Rattlers, Longhorns hit the road

The Tucumcari Rattlers and Logan Longhorns will be on the road for state tournament football action, while the Coyotes closed out their season with a semifinals loss.

Friday's first-round game against the sixth-seed Tularosa Wildcats is an opportunity for the 11th-seeded Rattlers to show they are a much more capable football team than their record reflects, said Wayne Ferguson, Tucumcari head coach.

"I have not given up on you, these coaches have not given up on you, we will not give up on you," Ferguson said during Monday's practice.

Ferguson said the Wildcats (7-3, 2-2) have a strong team that have had some success during the season.

The Wildcats are ranked third in the District 4-3A standings, which includes the 1 seed Eunice Cardinals.

"We know it is going to be a tough game, as is every game in the postseason" Ferguson said.

Ferguson said the Rattlers (2-8, 1-3) will be working to ensure ball control to eliminate turnovers. He said turnovers were a crucial factor in their final game of the regular season, a 30-7 loss to the Wolverines at Texico.

"We had four fumbles, two gave points to the Wolverines, two kept us from scoring," Ferguson said. "If this team plays to their ability, focuses and eliminates mental errors they can match up with Tularosa."

Game time: 7 p.m. at Tularosa.

Logan

The 11 seed Logan Longhorns have advanced to a 8-man quarterfinals match up Saturday with the 3 seed Mesilla Valley Christian School SonBlazers in Las Cruces.

"We will have to slow down the SonBlazers passing attack," said Scott Dean, Longhorns head coach.

Dean said learning from their previous encounter with Mesilla Valley, a 55-0 loss on Sept. 9, the Longhorns know the key to the game will be covering the receivers and containing the quarterback.

"Their quarterback can throw the ball deep, if we don't do out job on coverage it is going to be a long day," Dean said.

The SonBlazers (8-1, 5-0), had a bye for the first round of the 8-man state tournament.

Logan (3-7, 1-3), advanced to the quarterfinals by narrowly defeating the Foothill Falcons 40-38 Saturday in Albuquerque.

"Our first-half performance was sluggish," Dean said. "We had some spurts of energy but were down by 10 at the half."

Dean said the team came alive in the second half of the game, it was enough to overtake the Falcons, but play like that could be dangerous against Mesilla Valley.

"We have to be consistent, play four quarters of high intensity football," Dean said. "These young men have the talent and the heart to give the SonBlazers a challenge."

Game Time: 1 p.m. Saturday at Las Cruces.

San Jon/Grady

The San Jon/Grady Coyotes pursuit of back-to-back six-man football championships fell short Saturday with a 61-25 semifinals loss to the Mountaineers at Reserve.

The Coyotes finished their first season under the direction of new head coach Adrian Jones (5-3 2-1).

The 2 seed Mountaineers (7-1, 2-1) will face the undefeated Panthers (8-0, 3-0) Saturday for the 6-man championship at Animas.