Preview: Lovington Wildcats vs. Portales Rams
Lovington has enjoyed the comforts of home their last three games, but now they'll head out on the road. They will square off against the Portales Rams at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. The matchup should be an exciting one, as these teams are ranked near one another in New Mexico (Lovington is ranked seventh, while Portales is ranked ninth).
With a playoff game on the line, Lovington rose to the challenge on Saturday. They took down Silver 45-26.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Lovington to victory, but perhaps none more so than Wyatt Gomez, who threw for 302 yards and five touchdowns while completing 92.6% of his passes. The team also got some help courtesy of Demarcus Thompson, who gained 128 total yards and three touchdowns.
On the other side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to Lovington's defense and their 5.5 sacks. In that department, Thompson was the leader with 2.5 sacks.
Meanwhile, Portales was able to grind out a solid victory over Bloomfield on Saturday, taking the game 28-21. The win made it back-to-back wins for Portales.
Lovington has yet to lose a matchup at home this season, leaving them with a 9-3 record. It's not like the team was facing easy opposition over that stretch either, as it included 11-1 Portales and 8-4 Espanola Valley (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 64% over those games). As for Portales, their victory bumped their record up to 11-1.
Keep an eye on the end zone in Saturday's game as the pair haven't had much trouble getting there this season. Lovington commands a daunting offense this season, having averaged 5.3 touchdowns per game. However, it's not like Portales struggles in that department as they've been averaging 4.8 per game. With these two high-octane teams facing off on Saturday, fans should be in for an exciting offensive matchup. Check MaxPreps after the action for a full breakdown of the game and more football content.
Lovington beat Portales 29-21 when the teams last played back in October. The rematch might be a little tougher for Lovington since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
