Football season gearing up

If history is any judge, those who attend Tucumcari's season-opener at 7 p.m. Friday at Rattler Field against Escalante shouldn't leave early.

The Lobos are a perennial postseason power in Class 2A and have won the last five matchups against the Rattlers. However, several of those matchups weren't decided until the final quarter, including a 28-26 decision last year.

Tucumcari coach Wayne Ferguson remains well aware of longtime Escalante coach Dusty Giles' penchant for unusual formations to spread and confuse the defense. But whether the Lobos will employ such an offense Friday remains an open question.

"They lost some seniors; I don't know whether they lost any more than we did," Ferguson said. "Supposedly, it will be a little bit different than what we faced last year in their schemes. They kind of changed up what they're doing."

Deepening the mystery of what's in store from Escalante is that, like Tucumcari, it didn't hold a preseason scrimmage. Tucumcari canceled its scrimmage last week against the Clovis junior varsity because of its thin ranks in skilled players and didn't want to risk injuries (see other story in football section).

"So we're both going into the football season blind," Ferguson said. "We don't know what they've got, talent-wise. I've got some game film on them from last year, but it's not going to be the same thing.

"Until we play them, we're not sure exactly what they're going to do."

The Lobos, who were 9-3 last year, have won three state titles since 2012. Tucumcari was 2-8 last season and hasn't had a winning season since 2012.

Logan

Former Tucumcari baseball coach Dwayne Roberts takes over a Longhorns team that made it to the state quarterfinals in eight-man football. Logan hosts Mountainair in its season-opener at 7 p.m. Friday.

Roberts, a Logan alum and former assistant coach there, said the transition has been smooth in taking over a program from Chase Disney, who left after one 5-7 season to go back to his native Oklahoma. (More information about Logan is in the football preview section.)

"I feel like the guy who came home, I guess," Roberts said. "It's no different from when I was here before. Some of these guys had me (as an assistant), so there really wasn't much of a transition. They've bought into the system, the working relationship here is good, and that makes it a lot better."

It turns out Roberts is familiar with Mountainair's program.

"That's where I started learning to coach, and my brother is on the sideline coaching," Roberts said of Sheldon Roberts, an assistant. "Yeah, I know a lot about them. I don't think he's got near the talent he had last year; they lost 10 or 11 guys to graduation. But he'll be ready."

Jantzen Paris, a running back last year, will take over at quarterback with a backfield that should have plenty of speed to keep many opponents off-balance.

The Longhorns will take on district contender Melrose on the road Sept. 27, then follow with a string of district games - Dora, Mesilla Valley, Tatum and Gateway Christian - in October.

"That last stretch will be deciding where we are in the mix," Roberts said.

San Jon/Grady

The good news for San Jon/Grady's six-man football team is it won't have to deal with stout running back Morgan Berumen during its season-opening game at Vaughn at 4 p.m. Friday.

"I know they lost four to five seniors," Adrian Jones said of a Vaughn team that manhandled the Coyotes 61-21 a year ago. "I think we have a better chance against them this year." (More information about Grady/San Jon is in the football preview section.)

The bad news for the Coyotes is they won't have quarterback Chisum Rush back in the huddle.

Rush, the district's Player of the Year, decided to sit out of football his senior year so he could concentrate on baseball. Rush led all of New Mexico pitchers in strikeouts.

"Chisum is chasing baseball as his go-to sport," Jones said. "He wants to get a scholarship."

As a result, the Coyotes will resort to more of a running game with quarterback Jordan Verbal, with Dustin Bryant and Chad Becerra in the backfield.

"We're going to run a lot of pitch-back plays this year," Jones said. "Chisum could throw the ball wherever it needed to be at all times. This year, we have a quarterback coming in who's just a sophomore. He's not used to it. We're going to use play-action a lot so we can give him more time to throw the ball to open receivers."

Jones said he also is trying to shore up the team's defense, which was an Achilles' heel last year.

"We're working on trying to tackle better and getting better angles," he said. "We were getting into position but not making the tackle. We were just hanging on jerseys.

"We're excited," Jones added. "We had guys coming in all summer long for summer workouts. We may be inexperienced, but we think we'll still have a strong team."