Coyotes, Rattlers, Longhorns gear up for district play

link Grady/San Jon Coyotes running back Joseph Benavidez outruns the pursuing Panthers defenders to

the end zone after stripping and recovering the football from Lake Arthur's quarterback Friday at San

Jon. Benavidez had three touchdowns in the Coyotes’ 72-19 win over Lake Arthur. With the win the

Coyotes are the District 1 champions and have one more district game against Floyd before state

tournament seeding on Saturday.

By Thomas Garcia

QCS Senior Writer

The Grady/San Jon Coyotes (6-0, 3-0) play their final district game Friday against Floyd before state tournament seeding.

The Coyotes won the District 1 six-man championship Friday with a 72-19 win over Lake Arthur at San Jon.

In that game, the Coyotes racked up 440 yards of total offense; 322 rushing and 118 passing. Two Coyotes scored three touchdowns: Ryan Bone scored three rushing touchdowns – from 1, 3 and 25 yards. Joseph Benavidez scored three times; two rushing touchdowns of 1 and 25 yards and a 34-yard fumble return.

Bobby Lundsford on a 1-yard touchdown pass from quarterback D.C. Lee and a 15-yard rush by Jacob Thurman. A 45-yard pass from Lee to Thurman rounded out the scoring.

The Coyotes will look to apply the same defensive pressure to Floyd as they did against the Panthers, said head coach Bobby Gomez.

Gomez said the defense recorded 11 stacks against Lake Arthur.

“The boys are ready to play and are ready for business when they play Floyd,” Gomez said.

Game time: 3 p.m., Friday at San Jon.

The Tucumcari Rattlers (2-4) come out of their bye week to start their district run against the Yellowjackets Friday at Clayton.

Clayton is going to play old-school smash-mouth football, said Rattlers head coach Wayne Ferguson, who said the Yellowjackets (2-5) aren’t flashy with their style of play. He said they just line up and come at you.

“We just need to be ready to play football and be sure to execute and follow threw on the basics,” Ferguson said.

Game time: 7 p.m., Friday at Clayton.

The Logan Longhorns will host the Mescalero Apaches Friday for their Homecoming.

The Longhorns (4-2, 2-0) had a bye last week.

The Apaches ( 4-4, 2-1) beat Cloudcroft 56-14 Friday at Mescalero

Game time: 7 p.m., Friday at Logan.

Cross Country

The Tucumcari Rattlers boys and girls cross country teams had a strong performance against 6A New Mexico and Texas schools Friday at Hobbs.

The junior varsity girls team placed third, girls varsity finished fifth and the varsity boys finished seventh.

There were a lot of tough schools competing at Hobbs and the boys and girls turned in some great times, said Gary Hittson, cross country coach.

Hittson said the Rattlers next run will be the district competition Oct. 30 at Cuba.

Volleyball schedule

Tucumcari Lady Rattlers

5:30 p.m., Saturday at Santa Rosa

Logan Lady Longhorns

6:30 p.m., Friday against Dora

San Jon Lady Coyotes

5 p.m., Friday against Clovis Christian