rushing, one receiving), Kyle Lopez (one receiving) and John Pound, whose 56-yard interception return closed out the scoring for Manzano before Clovis backup QB Tre Orozco led a pair of quick scoring drives.
Jordan Hill led the Wildcats with 95 yards rushing on seven carries, including a 30-yard burst up the middle that briefly gave the Wildcats a 14-7 first-quarter lead.
Quran Wiggins rushed 12 times for 81 yards and three touchdowns.
Clovis hosts Hobbs Friday to open the District 4-5A season, while Manzano faces Eldorado at F.M. Wilson Stadium.

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