NMAA releases volleyball seeds

  The NMAA released its seeds for the state volleyball tournament Sunday with four of the five Lea County schools being selected. Pool play for all the tournaments begin Thursday in the Albuquerque-metro area.

  In Class 3A, Lovington picked up the No. 8 seed and is in Pool A with No. 1 Pojoaque and No. 9 West Las Vegas. District-foe Portales picked up the No. 3 seed while Ruidoso got the 12th seed.

  In Class 2A, Eunice snagged the No. 11 seed and will play in Pool C with No. 3 Bosque and No. 6 Clayton.
  In Class 1A, two-time defending state champion Tatum to nobody's surprise got the top seed while Jal got the No. 8 seed and both play in Pool A along with No. 9 Hagerman.
  Here is a link to view all of the brackets: NMAA State Volleyball Brackets

Not-so-quick hits from Week 11 in Lea County Football

Clayton Jones/News-Sun

Jal's Saxxon Artalejo breaks free against Capitan on Saturday in Jal.

  While seedings came out for the larger schools and Hobbs got spanked, I have to start with the game I was at Saturday – Jal's 27-21 overtime win over Capitan in the Class 1A state quarterfinals.
  To back track, when two-a-days started in August I went out to Jal on the second day of workouts. There were 15 Panthers total out for football. That's it. In my mind I thought, "I don't care how good Saxxon Artalejo and Malik Anderson are, Jal may win only one or two games this season and will probably miss the playoffs."
  When the Panthers started the season 0-4, I thought my preseason thoughts were coming to fruition.
  But the funny thing about Jal was, it kept getting better and better.
  Four wins later, the Panthers went into their matchup with Class 1A powerhouse and top-ranked Fort Sumner at 4-4 heading into its last week of the season. Jal gave Fort Sumner a game, but couldn't get over the hump offensively, losing 24-8.
  Saturday the Panthers started the game against Capitan as that 0-4 team. Jal couldn't stop the Tigers' double-wing offense and couldn't move the football as Capitan took a 14-0 lead.
  But big players make big plays and Saxxon Artalejo hit Malik Anderson on a slant for that the speedy Anderson turned into a 70-yard touchdown to cut the lead in half.
  It was the start of the Panthers' resurgence as an improved defensive effort combined with quick striking drives for Jal – all four touchdown drives were three plays or less – led to Jal coming back for the win.

Eagle hoops Black & Gold Scrimmage fast-paced event

Kimberly Ryan/News-Sun

Hobbs' Aaron Ibarra goes in for a layup at the Black

and Gold Scrimmage Thursday at Tasker Arena.

  Hobbs grad and first-year Eagles coach Mike Smith said the team would return to the up-and-down, full-court pressing style of basketball and the Eagles did just that for a pair of 20-minute halves during the Black and Gold Scrimmage Thursday at Tasker Arena.
  Here are a few things I took away from the scrimmage:
  – Dane Pannell is good, very good: The 6-foot-3 junior who averaged 11.5 points per game as a sophomore (and closer to 16 points per game in the second half of the season) scored 29 points, second to Aaron Ibarra's 30 points.
  But more than that was the way he scored them (and despite getting cut just below his eye minutes into the game). Pannell hit jumpers, took his defender off the dribble, posted up and got a few putbacks. Hobbs fans are going to enjoy watching this young man evolve into one of the better players in the state (if he's not already there).
  – Aaron Ibarra is going to flourish in this style of ball: The tall, lanky Ibarra (6-foot-3 or maybe 6-foot-4) is perfectly suited for this trapping, full-court brand of basketball. His length is a nightmare for opponents and he can finish well in transition. Ibarra even showed off his range by hitting a 3-pointer in the scrimmage. He's probably going to have to rebound more than he's used to as the Eagles lack height, but Ibarra is poised to have a breakout senior season.

Hobbs boys hoops hard at work; preseason schedule

Clayton Jones/News-Sun

Hobbs senior Austin Montoya at practice Tuesday.

  I stepped through the doors at Tasker Arena Tuesday morning to find 20-plus athletes hustling, yelling, and screeching their sneakers across the gym floor.
  Yep, it's basketball season.
  The Hobbs boys basketball team was hard at work already as the Eagles have less than two weeks until their opener Nov. 15 at Midland Lee (at Midland College's Chap Center). The hour-and-a-half practice concentrated mostly on defense – both half and full court – with a lot of trapping.
  Talented junior Dane Pannell seems to have recovered fully after banging up his knee a little bit over the summer as he looked very good. Teaming him with senior point guard Austin Montoya and senior forward Aaron Ibarra and that is a solid three for Hobbs to build off of. Those three teamed up with Jesus Rodriguez (another point guard type) and Andrew Barrientes (a sniper from beyond the arc) during practice looked very fluid together.

NMJC hoops begin play this week; USW already underway

Clayton Jones/News-Sun

NMJC freshman Lorelle Waters grabs an alley-oop with

one hand for a dunk during practice.

  Hard to believe but basketball season is here for local college teams New Mexico Junior College and University of the Southwest.
  While the USW men and women got underway this past weekend at the Santa Claren Classic in Espanola (the Mustangs went 1-1 while the Lady Mustangs went 2-0), the NMJC women get underway Tuesday night when the Lady Thunderbirds host Cochise 5:45 p.m. at Caster Activity Center.
  The NMJC men's team gets its season underway Thursday during the first day of the Thunderbird Classic when the T-Birds host the University of the Southwest JV at 8 p.m. (the Lady T-Birds play Arizona Western College at 5 p.m. – check out the rest of the the T-Birds' and Lady T-Birds' schedule on their pages at go-thunderbirds.com).
  For NMJC, both teams are looking to get over tough near postseason misses in 2010-11. The T-Birds and Lady T-Birds both tied for the fourth and final spot but the NMJC men and women each lost the tiebreaker.

Jal, Tatum football both receive No. 4 seeds for state playoffs

  The Jal and Tatum football teams both received the fourth seed in their respective classes when the NMAA released the Class 1A and 8-man state playoff brackets Sunday.
  The Panthers (4-5) will play No. 5 Capitan (5-4) 1 p.m. Saturday in Jal in a Class 1A state playoff quarterfinal matchup while Tatum (7-3) will play No. 5 Logan (5-5) in Tatum on a date yet to be determined (will either by Friday night or Saturday afternoon) in an 8-man state playoff quarterfinal game.
  Here is a link to the brackets: NMAA State Football Brackets
  Jal and Capitan haven't played this season while Tatum defeated Logan 40-16 in the second week of the season.
  Read more about this in Tuesday's edition of the Hobbs News-Sun.

Eunice, Seminole, Jal cap regular seasons on solid note

News-Sun Photo

Eunice's Junior Caraza speeds down the field.

  A trio of area teams finished off their regular-season schedule Friday on a solid note as Eunice and Seminole capped stellar regular seasons with easy victories and Jal showed it can play with the big boys in Class 1A in a loss.
  Eunice capped its first perfect regular season since 1958 with a convincing 44-14 win over Dexter. The Cardinals led 30-0 at the half and cruised from there. It's the way championship-caliber teams win – come out, play hard and assert dominance from the opening whistle. Eunice's offense is now averaging 49 points a game this season while the defense has improved – allowing just 9.3 points per game in its last three contests.
  Eunice has a week off then finds out its seed for the Class 2A state playoffs on Nov. 5 (which will likely be the No. 1 seed).
  Seminole also capped its season with a convincing victory, a 52-6 beatdown of Fort Stockton at Wig Wam Stadium.