Portales and Lovington are an even 5-5 against one another since September of 2016, but not for long. The Portales Rams will be playing in front of their home fans against the Lovington Wildcats at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. Portales will stroll in with a eight game home winning streak (dating back to last season), but they should still watch out: the last time they lost at home was their October 28 matchup with Lovington.
Portales extended their postseason success on Saturday against Bloomfield. They came out on top against the Bobcats by a score of 28-21.
One reason for the win was Portales' imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for four sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Manny Chavez and Layton Faust who racked up four sacks between them.
Meanwhile, Lovington faced Silver in a battle between two of the state's top teams. Lovington enjoyed a cozy 45-26 win over Silver on Saturday. The victory was familiar territory for Lovington who now have six in a row.
Lovington got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Wyatt Gomez out in front who threw for 302 yards and five touchdowns while completing 92.6% of his passes. Another player making a difference was Demarcus Thompson, who gained 128 total yards and three touchdowns.
Their wins bumped Portales to 11-1 and Lovington to 9-3.
Keep an eye on the end zone in Saturday's game as the two teams haven't had much trouble getting there this season. Portales commands a daunting offense this season, having averaged 4.8 touchdowns per game. However, it's not like Lovington struggles in that department as they've been even better at 5.3 per game. With these two high-octane teams facing off on Saturday, fans should be in for an exciting offensive matchup. Come back here after the game to get analysis of the match and other football content.
Portales came up short against Lovington in their previous matchup back in October, falling 29-21. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Lovington's Camon Ochoa, who rushed for 114 yards and a touchdown while picking up 7.1 yards per carry. Now that Portales knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
