Thursday, November 19, 2009

Did Rivalry Cost Rams, Cougars?

By James Yodice
Of the Journal
      Today's topic is hangovers.
       As in, did Rio Rancho have one when it got belted by lowly Hobbs?
       As in, did Cibola have one when Eldorado shut the Cougars on the same night?
       Before we hear from the respective head coaches, let me say this: as we reflect on the first weekend of the Class 5A football playoffs, it can't be a mere coincidence that Rio Rancho, Cibola — and also Las Cruces — all suffered first-round upsets.
       And they weren't just beaten. They were whipped. All three of them.
       Each had been involved in an emotionally-charged rivalry game the previous week. They have that in common. The Rams beat the Cougars 43-39 in overtime, and the Bulldawgs overcame a 22-point deficit to edge Mayfield 32-31.
       And each, as a higher seed, was dismissed — with authority — by lower-seeded foes in the first round of the playoffs.
       Hobbs beat Rio Rancho 56-43, Eldorado blanked Cibola 28-0 and Sandia pounded Las Cruces 38-14.
       We'll confine the discussion today to the Cougars and Rams, the District 1-5A representatives who began this week wondering how it ended so suddenly.
       In talking with Rio Rancho coach David Howes and Cibola coach Judge Chavez, there were somewhat differing opinions on whether their teams suffered letdowns.
       “I knew it, I felt it, but I didn't want to believe it,” said Howes, who completed his first season with Rio Rancho at 7-4. “Those rivalry games took major tolls on all three programs.”
       Next, Chavez.
       “Maybe it's a coincidence, maybe it's not,” said the veteran Chavez who has taken eight teams at Highland and Cibola to at least the state semifinals. “A hangover? No, I don't think so.”
       Chavez's philosophy was that the Cougars simply didn't play well against Eldorado. (Which, to my way of thinking as it relates to the playoffs, is the very definition of a team with a hangover. But that's just me.) If anything, Chavez said, it was the lack of competition in 1-5A — i.e. games against West Mesa and Gallup — that lessen his team's effectiveness come playoff time.
       From my chair, however, it was clear that Cibola was missing something in the Eldorado loss, a spark that was clearly there the week before against Rio Rancho.
       The Cougars appeared to be physically spent. I imagine it was the same for Las Cruces, and, according to Howes, this was definitely the case with Rio Rancho.
       “It's very difficult to come off a highly emotional game and play at your top level the next week. They call them trap games for a reason,” Howes said.
       Compounding his team's preparation, Howes said, was that Rio Rancho was coming off consecutive rivalry games. The Rams had beaten Cleveland the week before playing Cibola.
       “We knew it was going to be an issue to get them mentally right and emotionally right,” Howes said.
       It was perhaps inevitable that Rio Rancho have a lull, especially against a team (Hobbs) that the Rams had handled pretty easily in the season opener. But most everyone was shocked at how the visiting Eagles so easily went up and down the field.
       “By the time we got to Hobbs,” Howes said, in a rare candid admission from a head coach, “(we) had nothing left.”
       I have written before in this space about how Rio Rancho sometimes seemed to invest too much in beating Cibola and not enough winning in the playoffs. I remember back to 2006 when the Rams won the district, but it was Cibola that nearly made it to the state championship game while Rio Rancho went out meekly in the first round.
       After winning first-round games the last two years, Rio Rancho appeared to have taken that next step. This was a bit of a regression — for both Cibola and Rio Rancho.
       And what of the Cougars?
       Cibola had beaten Eldorado by two touchdowns early in the season, but this was a new script. What does it say when a team like Cibola, which runs the ball so well, couldn't advance any deeper than the Eldorado 27-yard line?
       Chavez felt if his team had won district, it could have won a first-round game as a better seed than what they were, No. 8.
       But you can't tell me that the football players at Cibola and Rio Rancho weren't looking at their first-round games without having at least a partial eye cocked toward next week. That would be only natural.
       But if the physicality and emotion of a regular-season finale is a factor in the early dismissals of the Cougars and Rams, can this be a good sign?
       Remember, next year, 1-5A will be an ultra competitive four-team league with Rio Rancho, Cibola, Cleveland and Volcano Vista. No more Gallup, no more West Mesa. Just three consecutive games against three quality opponents leading into the playoffs.
       For now, the hangover debate lingers. But the result is the same either way: two teams who were expected to be playing this week but whose offseason began earlier than anticipated.
       James Yodice can be reached at 823-3950 or jyodice@abqjournal.com.
       

---

You also can send comments via our comment form