Cavemen Face Off with Goddard Rockets

By Don Eskins

The Carlsbad High School Cavemen and the Goddard Rockets face off in Roswell on Friday night, August 28. The Cavemen are still riding high following a season-inaugural 20-13 victory over the Class 5A top-ranked Artesia Bulldogs, while the Rockets hope to etch their names in the win column for the first time since sustaining a disappointing 20-14 opening-season loss to the Class 4A's No. 2 Lovington Wildcats.

Action between two of the state's most storied programs is set to get underway at 7 p.m. in the Alien City's Wool Bowl.

As the two teams prepare to take the field, MaxPreps has ranked the 1-0 Cavemen No. 7 among New Mexico Class 6A schools, up one spot from last week. Statewide, the CHS gridders jumped five spots to No. 10.

The Land of Enchantment pollsters have ranked the Goddard Rockets No. 9 in Class 5A play.

As for Carlsbad, Cavern City fans will be watching for the Cavemen to answer two big questions.

First, will they be able to continue to grind out yards on the ground and find their speedy receivers for deep scores, as they did en route to 315 total yards of offense against the Bulldogs, 220 of that 315 on the ground?

Secondly, will the Cavemen defense be able to get stops and significantly limit the opportunities the Rocket offense has to put points up on the scoreboard, as they did against Artesia? This effort allowed the vaulted Bulldog offense just 184 total yards, of which only 43 came via the turf.

Cavemen @ Rockets

No doubt, when the curtain goes up and the kickoff ensues at the Roswell Wool Bowl, Cavemen and Rocket fans can expect to see another tough matchup between the two teams.

Despite Carlsbad's early-season success against Artesia and Goddard's misfortune vs. Lovington, Sanders expects to see a rejuvenated group of Rockets on the field on Friday night.

"More than likely, it's going to be a typical Goddard vs. Carlsbad game, very physical," said the Cavemen coach. "They made a few mistakes, which hurt them against Lovington, but Coach Balanos will have corrected those errors by game time and will have his kids ready to play.

"Goddard's not going to lay down just because we beat Artesia," he said. "If anything, they're going to be hyped up and ready to play much harder.

"As for us, we're going to have to put Artesia behind us. We can't be satisfied with what we did last week; we've got to move on," said the Cavemen coach. "If we're to continue growing, we can't afford to take our foot off the gas pedal against Goddard."

Will Carlsbad be able to put up the same kind of numbers against a Goddard team hoping to rebound off their 20-14 opening season loss to Lovington?

Under the Friday Night Lights of the Roswell Wool Bowl, Cavemen fans will be hoping so.

Cavemen Probable Lineup

OFFENSE: Linemen: Left tackle, sophomore Carlo Chavez; left guard, senior Lincoln Adsero; center, senior Nathaniel Olivas; right guard, junior Makai Yorgensyn; and right tackle, junior Hector Nava. Backfield: Quarterback, No. 2 Marley Munoz and running back No. 27 Brock Wright; wide receiver corps, No. 11 Jaden Harper, junior Ian Wilson, sophomore Josiah Fuentes, and tight end, senior Braden Florez.

DEFENSE: Linemen: Nose tackle, junior Sean Cruz; defensive end, senior Isaiah Gaitan; and defensive end, senior Jaedyn Lynch; Linebackers: senior Colton McKibben, junior Trey Barta, and junior Juan Rubio; Secondary: senior Lennon Ananins, safety/cornerback; senior Damian Valencia, safety; and senior Noah Gonzales, cornerback.

(One spot on the defensive line and another in the secondary have yet to be filled. Currently, Sanders plans to fill the positions by committee.)