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By Don Eskins Grabbing this year’s District 4/5A regular season title was just eight minutes away for Carlsbad High in their winner-take-all collision with the Hobbs Eagles on Friday night, February 20. Leading 31-28 as the fourth and final quarter of play got underway in the Eagles’ iconic Ralph Tasker Arena, the Cavemen needed only to trade buckets with the Birds to claim this year’s conference crown. But, as all Cavemen fans now know, it wasn’t to be, as the Eagles rallied

By Don Eskins The Carlsbad High School swim teams recently returned home from the state tournament with good reviews. This year’s tournament took place in Albuquerque on Friday and Saturday, February 20-21. Olivia Jang, with a 10th-place finish in the 100 Butterfly, recorded the Cavegirls’ top performance. She covered the distance in a time of 1:03.02. Benjamin Jang, with 12th-place finishes in the 100 Free (50.86100) and 100 Breaststroke (105.56), along with Sam Vega, who pl

By Don Eskins The Cavemen and Cavegirl tennis teams competed at the Statewide Invitational in Albuquerque on Friday and Saturday, February 20-21. On Friday, CHS competed in flighted singles bracket competition, and on Saturday, flighted doubles bracket play. “The competition here was a bit more difficult than last weekend in El Paso,” said CHS assistant coach Diamond Morrill. “However, it was nice for us to get to see what some of the other teams in the state are looking like

By Don Eskins Carlsbad High’s Cavemen and Cavegirl wrestlers closed out the 2025-26 season with identical 10th-place finishes at the NMAA State Tournament on February 20-21 in Rio Rancho. “Although winning state has always been one of our goals, I knew doing it this year in either our boys’ or girls’ programs probably wasn’t going to happen,” said CHS head coach Mark Pratt. “Along with some youth and inexperience, we just had too many open weight classes. “But we did feel lik

By Don Eskins Carlsbad High will compete in the NMAA State Swim Meet on Friday and Saturday, February 20-21. The meet will take place at Albuquerque Academy High School. Overall, 10 CHS swimmers—six Cavemen and four Cavegirls—qualified in 13 events for the meet. The following is a list of the events and swimmers competing in each. CHS 2025-26 Individual State Qualifiers: Olivia Jang: 200 IM, 100 Fly, 100 Breast, 100 Free. Benjamin Jang: 100 breast, 200 IM, 100 Free. Samuel Ve

By Don Eskins Ten Cavemen, headed by divisional runners-up Justin Owens, 138; Jay Norris, 157; and Juan Rubio, 215, qualified for state at the Southern Regional Championships in Albuquerque on Saturday, February 14. In order to qualify for this year’s Big Dance, grapplers had to place among the top seven placers of each weight division or draw a wild card for their overall performance during the meet. “Our goal was to get as many of our wrestlers to state as we could. Of the

By Don Eskins The prep tennis season officially opened up for Carlsbad High on Friday and Saturday, February 13-14, at the El Paso Austin Invitational. According to CHS assistant coach Diamond Morrill, the Cavemen and Cavegirls got off to a good start. “As this was our first tournament of the season, our kids played pretty well. We have a lot of young players this year, so many of them were a bit nervous as the tournament got underway,” said Morrill. “But after they got out o

By Don Eskins The 11-14 Carlsbad Cavegirls, ranked 20th by MaxPreps, will host the second-ranked 23-2 Hobbs Eagles on Friday night, February 20. The clash will mark the end of regular-season and district play for both teams. The JVs will open up the night’s play at 5:30 p.m., followed by the varsity at 7 p.m. To nobody’s surprise, Hobbs, who has already clinched this season’s conference title, sits at the top of the District 4/5A standings with an unblemished 5-0 record. The

By Don Eskins It’s going to be a winner-take-all battle for the District 4/5A title when the Carlsbad Cavemen and Hobbs Eagles face off in Hobbs on Friday night, February 20. No doubt, with so much at stake, you can bet the farm that the Ralph Tasker Arena will be rockin’ when the ball goes up for the tipoff at 7 p.m. The JVs will take the floor first at 5:30 p.m. Carlsbad will enter the clash at 17-7, the Eagles at 16-9. In district play, both teams are 4-1. Coming into the

By Don Eskins Former Caveman Robert Castaneda, one of New Mexico’s most prolific prep gridiron receivers for the past two seasons, will be competing at the next level during 2026. On Wednesday, February 4, Castaneda made it official by signing a letter of intent to play for the NMMI Broncos. NMMI, a junior college located in Roswell, competes in the Southwest Junior College Football Conference (SWJCFC). During 2025, the Broncos posted a 3-6 overall record and were 2-5 in conf

By Don Eskins Lady luck eluded the 16-7 Carlsbad Cavemen on Tuesday night, February 10, in a game that saw the 12-10 Clovis Wildcats slip past Carlsbad High 51-45. The clash took place in Clovis. “It was a tough game and tough environment, but we played even with the Wildcats throughout the game. With about 2:30 left on the clock, the score was all tied up,” said Cavemen head coach John Zumbrun. “But, down the stretch, Clovis was able to pull away.” Maliq Mills, with 12 point

Coach Matt Enloe Logs 100th Win By Don Eskins Down but not out, following a 70-24 loss to the talent-heavy and top-ranked Hobbs Eagles, the Carlsbad Cavegirls rallied to knock off the Clovis Wildcats 26-24 in Carlsbad on Tuesday night, February 10. Trailing at the half, 13-5, the Cavegirls regrouped to tighten up their defense and outscore the bewildered Cats 21-11 over the final two periods to pick up their 11th win of the season, versus 13 losses. "Holding Clovis to just 24