City Rankings: Top 5 Running Backs in Santa Fe/Northern NM

We’re less than three weeks away from the start of football practice for the COVID-forced spring season. We recently presented the top 5 running backs in the Albuquerque Metro Area and the Las Cruces/Southern New Mexico region. Now we’ll break down the position in Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico region. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26186" first="Luke" last="Padilla"], Capital</strong>: The No. 1 rusher in Class 5A in 2019 with 1,852 yards and 23 touchdowns holds five known offers: Oklahoma Panhandle State University, Lawrence Tech, University of St. Francis, Mount Marty University and Arizona Christian University. He’s already the school career rushing leader with the spring season left. Clearly the No. 1 player in his hometown, Padilla doesn’t get a whole lot of love statewide because football is a distant second to basketball in Santa Fe. However, expectations are high for the Jaguars with most of the starters returning from the 2019 team that hosted Artesia in the first round of the playoffs. <strong>Cayden Walton, Raton</strong>: There’s no question as to the best Class 3A running back going into the spring. And Walton is just a sophomore after rushing for 1,907 yards and 19 touchdowns on 233 carries as a freshman in 2019. Raton already has arguably the top QB in Class 3A in [player_tooltip player_id="26234" first="Dylan" last="Quartieri"], giving them the most dynamic QB-RB in the classification. The Tigers are a title contender after going 6-6 in 2019. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26265" first="Martell" last="Mora"], Santa Fe</strong>: A top 2022 prospect, Mora is leading the revival at Santa Fe, which lost 30+ games in a row a few years back but finished 4-6 in 2019. He rushed for 851 yards and 7 touchdowns as a sophomore in 2019. The Demons have a dynamic offensive backfield with Mora and QB Luc Jaramillo. Mora has been invited to the 2021 Offense-Defense <strong>Matthew Suazo (Taos):</strong> Suazo got his feet wet on the varsity  level as a freshman in 2018 when Taos stormed to the Class 4A title with a 12-1 record, and followed up with a solid sophomore campaign in 2019 when he rushed for 469 yards on 97 carries with four touchdowns. If Suazo takes his game to the next level, Taos could again compete for the title<strong>.</strong> <strong>Damian Gallegos, West Las Vegas</strong>: Continuing the trend of talented young running backs in Class 3A, Gallegos rushed for 773 yards and 8 touchdowns as a sophomore in 2019 when WLV finished 7-5 and reached the quarterfinals of the 3A playoffs before falling to cross-town rival Robertson. Gallegos got his feet wet as a freshman in 2018 with 109 rushing yards on 14 carries. Thus, he enters the spring needing just 108 yards for 1,000 career rushing yards. <strong>Honorable Mention</strong>: [player_tooltip player_id="26251" first="Zakk" last="Thomas"] (Kirtland Central); [player_tooltip player_id="26218" first="Lucas" last="Montoya"] (St. Michael’s); Gino Munoz (Capital); Isaac Archuleta (Escalante). https://twitter.com/lukepadilla25/status/1339051030235860995 https://twitter.com/PrepRedzoneNM/status/1306282849469779970 https://twitter.com/martellmora32/status/1349760300665372673