LAS CRUCES — Oh boy.The Field of Dreams was a nightmare for the Hobbs football team as second-ranked Las Cruces High blanked the Eagles 40-0 Friday (read the game story in Saturday's sports section of the Hobbs News-Sun). The Bulldawgs outgained Hobbs 475-80 – yes, the Eagles only managed 80 yards of offense.
Hobbs had just one snap in Las Cruces territory, and that was a fumble recovered by Las Cruces.
Sure, the Eagles struggled not having leading rusher Aderiole Moore (he missed the game due to a violation of team rules) and it didn't help that his replacement Keith Sanders was injured on the first play from scrimmage, but their presence wouldn't have changed much.
Hobbs just didn't execute offensively. Rarely did Eagle ball carriers have space to run, Hobbs dropped passes and the Eagles missed open receivers.
There is no one aspect to point the finger at as everything went wrong for Hobbs.
Yes, Las Cruces' defense was tough. There is no doubt about that. The Bulldawgs' front seven is big and fast.
But there is no reason a team should gain less than 100 yards of offense in a game.
Through its first three games, Hobbs (2-2) took a step forward in each.
Friday night, the Eagles took a step back.
While the loss hurts and how Hobbs played makes it even worse, this will be a good test for Hobbs to see what kind of character the Eagles have. Hobbs stares at another brutal road trip next week heading to Rio Rancho to play top-ranked Cleveland (which just waxed Clovis 49-14 in Clovis).
The Eagles can do two things. They can either give up and go through the motions against the Storm and get Oñated (Cleveland led 63-0 at the half against the Knights last week and the game was called due the mercy rule) or get back to work Monday, prepare for Cleveland and get better.
The answer comes Sept. 23.
