THS football finds itself in playoff contention

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 Rattlers coach Tarik Embrack said he obviously aims to win all three of their remaining district games. But he acknowledged during a phone interview Friday that winning just one of those likely would get them into the playoffs.

"Historically in this district, you get three playoff teams, the top three out of five," he said. "So all we got to do is win one more game, and we'll finish at least top three."

Embrack said he'd much rather notch at least two wins in the remainder of his team's schedule. He admitted an early-season loss to Thoreau hurt his team in the ratings.

"I don't want to be one of those coaches where we're waiting on Selection Day and hoping someone beats someone and hoping someone loses," he said. "You don't want to be an at-large; you don't want to be on the bubble. If we can take care of business, we control our own destiny."

After a bye week, Tucumcari travels to Albuquerque to play Hope Christian (2-6) at 1 p.m. Saturday. The Huskies lost their district opener 22-14 to New Mexico Military Institute, then fell 54-12 to Dexter on Friday.

Embrack said Hope Christian is tougher than its win-loss record indicates, noting the Huskies' schedule this year contains three Class 4A opponents.

"They haven't had any games where it's been easy," he said.

He said Hope Christian plays old-fashioned power football with its rushing attack.

"They try to run the ball, and they try to outmuscle you," Embrack said. "You win on the line of scrimmage. So our focus this week is just finding a way to be prepared for that.

"They can throw the ball; they have some tight ends they try to get the ball to in different kinds of ways. I think we have an easy game plan for that. But it's that seven men on the line of scrimmage and then trying to run the ball down your throat that we got to prepare for."

Tucumcari's bye week afforded it the chance to get more players healed from injuries. Five Rattlers were sidelined with various maladies during the Ruidoso game. Embrack estimates at least three might be ready for action against Hope Christian.