‘Thrilling Match Up’---Pirates to Face Silver

Pirates Ahoy! The Grants High School Pirate boys basketball team have hit some Pirate treasure in a “thrilling match up” as they land an 8 seed at the Nusenda Credit Union boys state basketball tournament which entitles them to host a home game. They will play against the 9th seeded Silver High School, the district champ from district 3 4-A, in the first round of the state tournament.

The Pirates came in 3rd in their district (5 4-A) behind the powerhouse number 1 seeded team in 4A, the Highland Hornets with a record of 22-6,7-1 and the 5th seeded St. Pius Sartans with a record of 1711,7-1.

When asked about his 8th seed GHS head basketball head coach Landon Chavez said “Silver is a very tough opponent— there's a reason we’re both ranked so closely—our records are very similar.” The Pirates have a 17-11 and 4-4 record and the Colts have a 18-8, 6-0 record.

“They (Silver) have some tough guards and a few bigs inside—that will be tough to handle,” said Chavez “We know the difficult task ahead—we are anxiously awaiting the opportunity to make a run during this postseason.”

When asked how he is preparing for the match up Chavez said, “Our preparation has been consistent throughout the regular season and into district–all the work has been done—just fine tuning our offensive and defensive strategies—-loads of shots—practicing reminders and habits–daily.”

In addition the team is watching film and preparing for the “thrilling matchup, ” said Chavez.

The Pirates wrapped up the district tournament last week. They had a win over the Belen Eagles (9-8, 2-6) on February 27th by a score of 72-55 and a loss to St. Pius on March 29th by a score of 71-50.

“The win against Belen at home was a huge momentum builder for us–I believe it solidified the #8 seed for us,” said Chavez “Against St. Pius we started out on fire with a 10-4 lead—some costly turnover led to Pius regaining control—-and scoring droughts stymied our comeback.”

In that game Coudy Melonas led the Pirate offense with 14 points followed by Tristin Fernandez with 10 points. Noah Victorino and Boudy Melonas led with 8 a piece.

Chavez concluded, “We are grateful to have been tested in one of the toughest districts in each game—we feel that has prepared us for the big dance–we are hungry to get to the pit!”

The Pirates will play Silver at the Port of the Pirates on Saturday, March 9th at 4:00pm 

Cibola County Sports Wrap-Up

March Madness may well be on its way and on the other side of the sports equation the GHS Pirates baseball and softball teams have started their respective seasons. The GHS baseball team took to the road and were defeated 12-11 and 166 in a double-header with 5A Volcano Vista (3-1) on March 2nd. They will host the Gallup Bengals (2-1) on March 9th in their next game.

The Lady Pirates softball team is 3-1 after a double- header loss to Miyamura High School (3-0) on February 28th, 22-0 and 22-1. On March 2nd they split with Rio Grande High School (21) in a double-header after taking the first game 13-8 and losing 15-3 in the second game.

The Lady Pirates will play Espanola Valley (0-1) on March 5 at home.

Franklin Romero - CC