Portales’ Adrian Gutierrez takes down Cobre’s E’Lon Cox during the second quarter of Saturday’s game at Greyhound Stadium. To view more photos from the game, visit fnm.mycapture.com.

BLACKWATER DRAW — After a bit of a bumpy start, the Portales Rams got untracked in a hurry on Saturday and are now two wins away from their first Class 3A state title in 20 years.

Portales advanced to next week’s semifinals with a 40-13 thumping of Cobre at Greyhound Stadium, piling up 427 total yards while holding the Indians to eight first downs and less than 200 yards.

The third-seeded Rams (8-3) host second-seeded Bloomfield (9-2), a 20-14 winner at home over Raton, in a 2 p.m. semifinal game Saturday.

Junior running back Jesus Davalos rushed for 121 yards and scored a pair of second-quarter touchdowns, including a spectacular 46-yard run in which he slipped a couple of tackles and then hurdled a Cobre defender near the 35.

The Rams put the game out of reach with two TDs in a seven-second span of the third quarter, scoring after recovering an onside kick to start the half and getting the other TD when junior Eddie Martinez caught a fumble in the air by Cobre’s James Dominguez on the ensuing kickoff and returned it 25 yards.

Rams coach Andy Correll said his team had to shake off a little rust after having earned a first-round bye. Portales’ opening drive stalled at the Cobre 5, and it wasn’t until Davalos’ first TD run about midway through the second quarter that the Rams began to take control.

“I think us being off a week kind of hurt us, but we settled down and played well,” Correll said.

Davalos was contained much of the way by the Indians (9-3). He got 105 of his yards in a stretch of six carries in the middle of the contest.

Davalos also had a 90-yard touchdown on a screen pass from Michael Trujillo called back late in the game by offsetting penalties.

Trujillo went 23-of-32 for 287 yards and three touchdowns, two to senior Brandon Adkins. Senior Brandon McAfee, meantime, caught a personal-best eight passes for 103 yards, whils senior Shawn Carrasco grabbed six for 63.

“They ran what we expected them to run,” McAfee said of the Cobre defense. “They brought a bunch of heat from the outside. That forced the middle linebackers to drop outside, and opened the middle up for us.

“Mike’s good at finding the open guys. Our line did a good job of protecting him, and we just had to run good routes.”

The Indians got most of their 185 total yards on their two scoring plays — a 43-yard run on a slotback reverse late in the first quarter, and a 43-yard pass from Justin McNett to Jonathan Sera in the fourth.

Outside of that, the Rams surrendered precious little.

“Our whole philosophy (on defense) is bend but don’t break,” Correll said. “I think our ‘physicalness’ kind of took over eventually.”

Cobre coach Brian Miller said the two touchdowns at the start of the second half were simply too much to overcome.

“That third quarter started out like a disaster,” Miller said. “We’ve been a good second-half team, but that kind of took the wind out of our sails.

“I thought our kids played hard, but hats off to Portales. They’re a good football team.”