Week 4 Review: Top Players

Week 4 of this extraordinary – and abbreviated - New Mexico high school spring football season unfolded this past weekend across the state. Here are the standout performers and units for the weekend: <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="118805" first="Aden" last="Chavez"], Cibola</strong>: Chavez was in mid-season form from the opening series, completing 27-of-41 passes for 347 yards and four touchdowns, three to <strong>Elijah Spaulding</strong>, in the Cougars’ 49-33 victory over Volcano Vista. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26221" first="Slayd" last="Campos"], Cibola</strong>: Chavez wasn’t a one-man act as Campos rushed for 180 yards and 3 touchdowns in Cibola’s win. <strong>Nathan Lopez, Cibola</strong>: The 2022 wide receiver had a 35-yard TD catch from Chavez and finished with a team-high 139 yards on eight catches. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26162" first="Jeston" last="Webskowski"], Clovis</strong>: Webskowski is headed to the New Mexico Lobos for a reason. He destroyed Carlsbad Saturday by rushing 19 times for 298 yards, including scoring runs of 14, 77, 27 and 11 yards. He also threw a pass for 20 yards and caught three balls for 48 yards. Clovis trounced Carlsbad, 55-20, breaking the game open in the fourth quarter. <strong>Johnny Herrera, Volcano Vista</strong>: After throwing for six TDs last week against Eldorado, Herrera sparked VV to a 30-point second half against Cibola. He threw for 278 yards and 3 TDs on 17-of-30 passing and added a TD run. <strong>Demitrius Frausto, Hobbs</strong>: The Eagles utilized a balanced offense attack in beating Artesia Friday night, especially on the ground. Frausto had 9 carries for 72 yards and 1 TD. Four Hobbs ball carriers had 6 or more carries in the 56-27 win over the Bulldogs. <strong>Jose Montoya, Mayfield</strong>: The Trojans again unleashed a highly productive ground game in their 32-10 win over Onate and Montoya led the way with 168 yards and two touchdowns. <strong>Jared Jeffrey, Lovington</strong>: The Wildcats beat Portales, 36-20, in a Class 4A showdown and Jeffrey was a major reason why with 157 yards through the air and 154 yards on the ground (311 total yards). He completed passes to six different receivers. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26179" first="Chris" last="Rios"], Atrisco Heritage</strong>: Atrisco’s best defensive player recorded 13 tackles and 1 forced fumble in Atrisco’s OT loss to West Mesa. <strong>Cleveland Defense: </strong>The Storm’s defensive unit dominated Friday night’s surprisingly easy 42-0 victory over crosstown rival Rio Rancho. Cleveland allowed just 149 total yards to the Rams, recovered two fumbles and intercepted a pass. In addition, Rio Rancho converted just 2-of-13 third down and averaged just over one yard per rushing attempt. <strong>Bernalillo Defense</strong>: The Spartans defense rose to the occasion again, allowing St. Pius X little breathing room in a 14-7 win. In three games, Bernalillo has allowed just seven points en route to a perfect 3-0 record. <strong>Paul Cieremans, Los Lunas</strong>: After Capital took an early 7-0 lead, the 5-foot-10, 195-pound sophomore engineered five straight scoring drives in the second quarter, including a pair of touchdowns in the final 91 seconds. He’s one to watch in the 2023 class. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26242" first="Daniel" last="Ayala"], West Mesa</strong>: The 2022 quarterback threw a pair of TD passes in the first half as West Mesa jumped out to a 14-0 lead over Atrisco Heritage in a game eventually won by West Mesa in overtime. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26232" first="Brandon" last="Furbee"], Grants</strong>: Completed 10-of-14 passes for 144 yards and 3 touchdowns in Grant’s surprisingly easy 50-0 win over Kirtland Central. <strong>TJ Hocker, Grants</strong>: 144 rushing yards and four touchdowns for the Pirates. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26160" first="Marcos" last="Lopez"], Las Cruces</strong>: The senior quarterback for Las Cruces, who is headed to Eastern New Mexico in the fall, literally willed his team to a hard-fought victory over Centennial Friday night. With the score tied 14-14 early in the fourth quarter, Lopez scored on a 1-yard TD run and later broke free for a 49-yard run before scoring another rushing TD to give the Bulldawgs the 28-20 win. <strong>Joey Reza, Deming</strong>: 24 carries for 277 yards and 2 TDs in the 28-20 win over Alamogordo. Impressive. <strong>Eldorado Defense</strong>: Both defenses came to play in Friday night’s slugfest at Wilson Stadium (more punts than points) . The Eagles were just a little bit better, holding La Cueva to 113 total yards in the 7-0 win. La Cueva totaled just nine yards on 32 rushing attempts. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26172" first="Caleb" last="Carrillo"], Farmington</strong>: The Scorpions QB completed 13-of-18 passes for 173 yards and 5 TDs to go along with 3 carries for 51 yds and 1 TD. Farmington routed Piedra Vista and earned a spot in the Class 5A bowl game at UNM’s stadium opposite Mayfield. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26190" first="Sean" last="Hays"], Alamogordo</strong>: The senior running back had 92 yards and 1 TD on 23 carries in Alamogordo’s loss to Deming. Through four games, Hays has 468 rushing yards on 94 carries, an average of 23.5 carries per game. He’s been a workhorse. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26201" first="Walker" last="Wenzel"], Silver</strong>: Wenzel, one of the top dual threat quarterbacks in the state and a Western New Mexico signee, brought his ‘A’ game in Silver’s 33-22 win over Ruidoso. Walker threw for 190 yards (12-20 passing) and 1 TD while rushing for 203 yards and 3 TDs on 20 carries. That’s 393 total yards. <strong>Dustin Gnader, Silver</strong>: 4 receptions for 101 yards (25.3 yards per catch) in the victory over Ruidoso. <strong>Raymundo Alcantar, Bloomfield</strong>: Scored a couple of touchdowns and completed several long passes in Bloomfield’s 40-0 win over Aztec in the Four Corners. <strong>Juan Fuentes, Dexter</strong>: The Demons crushed Hagerman, 50-0, as Fuentes rushed for 86 yards and two TDs on five carries and caught three passes for 77 yards. He added a 57-yard kickoff return. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26208" first="Isaiah" last="Ortiz"], Del Norte</strong>:  Ortiz had a 63-yard TD run and 50-yard TD run as Del Norte demolished Valley, 60-28. <strong>Gestic Marquez, Sandia</strong>: The Matadors QB ran for two touchdowns and threw for another as Sandia handled Manzano, 48-22. <strong>Talon Sanders, Roswell</strong>: He had the key tackle, knocking Goddard sophomore QB  Adrian Solis out of the game. Later, he partially blocked a punt late in the first half that produced a Roswell TD and gave the Coyotes a 12-7 halftime lead. Later, he scored a TD. Sanders spearheaded a Coyotes defense that forced 3 Goddard turnovers. <strong>A.J. Rivera, Albuquerque Academy</strong>: Academy’s QB continued his outstanding spring by completing 12-of-16 passes for 194 yards and 1 TD in the Chargers’ 20-14 win over Moriarty. In 4 games. Rivera has completed 74.2 percent of his passes for 6 TDs. <strong>Kellan Gehres, Albuquerque Academy</strong>: 5 receptions for 105 yards in the win over Moriarty. <strong>Anthony Roybal, Belen</strong>: Roybal had 118 yards rushing on just 9 carries in Belen’s 50-0 rout of Highland Saturday. <strong>Hayden Dean, Eunice</strong>: The Cardinals cemented their status as one of the top Class 2A teams in the state with a 41-7 victory over NMMI as Dean threw for 225 yards and rushed for 125 yards. <strong>Conagher Pierce, Eunice</strong>: 108 yards rushing in the win over NMMI. https://twitter.com/CoachSDavy/status/1375665328080908288 https://twitter.com/CoachSDavy/status/1375665328080908288 https://twitter.com/aspera_shane/status/1375678535990353925 https://twitter.com/HobbsAthletics/status/1375661581024047105 https://twitter.com/AlamoFootball/status/1375657988661276680