Cavemen at Bulldogs Just One Step Along the Way
Just where the Cavemen are in the scope of this year’s New Mexico prep football scene is yet to be seen. But, overall, head coach Cale Sanders, now in his second year at the helm of the program, appears to be pleased.
“We’re a better ball club than we were last year at this time, and that makes our staff happy,” said Sanders. “But while we may be happy, we’re not satisfied. We still have a long way to go to get to the level we need to be.”
Cavern City fans will be amped up and looking for a big win when the Cavemen face off against Artesia in the Bulldog Bowl on Friday night, August 23. However, the Cavemen, as big a game as it will be, will be approaching it as just the first of 10 games on their 2024 slate.
“Yeah, we all understand just how big the game is here in Eddy County. But we really don’t want to get caught up in all of that hype,” said Cavemen head coach Cale Sanders. “Of course, we’ll be goin to Artesia to win, and we’ll be giving the Bulldogs our best shot, but just as important for us is that we play well.
“Artesia will be a stern test for our kids, but our guys are ready to play. They’ve seen this scenario before, so they’re not intimidated by the Bulldogs. But, keeping things in perspective, we’re still a pretty young ball club with an ultimate goal of getting back to the state playoffs,” said Sanders. “So, however the game comes out, win or lose, in no way will it be the defining point of our season. It will just be one step along the way in our effort to achieve our ultimate goal of getting back to the state playoffs.”
Tough Schedule for CHS Gridders
One of Sanders’s first tasks this year was to tweak the Cavemen’s schedule a bit. One of the toughest schedules in the state last year—if not the toughest—the CHS head honcho dropped Roswell High and Volcano Vista (two of the Land of Enchantment’s premier programs) and picked up Lovington (now a 5A team) and Cibola.
Ironically, for the Cavemen, Lovington sits among New Mexico’s top 10 teams, according to this season’s MaxPreps Pre-Season Poll.
But even with those changes, CHS still has to own one of the toughest schedules in the state, especially for a young team. In this year’s statewide MaxPreps pre-season poll, the Cavemen appear to be the underdog in seven of their 10 scheduled games. Only Alamogordo, Cibola, and Organ Mt. are ranked beneath them.
But we should all keep in mind that these predictions are based on a pre-season poll. And as all prep football fans know, once the pads go on and play gets underway, polls can change in a hurry.
New Mexico Statewide MaxPreps Rankings (barring all classifications) as they appear on CHS’s schedule: 2. Artesia, 4. Centennial, 5. Las Cruces, 6. Lovington, 9. Hobbs, 22. Clovis, 26. Goddard, 28. Carlsbad, 33. Alamogordo, 47. Cibola, and 59. Organ Mt.
Today’s Photo Quiz Answers: Left to right, No. 66 Dennis Ingram, guard; No. 63 Ricky Irish, defensive end; No. 12 Mark Jackson, QB; and No. 89 Cass Tabor, end.
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