Spectacular freshman year puts Raton’s Walton on historic path

Sure, 2023 Raton running back Cayden Walton is still in the early stages of his high school football career but if his freshman campaign is any indication of what lies ahead for the next three seasons, he’ll lap most of the field in the race to become New Mexico’s all-time leading rusher. Multiply Walton’s 1,907 rushing yards in 2019 by four and you end up with 7,628 yards, which would outdistance New Mexico’s current all-time leading rusher (David McGee, Laguna-Acoma, 2010-14) by more than 500 yards. Only two running backs in state history have surpassed 6,000 career rushing yards: McGee and Ronnie Daniels (La Cueva, 2007-10). If he maintains his current pace, Walton would be close to joining them in that exclusive club by the end of his JUNIOR season. “The numbers were a surprise but I thought I could have a successful season at the varsity level,” Walton told Prep Redzone New Mexico. “As an 8th grader, I had a few big games on varsity, so I was confident entering the season. However, I never imagined getting anywhere close to 2,000 yards.  My success was because of my teammates and their unselfishness.” Walton showed last season he is more than just a great ball carrier. Besides rushing for 19 touchdowns, he also caught 19 passes out of the backfield for 334 yards - an impressive average of 17.4 yards per catch - and two touchdowns. “As a running back, I feel my game most resembles Christian McCaffrey,” Walton said. “I like to both run the ball and catch it out of the backfield.  I try to play physical but use enough quickness to avoid a big shot. The parts of my game I have worked on most this off-season are my breakaway speed and lateral quickness.” As far as Walton reaching 2,000 rushing yards as a sophomore, the caveat, of course, is the 2020 campaign has been moved to the spring and will feature a maximum of seven regular season games, so matching last season’s numbers will prove extremely challenging for Walton and the Raton offense. “I was disappointed when I heard the NMAA was pushing back the season to the spring, but it could be worse,” Walton said. “There could be no season at all, so I’m grateful we are still going to play football this school year.  I’m also thankful for all the work the NMAA has put into allowing us to play. It couldn’t have been easy.” Nonetheless, Walton has lofty goals for himself and the Raton offense as well as the entire Tigers team. Raton finished 6-6 and won a playoff game last season before losing to Socorro in the Class 3A quarterfinals. "Team goals come first,” Walton said. “I want our team to be successful before myself.  I’m just trying to help the team win. From a personal standpoint, I don’t focus on the total number of yards but rather yards per carry. Last year I averaged 8.2 yards per carry, and this year my goal is to average over 10 yards per carry.” Between Walton and rising junior quarterback [player_tooltip player_id="26234" first="Dylan" last="Quartieri"], a dual threat signal caller who threw for 1,288 yards and ran for 250 more in 2019 after playing receiver the previous season, the Tigers should have one of the most prolific offenses in Class 3A this coming season. If they shore up a defense that allowed 33 or more points six times in 12 games last year, Raton should compete for the state title. “Dylan has certainly done a tremendous job stepping up and leading our team,” Walton said. “He had a great year last year, especially for it being his first year playing the position. We are returning a young talented team that we believe can make a run.  I feel we’re solid at every position.  One name to watch out for is Dylan’s twin brother Matthew, who is as good of a two-way player as anyone in the state.” https://twitter.com/PrepRedzoneNM/status/1299467072687071233