7×7: Lovington captures ENMU Tourney Title

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Led by many of its star players, Lovington won the Division I (Big School) championship at Saturday's Eastern New Mexico 7x7 Tournament in Portales. The Wildcats defeated Los Alamos in the championship game.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Two-way Wildcat standouts <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1137465' first='Kyler' last='Reaves']</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1137475' first='Jayden' last='Gutierrez']</strong> and <strong>Elijah Rivero </strong>were named to the All-Tournament team along with three players from Portales (<strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1613398' first='Slade' last='Segovia']</strong>, <strong>Antonio Bonilla</strong> and rising freshman QB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1581314' first='Kingston' last='Lee']</strong>, who's involved in the tight battle for the starting job), two from Texico (QB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1343408' first='Bennett' last='Wahlen']</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1791448' first='Jaheim' last='Moses']</strong>), Los Almos LB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1599565' first='Frank' last='Sheppard']</strong>, Hot Springs ATH <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='854288' first='Tristan' last='Polanco']</strong> and a pair of players from Lubbock (TX) Trinity Christian.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“Kyler, Jayden and Elijah hardly ever come off the field,” Lovington coach Josh Bailey told Prep Redzone New Mexico. “Jayden and Elijah had big time interceptions. Jayden had several interceptions and scored a ton of touchdowns.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“Kyler and Elijah did as well. Kyler is our leader on defense, for sure. He gets us to where we need to go. Jayden covers so much of the field in the back end, it's insane. Elijah has moved to corner from strong safety and he's doing a great job shutting down one side of the field.” &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Lovington beat Clovis and Los Alamos upended Portales in the semifinals. Last year, Lovington earned the No. 1 seed for bracket play but fell to Roswell 2 in the quarterfinals.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“Our message once we got into bracket play was don't relax or take your foot off the gas,” Bailey said. “I felt like they responded. We probably played our best football of the day in the bracket round. It was nice to see our guys get better and not slow down. We played very well defensively. I was proud of them.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Additional defensive standouts for Lovington included CB <strong>Alejandro Kame</strong>, <strong>Chase Terrell</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1693060' first='Joaquin' last='Vasquez']</strong>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The D1 title capped a very successful day for the Wildcats as the JV team went 7-0 and captured the JV Division championship. In addition, the Lovington linemen finished fourth in the Big Man Challenge, with Texico and Portales finishing second and third, respectively, behind champion Friona (TX).</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Lovington OL <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1787396' first='Jaden' last='Garcia']</strong> was named to the All-Big Man team along with <strong>Vicente Montano</strong> (Legacy Academy), <strong>Kyle Glock</strong> (Clovis), <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1827269' first='Dexter' last='Chapman']</strong> (Texico), <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1599532' first='Diego' last='Garcia']</strong> (Los Alamos), <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1827370' first='Dominic' last='Terrazas']</strong> (Hot Springs) and <strong>Trypp Hamilton</strong> (Portales).</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“Our offensive line coach was very pleased with Jaden's effort and his leadership,” Bailey said.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Bailey has been pleased with the progress shown by presumptive starting QB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1665332' first='Justin' last='Allen']</strong>, who enjoyed a solid day on Saturday.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“Yesterday was a very good day for Justin,” Bailey said. “He's starting to see things better. As a result, he's letting the ball go a little sooner. I'm coaching him really hard. It's not always easy when the head coach is also your position coach, but he has responded very well.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Lovington also ran a few plays on Saturday out of the Wildcat with Gutierrez taking the snap.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“We build our offense around our playmakers and try to get them the ball,” Bailey said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Lovington concludes its 10 days of padded practices this coming week and will hold its spring game Wednesday night. The Wildcats begin preseason camp Aug. 4 and open the 2025 season Aug. 22 against Hobbs.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A successful day in Portales. Thank you <a href="https://twitter.com/ENMUFootball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ENMUFootball</a> for hosting the Cats! The Hogs finished 4th overall in the lineman challenge, our young pups won the C Division 7 on 7, and our older guys took care of business in the A Division. Proud of our Cats! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Faithoverfear?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Faithoverfear</a> <a href="https://t.co/DR9vFD3zlw">pic.twitter.com/DR9vFD3zlw</a></p>&mdash; Wildcat Football (@lvtwildcatsfb) <a href="https://twitter.com/lvtwildcatsfb/status/1944171685516579107?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 12, 2025</a></blockquote> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:html --> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Thank you to everyone who helped make our 7 on 7 &amp; Lineman Challenge a huge success.<br><br>Congrats to <a href="https://twitter.com/lvtwildcatsfb?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@lvtwildcatsfb</a> for winning our A Division &amp; JV Championships<br><br>Congrats <a href="https://twitter.com/TCSLionFootball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TCSLionFootball</a> for taking top honors in our B division<a href="https://twitter.com/FISDHSSocMedia?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FISDHSSocMedia</a> for winning our lineman challenge</p>&mdash; Kelley Lee (@CoachKelleyLee) <a href="https://twitter.com/CoachKelleyLee/status/1944456804949446791?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 13, 2025</a></blockquote> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:html --> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Had a great time <a href="https://twitter.com/ENMUFootball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ENMUFootball</a> 7 on 7 tournament. We are getting better everyday. We went 4-2 on the day in top division &amp; I was blessed to be recognized in the All-Tournament team. Here's a couple deep balls<a href="https://twitter.com/QBimpact?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@QBimpact</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/QBUniverseQBU?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@QBUniverseQBU</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/QBHitList?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@QBHitList</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/CoachWhiteDB1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CoachWhiteDB1</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/coachmaxsilver?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@coachmaxsilver</a> <a href="https://t.co/JZnL3ykwSa">pic.twitter.com/JZnL3ykwSa</a></p>&mdash; [player_tooltip player_id='1581314' first='Kingston' last='Lee'] (@kingston_lee10) <a href="https://twitter.com/kingston_lee10/status/1944443537195753847?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 13, 2025</a></blockquote> <!-- /wp:html -->