After having a co-op team of Dora and Elida football players many years ago, the teams split and were separated into different football classes in New Mexico. For years, Dora and Elida have been remained unable to play each other because of this. Dora Coyotes were playing 8-man for years, while Elida was playing 6-man. This season, things got switched up, and it allowed the two teams to face each other once again!
The Coyotes’ first year coach, Clay Ferguson, grew up in and still lives in Elida. As an alum, coaching Dora is quite the change, especially since he spent several years coaching in Elida, 2 years as their head coach, and last year as an assistant to Jereme Woodruff.
Jereme actually coached in Dora prior to his time in Elida, and helped get Dora’s program going.
To top all of that off, Coach Woodruff and Coach Ferguson are great friends and just live down the street in Elida from one another! Clay told the Roosevelt Review, “We are each other’s biggest fans except for this one game.”
The classic, long time rivalry was brought back together for a small town battle on Friday, March 26th, in Dora.
The Coyotes were the first to score, beginning the game with a 6-0 lead. Shortly after, Elida added 2 scores to the board and took the lead 12-6 by the end of the first quarter. At the end of 2, both teams had scored again, but Elida had gone ahead 24-12.
Dora got the ball to start the 3rd quarter and scored on their drive, making them trail only by 5 points. Elida scored before the end of the 3rd though, moving to 31-19. In the 4th, Dora held the Tigers from scoring, and added another touchdown to cut the lead to 31-25. That was the final of the rival game between these two small town programs!
