Brewer-Hill pilots Cats past Cavemen

Clovis gave Carlsbad the boot through the air. The Cavemen are hoping Friday didn’t give them the boot from post-season play.

Kyler Brewer-Hill threw for 146 yards and three touchdowns, including a 66-yard toss to Quran Wiggins on the Wildcats’ opening drive, and ran for another score as Clovis won its fourth-straight, 42-7, Friday night at Leon Williams Stadium.

The win sets up a District 4-5A championship game next week at Hobbs. The Eagles, idle this week, defeated Carlsbad, 49-28, last week.

The Cavemen (4-6, 0-2 district) opened up the game with a 10-play, 83-yard drive full of big plays. Senior quarterback Jacob Galindo found Matt Enloe for a 17-yard scoring toss on a third-down play, Carlsbad’s fourth play of 15-plus yards on the drive.

“They did a good job of attacking us, and we didn’t come out ready to play,” Clovis assistant Darren Kelley said. “The first series definitely looked like we had two weeks off.”

Clovis (7-2, 2-0) struck back in four plays, as Brewer-Hill found Wiggins on a 66-yard pass up the middle — a playaction pass Brewer-Hill said was their “233 Boot” play.

“We study so much film,” Brewer-Hill said. “We kind of know what they’re doing in the game before they do it. Coach (Eric) Roan(haus) helps us a lot with that.”

“The free safety comes up on the run. He bit like we thought he would (on that play, and) Quran was open up the middle.”

Carlsbad coach Ron Arrington said trying to stop the Clovis running game — including Wiggins, who has rushed for 100-plus yards in eight of the Wildcats’ nine games — will sometimes leave the pass defense exposed.

“They’ve shown a little bit of desire to pass it more often than they’ve done in the past; they got some big ones on us,” Arrington said. “Part of it was scheme. You want to stop the run and you’ve got to pick your poison sometimes.”

Richie Chavez, playing defensive end for Clovis, stripped Galindo on Carlsbad’s next effort. Senior tackle Matt Samdahl recovered, Chavez scored on a 6-yard pass from junior Jordan Hill on Clovis’ ensuing drive, and the Wildcats never looked back.

Brewer-Hill had another scoring toss to both Chavez — an 8-yard flat route following a late Carlsbad turnover in the second quarter — and to Wiggins, a 24-yarder to end Clovis’ first drive of the second half.

Wiggins finished with 138 yards on 23 carries, part of a 442-yard night of offense for the Wildcats. Travis Davis had a 13-yard run in the fourth to finish the scoring.

While the Wildcats prep for a district title opportunity, Arrington is hoping the Cavemen can get one of Class 5A’s bottom playoff slots.

“We’re going to wait on the seeding committee,” Arrington said. “We feel like we’re an 11 or 12 seed based on our record and who we’ve played compared to who some of the (other bubble teams) have played.”