Football roundup: Rattlers look to build off win

The Tucumcari Rattlers will try to carry over the momentum from Saturday's road win into their Friday night home game against the Estancia Bears.

The Rattlers (1-1) are coming off a 39-23 victory over the Albuquerque Academy Chargers. Tucumcari's offense produced a balanced 371 yards of total offense, with 180 passing and 191 rushing.

Senior full back Xavier Garcia led the Rattler backfield with 134 yards and two touchdowns. Rattler quarterback junior Casey Carter connected with three different receivers for touchdowns - a 65-yard pass to Gerardo Villa-Vargas, 25-yard pass to Rod Dunlap and a 14-yard pass to Seth Martinez.

"The team did a great job of shaking off last week's loss to produce a win on the road," said Wayne Ferguson, Rattlers head coach.

Ferguson the Rattlers were able to execute their assignments on offense to produce the scoring drives. He said on defense the Rattlers did a good job of stopping the Chargers from sustaining a drive.

"We did have two run backs on defense, those were due to a break down in coverage," Ferguson said. "We still have some areas to address but overall the Rattlers did good."

Ferguson said next the Rattlers will focus on the 0-2 Bears. He said the Rattlers know they can not look at the Bears lightly due to their record.

"The team is practicing every week for battle," Ferguson said. "We continue to push our players and tell them no week is an easy week."

The Bears and Rattlers will kick off at 7 p.m.

Six-man

The San Jon/Grady Coyotes won their home opener 54-0 against the Hondo Valley Eagles at San Jon.

Defense was the key to the Coyotes' victory against the Eagles. The defense recovered two fumbles and intercepted the ball twice, each leading to a score by the Coyotes offense.

The turnovers led to a 24-yard rush by Jay Teachout in the first, a 50-yard pass from Chance Shaw to Jake Thurman and a 10-yard rush by Thurman in the second and an 80-yard rush by Thurman in the third.

"The defense stepped it up in a big way, they produced some turnover opportunities and also held strong when needed," said Adrian Jones, head coach.

The Coyotes had two turnovers, a fumble in the second quarter and a fumbled onside kick recovery in the third quarter. Jones said the defense did not get discouraged, they went out and forced a four and out by the Eagles offense.

"We would not let the turnovers get us down," Shaw said, "We knew we had to keep our heads up and try and make a play."

For three quarters the Coyotes defense held the Eagles offense at bay, forcing four and outs that resulted in turnover on downs.

Jones said the Coyotes' next game will be against the Mountaineers. He said the team will work on better ball control as they prepare to make the trip to Reserve.

Game time: 5 p.m., Friday at Reserve.

Eight-man

The Logan Longhorns will be looking for their first win of the season traveling Saturday to Mountainair to face Mesilla Valley (1-1).

The Longhorns (0-2) lost Friday night 50-0 to the Gateway Christian Warriors at Logan.

The SonBlazers (2 p.m.) won 55-0 Friday night against the Steers at Magdalena.

Game time: 2 p.m. Saturday at Mountainair.