The Dexter Demons and Lady Demons make their presence known

Going up against numbers like Artesia with around 160 athletes and Berrendo with 110 athletes, the Dexter Demons and Lady Demons showed up at the Wool Bowl for the Roswell junior high track meet Tuesday night.

Artesia had the overall win for the junior high track meet; however, Dexter gave them a run for their money.

“Going up against teams that have around 160 people, it shows the desire we have with just 24 athletes,” Dexter’s junior high head coach Tyrone Woods said. “It shows what we can do by putting points on the board. It shows the heart these athletes have, and opens the eyes of many competitors.”

The Dexter Demons placed first in the triple jump and 1600 race, and placed second in the open 200-meter dash, third in the triple jump and fourth in the four by 100 meter relay, to name a few.

The Dexter Demons and Lady Demons started off shaky for their first track meet. Many young track stars did not know where to go, what steps to mark or where to check in, but when the gun was shot, they took off.

Dexter had a small, but loud team with mostly seventh graders and three eight graders.

The long jump did not start until after the 110-meter hurdles were complete, and Karen Morales, Madison Bogle and Karina Pompa all took their marks on the track. Morales placed third for the Lady Demons.

Luis Carlos placed third, and Jessie Metcalf placed fifth for Dexter Middle School in the long jump.

Gabino Rodriguez jumped a high school mark with 34’-10 1/2'’ winning the triple jump and Ossiris Rodriguez close behind placing third.

“For an eighth grader to jump that jump is high school material,” Woods said. “That is an excellent jump, and many can’t compete with that in junior high.”

Not one Lady Demon jumped in the triple jump, and Sierra Middle School’s Danielle Banda placed first with a 25’8 jump.

Luis Carlos, Gabino Rodrigez, Hernan Gonzalez, and Jessie Metcalf won the four by 100 meter relay with a time of 49.720.

The Lady Demons placed fifth in the four by 100 meter relay with a time of 58.660.

Luis Carlos and Gabino Rodriguez will be a couple of threatening names at track meets. Carlos placed fourth and Rodriguez placed sixth in the 100-meter dash.

Rodriguez got the better of Carlos in the 200-meter dash, placing second and Carlos placing fifth.

“My standouts will be the four by 100, the two mile runners I have that placed first, and the open 100 and 200 meter dash,” Woods said. “Those events will put some points on the board for us in every meet.”

Kaitlyn Holl won the 400-meter dash for Sierra Middle School with a time of 1.07.930.

Karen Morales, Karina Pompa, Marlou Blankvort, and Madison Bogle placed third in the four by 200 meter relay with a time of 2.08.160.

Morales debuted her strength in the mile run placing first with a time of 6.14.160, after trailing Berrendo’s Wiggins for the first 800 meters. The Dexter Demon boys followed suit with 7^th grader Hernan Gonzalez winning the 1600-meter run with a time of 5.31.160, not far from the state qualifying mark of 4.40.

Gonzalez continued to dominate in long distance winning the 800-meter run for Dexter Middle School with a time of 2.22.810. Noe Landerverde was not far behind placing third in the run.

To end the night, Dexter Middle School boys placed fourth in the four by 400 meter relay with a time of 4:44:430.

“This meet showed a lot of perspective of what we have and what we can work on,” Woods said. “For the first track meet, it showed me a lot on what times some of my athletes can run.”

The Dexter Demons and Lady Demons will not have another track meet until Tuesday April 2, in Eunice for the Eunice Relays. 

The Dexter Demons move on in Hopes of Winning a State Championship

Dexter continues on in the tournament after getting the 67-51 home victory against the Ramah Mustangs.

Kevin Paez dropped 24 points, David Lopez accounted for 17 points, and Kevin Bonner had 10 points to lead the Dexter Demons.

The first half was closer than expected. After the first quarter, Dexter was only ahead of Ramah 11-7. Ramah started the second quarter strong with a short jumper. However, Kevin Paez went off dropping nine points for the Dexter Demons.

The Demons started attacking the paint, and drawing fouls from the Mustangs big man – Sean Jordan. Jordan was still a factor for Ramah scoring 15 points in the second quarter.

Sean Jordan standing at at least six feet tall, he pounded the paint and followed through with and-one’s and the made free throw to follow.

“We knew that we had the height advantage on them. When we got the ball inside we were successful,” Ramah’s head coach Boyd Lewis said.

Dexter was in unfamiliar territory going into the locker room with only a two point lead.

“We were struggling in the first half when they were playing zone defense,” Dexter’s head coach James Voight said, “and for some reason they came out of that. They thought they could go man against us. We spaced them out, and we got every look and shot we wanted.”

The Demons came out of the locker room with vengeance. They incorporated a trapping press forcing the Mustangs to turn the ball over numerous times in the third quarter.

“The game just got out of reach in the second half and we didn’t go back to attacking the paint,” Lewis said.

Kevin Paez continued to be on fire banking 10 points in the third quarter to help give his team a large lead going into the final quarter.

“We felt like we let them off the hook. In the first half, we had them down 14 and then they came all the way back and cut that deficit going into the half,” Voight said. “We picked up our intensity. We were able to push the lead larger to where they couldn’t come back.”

The Demons managed to shut down Sean Jordan in paint, and by the start of the fourth quarter, Dexter was leading by 17 points.  Amaya dropped seven points in the fourth quarter to help the Demons get the victory and move on in the tourney.

There were two penalties called on Ramah in the fourth quarter, and one was on Lewis and another on their point guard.

“The technical was to light a fire under the players, and bring a spark,” Lewis said. “We tried to extend the game, get them on the free throw line and get physical, but we weren’t trying to hurt anybody.”

Lewis said the second half was solely controlled by Dexter, and his team just could not handle the intensity Dexter was bringing on the court.

“In the second half, we didn’t adjust and the officials didn’t make calls. Dexter got easy baskets from their press, and got all the momentum in their favor,” Lewis said.

Voight said his team made the right adjustments and committed to the press and being aggressive on defense, and that put the game away for Dexter.

“Our ultimate goal is to win a state championship here,” Voight said, “and we brought the intensity tonight.”