Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
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Even without two starting players, Tucumcari's volleyball team took care of visiting non-district foe Clayton by a 25-18, 25-16, 25-14 score on Saturday. The Lady Rattlers (13-4), winners of seven in a row, dominated offensively, totaling 35 kills to Clayton's 10. Tucumcari also served 11 aces to Clayton's three. Haisley Huffman led Tucumcari with nine kills, and Kirksey Smith added seven kills and two service aces. July Lafferty totaled six kills, and Cambree Benavidez made five kills and four...
Two Mesalands Community College athletes captured titles during two Grand Canyon Region intercollegiate rodeos Friday and Saturday at the Quay County Fairgrounds arena in Tucumcari. The Stampede's Brady Schlesinger of Alberta, Canada, earned a 59 score on Friday and a 65 on Saturday during the bareback bronc riding competition to win the top-average title. In the bullriding competition on Saturday, Mesalands athlete Tyler Villarreal of North Dakota was the only entrant to log a successful ride,...
Tucumcari’s Alex Bueno De La O finished sixth overall in the varsity boys race at the five-team Pecos Valley Invitational cross-country meet Saturday at Roswell High School. The junior finished the 5,000-meter course in a time of 19 minutes, 44 seconds, just a second behind New Mexico Military Institute rival Jacob Hayes. Other Tucumcari boys runners were Brayan Carreon Reyes (21st, 22:20), Julian Flores (22nd, 22:31), JT Turpin (24th, 23:23) and Paxton Smith (30th, 24:58). Rylan Sarracino of Roswell won the race in 18:05, beating runner-up G...
Tucumcari’s volleyball team extended its winning streak to six with a resounding 25-16, 25-17, 25-11 non-district victory over visiting Pecos on Saturday. Cambree Benavidez made a team-high 12 kills for the Lady Rattlers, and teammate July Lafferty added nine kills and three blocks. Haisley Huffman added six kills, and Harley McKinney served four aces. Caylee Benavidez totaled 31 assists. “The girls played fundamentally sound during the game,” Tucumcari coach Dana Benavidez said. “They worked on eliminating unforced errors. July and Caylee...
Logan came back from a three-touchdown deficit in the third quarter to nab a 38-34 district victory over No. 2-ranked and defending state champion Fort Sumner in eight-man football action on Friday. Logan senior quarterback Brock Burns threw for 195 yards and three touchdowns. Aydin Kotara scored three TDs. Logan was ranked sixth coming into the game at Fort Sumner. The Longhorns defense also forced two turnovers — including an interception return for a touchdown by Kotara. The Logan D also halted the Foxes’ offense on three possessions during...
LOGAN - Logan's gymnasium wasn't close to being full Saturday, but the crowd noise and especially the play on the volleyball court resembled a state-tournament atmosphere. In the end, fourth-ranked Logan (10-4) emerged triumphant in an epic 25-21, 20-25, 26-24, 19-25, 18-16 non-district battle against second-ranked Legacy Academy of Albuquerque (11-2) in what likely will be a preview of the Class 1A state tournament. The Silverbacks' only previous loss was to No. 1-ranked Melrose in four sets...
Tucumcari's football team finds itself in an unfamiliar spot - in the running for a berth for the Class 3A playoffs. After a 12-7 victory over district foe Ruidoso on Sept. 29, the Rattlers (3-3) were ranked 11th in Class 3A in last week's MaxPreps.com ratings formula. That's a decent position for the Rattlers, as the top 12 seeded teams earn a postseason berth. The last time the Rattlers made the playoffs was in 2017, when they went 2-9 and lost in the first round to Tularosa. First-year...
Tucumcari’s Kyla Lopez made only one kill during her team’s match against Logan, but it was big. The sophomore’s spike into the back corner of Logan’s defense secured the Lady Rattlers’ 25-18, 25-19, 14-25, 25-21 non-district victory Saturday, their first over the Lady Longhorns since 2016. Tucumcari coach Dana Benavidez said she remembered that last win against Logan well, as it was during her first season of guiding the Lady Rattlers. “We beat them during our tournament here, and we beat the...
Logan scored three straight touchdowns in the second half to secure a 44-20 district victory Friday at Clayton in eight-man football action. The Longhorns, playing in their district opener, led 22-12 at halftime after allowing a Yellowjackets touchdown late in the second quarter. Logan’s surge in the second half gave it a 44-12 advantage midway through the fourth quarter. Brock Burns threw touchdown passes of 35 and 10 yards for the Longhorns. Izaiah Kneitz scored three rushing TDs for Logan, and Aydin Kotara scored two touchdowns. The L...
The Rattlers snagged their first district victory since 2017, but not without first making hearts flutter on the sideline and bleachers. Kamren Apodaca caught a 2-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Nick Romero with two seconds left to give Tucumcari a 12-7 comeback victory Friday night over Ruidoso at Rattler Stadium. The triumph in Tucumcari’s district opener was its first district win since a 27-0 decision over Clayton on Oct. 20, 2017. Since then, Clayton has been moved to another district...
Alex Bueno De La O finished as the top individual runner for Tucumcari at the 22-team Ruidoso Cross-Country Invitational on Friday, placing 26th overall in the varsity boys race. The junior finished the 5,000-meter footrace at Ruidoso High School in 20 minutes, 20.6 seconds. Other boys running for Tucumcari were Brayan Carreon Reyes (66th, 23:43.88), Julian Flores (78th, 24:52.47) and Paxton Smith (89th, 27:42.8). The Rattlers didn’t have enough runners to log a team score. Ethan Castellanos of Lovington finished as the top runner in the r...
Burns involved in six touchdowns for Longhorns. LOGAN - On paper, Friday's non-district matchup of Dulce (3-1) and Logan (3-2) looked like it might be a competitive eight-man football game. It was anything but. Longhorns quarterback Brock Burns torched the Hawks for 214 yards and four touchdown passes. He ran for another touchdown and caught a pass for TD during a 50-0 victory that required barely an hour because of the mercy rule. Devin Kotara caught two passes - both touchdowns - for 127...
THS romps during storm-delayed Homecoming. For once, Tucumcari's still-young team encountered a squad with even less football experience. As a result, the Rattlers dominated from start to finish Thursday in a 50-0 victory over Hozho Academy during Tucumcari's annual Homecoming game at Rattler Stadium. The game, its start delayed by lightning for two hours, ended in the third quarter due to the mercy rule. The Homecoming game was played Thursday instead of the usual Friday because Lady Rattlers...
The Tucumcari volleyball squad split a pair of matches over the weekend at the Lady Braves Volleyball Tournament at Santa Fe Indian School. The Lady Rattlers’ overall record stood at 7-4. Tucumcari is ranked third in Class 3A by MaxPreps.com. On Friday, Taos toppled the Lady Rattlers 25-18, 25-14, 25-16 during the first round of the Bronze Bracket of the tournament after pool play. “We struggled against Taos being outsized at the net; they have a 6-foot-3 hitter that we had trouble defending,” Tucumcari coach Dana Benavidez said. “We played...
The Tucumcari school board last week delayed naming its soon-to-be-completed baseball and softball fields, though they seemed to favor calling the complex Rattler and Lady Rattler Memorial Park instead of naming it after one or two recently deceased student-athletes. Board President Heather Gonzales during the board’s August meeting suggested naming the ballfields complex after Jayden Gloms, a freshman baseball, basketball and football player who died in a vehicle accident in January. She had asked the item be placed on the board’s September me...
SANTA ROSA - The prospect of facing Santa Rosa's vaunted single-wing offense is a challenge for most high-school football defenses. But for a still-young and still-learning Tucumcari defense, that task was made more difficult by a Lions offense adding a few new wrinkles. The result was Santa Rosa, ranked third in Class 2A by MaxPreps.com, scoring on its first six possessions during a 40-0 non-district victory on Friday night. Santa Rosa's Jykub Gage and AJ Romo each rushed for more than 100...
Trailing 36-28 with about five minutes left, Logan had a chance for a game-tying touchdown and two-point conversion if it made a defensive stop on Mesilla Valley Christian and got the ball back. That stop never came. Instead, the SonBlazers marched down the field, milked the clock and completed a touchdown pass with less than a minute left to ice a 44-28 non-district win at Las Cruces on Saturday in eight-man football action. Stratton Schoonover scored two touchdowns for the Longhorns, and Payson Nials and Devin Kotara each scored a TD. “The d...
Tucumcari’s volleyball team had an easier time with Raton on Thursday than during its last non-district matchup, winning 26-24, 25-21, 25-17 on the Tigers’ home court. The Lady Rattlers (6-3), ranked fourth in Class 3A by MaxPreps.com, fell behind in the first set 23-21 but rallied by scoring five of the next six points to pull out the victory. Tucumcari coach Dana Benavidez said her team committed seven serving errors during the set, “making it a closer set than it should’ve been.” That comeback set the tone for the rest of the match. Tucumcar...
Tucumcari junior Alex Bueno De La O finished 16th overall at the New Mexico Military Institute Invitational in cross-country action Saturday. Full results were not available, but Tucumcari coach Tim Clark noted Bueno De La O was running against several larger schools at the meet, including Artesia, Alamogordo, Hobbs and Roswell, along with Capitan, Gateway Christian, NMMI and first-year program San Jon. “We were running against some pretty good powerhouses,” Clark said of the meet. “I think we held our own.” Also for Tucumcari, Bryan Carreon Re...
State-ranked Raton scored four touchdowns in the second half Friday to put the game out of reach during a 41-0 victory against a host Tucumcari team still coping with the recent death of a teammate. The Tigers (2-2), ranked fifth in Class 3A by MaxPreps.com, racked up more than 350 yards of offense, mostly in the second half. Tigers quarterback Jacob Mattorano went 11-for-22 passing for 143 yards and three touchdowns. Joseph Saenz rushed for 118 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries....
In a battle between Class 1A’s top-ranked teams, Melrose prevailed in a five-set epic against Logan in the championship match Saturday of the Vixen Volleyball Classic at Fort Sumner. Melrose won 25-17, 13-25, 25-12, 22-25, 15-7 in a match against Logan that took nearly two hours. In the fifth and deciding set, the Lady Buffaloes surged to a 10-1 lead the Lady Longhorns didn’t overcome. Logan, ranked No. 1 in 1A in the most recent coaches poll, suffered its first loss and fell to 7-1 overall. Melrose, a perennial contender for the 1A title, was...
Logan scored early and often during a 58-0 non-district victory over visiting Magdalena in eight-man football action Friday night. The Longhorns led 36-0 after one quarter. The game ended at halftime due to the mercy rule. Logan started the scoring when quarterback Brock Burns connected with Aydin Kotara for a touchdown pass. Stratton Schoonover, Payson Nials and Devin Kotara also scored touchdowns for the Longhorns. Logan coach Dwayne Roberts noted his team committed just one turnover Friday, compared to six the previous week during a 24-6...
Hundreds gathered at Rattler Gymnasium on Saturday morning to pay their final respects to a Tucumcari teen who died last month. Tucumcari High School freshman football player Javion Martinez, 15, died unexpectedly at home on Aug. 26, prompting Tucumcari Public Schools to cancel or postpone several sports events that week, including a football game against McCurdy on Sept. 1 that will not be rescheduled. Javion's coffin was draped in a purple shroud that stated "Bleed Purple and Gold" - a salute...
Tucumcari and San Jon runners competed Saturday morning at the Amarillo ISD Invitational at Rick Klein Park in Amarillo, Texas. Due to technical problems on the event’s website, results were unavailable. Tucumcari coach Tim Clark said his top boys runner at the meet at Alex Bueno De La O, followed by Bryan Carreon Reyes and Julian Flores. “I think we’re improving every day,” Clark said. “We finished second with long runs during the week. The kids were pushing themselves.” Clark said the 5,000-meter course in Amarillo was flat, though high...
Tucumcari’s head football coach said his players still were coping with the death of a teammate, which prompted the cancellation of a non-district home game Friday against McCurdy. Javion Martinez, a freshman running back and linebacker on the Rattlers squad, died unexpectedly at his home on Aug. 26. Funeral arrangements were pending; a service at Rattler Gymnasium tentatively was planned. In addition to the football game, several other Tucumcari Public Schools sports events were canceled or postponed. The Rattlers’ next football game is a non-...