Cavemen Battle Coyotes in D4/5A Inaugural

By Don Eskins

CHS was supposed to open conference play against the Clovis Wildcats in Carlsbad on Tuesday night, January 27. However, due to severe weather moving across New Mexico, their game with the Cats was canceled. CHS’s tipoff with Clovis has been rescheduled for Tuesday, February 3, in the Cavern City.

As a result, the Cavemen will now take on the Roswell Coyotes in their District 4/5A inaugural in Roswell on Friday night, January 30.

“It would have been nice to open conference play at home, but the severe weather changed all of that. So, we’ll make the best of it,” said Caveman head coach John Zumbrun. “Eventually, we’d have to play Roswell on the road anyway, so why not now?”

Although the setting and their opponent might be different, their mission remains the same. The boys in blue need to tip off the 2025-26 District 4/5A season with a win.

“It looks like all of our district teams are pretty close; that makes every game a big one for us,” said the Caveman coach. “It’s especially important to get off to a good start. For us, that means getting by the Roswell Coyotes.”

Currently, the Coyotes are 11-9 on the year and ranked 18th in Class 5A basketball by MaxPreps. The Cavemen are 12-6 and ranked 11th.

“Roswell lost a few seniors off last year’s team, but every week they keep getting better. They like to run to get the tempo up, and they have a kid, Jeremy Sombrano, who can put up 30 on you; he’s already done that a few times this season,” said Zumbrun. “We’re going to have to be aware of where he is all night.”

Offensively, the Cavemen will be led by 6’4” center Shane Sullivan. Sullivan has been averaging 14.9 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. Other top scorers for CHS are Zenas Huerta, 10.8 points per outing; Tanner Cornum, 6.2; Dryden Preece, 6.1; and Kevin Quarles, 5.5.

“We have several kids who are capable of scoring. Hopefully, we score by committee, but sometimes, we have one or two players step up for us,” said Zumbrun. “However, we’re not so much worried about who scores; we just want to move the ball around and make the extra pass to get a good look. After that, it’s all about us defending and hitting the boards well.”

The JVs will open up the night’s action at 5:30 p.m., with the varsity taking the floor at 7 p.m.

Cavemen Roll Over Goddard 65-39: Carlsbad High ran past the Goddard Rockets 65-39 on January 22 in Carlsbad in their final pre-district tune-up game of the season.

Even at the half, 19-19, CHS roared in the second, outpointing the Rockets 44-20 to pick up the win. Shane Sullivan with 20 points, Zenas Huerta with 19, and Kevin Quarles with 10 led the Cavemen assault.