Week 5 Preview: Top 20 Players To Watch Thursday and Friday

Week 5 of the once-in-a-lifetime (hopefully) abbreviated spring high school season gets underway Thursday with six games scheduled and continues Friday with 18 games. Here are our 20 players to watch in the games being played Thursday and Friday of Week 5: <strong>Juan Fuentes, Dexter</strong>: The Demons have posted mercy rule victories over Tucumcari and Hagerman following the loss to Portales. Dexter faces unbeaten Socorro (4-0) Thursday afternoon at UNM Stadium in Albuquerque. Fuentes leads the Demons in rushing (175 yards) and receiving (11 receptions for 151 yards).    <strong> </strong> <strong>Marcus Rodriguez, Lovington</strong>: The Wildcats are playing in Thursday’s Class 4A ‘Bowl game’ against Bloomfield in part because Rodriguez is one of the best two-way players in the classification. He has 194 rushing yards and a team-high 57 tackles and 7.0 TFL on defense. <strong>Raymundo Alcantar, Bloomfield</strong>: Alcantar, the Bobcats’ QB, did just about everything in last week’s 40-0 whitewashing of Aztec. Bloomfield is 2-2 and has been excellent defensively except for the matchup with Farmington. <strong>Kaden Trevino, Hobbs</strong>: Trevino had a huge role in Hobbs’ stunning 56-27 victory over Artesia last week with several explosive plays. He had 2 receptions for 85 yards and a kickoff return for 88 yards. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26254" first="Aiden" last="Rosser"], Onate</strong>: The Knights might be 0-3 but Rosser has done everything within his power to get Onate a win. He’s one of the most underrated signal callers in Class 6A. <strong>Jesus Gonzalez, Hatch Valley</strong>: The Bears have built a 2-1 record with Hope Christian coming to town Thursday night on a solid ground game led by Gonzalez. The senior has 336 yards on 39 carries, an average of 8.6 yards per attempt. Gonzalez was in peak form last week, amassing 2o9 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries in Hatch Valley’s 47-6 win over rival Hot Springs. <strong>Colton Gilillard, Tularosa</strong>: The Wildcats are coming off a loss to Socorro but look to end the spring season on a high note with home game win over Estancia Thursday night. Tularosa has two ball carriers with 200+ rushing yards and Gilillard leads the way with 252 yards on just 26 carries. That’s an impressive average of 9.7 yards per attempt. <strong>Hayden Dean, Eunice</strong>: Who’s the Class 2A Player of the Spring? Dean. He’s led the Cardinals to a perfect 4-0 record going into Friday’s bowl game showdown against Texico at UNM Stadium. Dean has thrown for 660 yards and rushed for 334 yards, accounting for 13 touchdowns. Eunice is averaging 224 rushing yards per game. <strong>Gabe Dickerman, Texico</strong>: If not for Dean, Dickerman would be the Class 2A Player of the Spring. But he’ll get his chance to prove he deserves the award when Texico battles Eunice in Albuquerque Friday afternoon. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26201" first="Walker" last="Wenzel"], Silver</strong>: Wenzel plays his final game for the Fighting Colts before heading down the street to Western New Mexico University as the QB of the future for the Mustangs. Wenzel has again demonstrated his dual threat skills with 282 passing yards and 260 rushing yards in just two games. Silver faces Kirtland central in a neutral site game at Los Lunas Friday. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26251" first="Zakk" last="Thomas"], Kirtland Central</strong>: The Broncos are still smarting from last week’s 50-0 mercy rule loss at Grants. Thomas will lead them into Friday afternoon’s battle against Silver. <strong>Macen Alley, Farmington</strong>: The Scorpions have so many weapons on offense that’s it’s hard to keep track of all the names. Alley doesn’t get talked about much, but he’s put together a nice spring with 396 rushing yards on 56 carries and 12 receptions for 148 yards. He has scored six touchdowns. Farmington gets tested Friday night when they clash with Mayfield at UNM Stadium. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26260" first="Calvin" last="Cox"], Mayfield</strong>: Along with Derek Martinez and Jose Montoya, Cox is part of a three-headed monster at running back for the Trojans. He gained 140 rushing yards in Mayfield’s 28-7 win over Deming two weeks ago. Cox and Montoya will be back in the fall. <strong>Ja’Calvin Newsom, West Mesa</strong>: Newsom has been one of the most underrated players in the Albuquerque Metro area throughout his career because the Mustangs haven’t won many games. But now they’re 2-0 with wins over Albuquerque High and Atrisco Heritage. Newsome concludes his prep career Friday night against Sandia before heading to Eastern New Mexico. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26232" first="Brandon" last="Furbee"], Grants</strong>: The Pirates QB and the entire Grants offense will get their toughest test of the spring when they host Bernalillo Friday night. Furbee has enjoyed a good spring with 472 passing yards in three games, but has gotten plenty of help from <strong>Terrell Hocker</strong>, <strong>Bryan Hernandez</strong> and others. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26210" first="Ayden" last="Madrid"], Bernalillo</strong>: Madrid plays the final prep game of his career before joining the Fort Lewis College program this summer. Madrid is top dog on a dominant Spartans defense that has allowed just 7 points in three games. Now they get Grants. Great battle looms. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26164" first="Braxton" last="McDonald"], Artesia</strong>: If there’s one guy who deserves a thunderous sendoff, it’s McDonald. Since the beginning of the 2019 season, McDonald has 110 receptions for 1,813 yards and 28 touchdowns in 16 games. It’s been a challenging spring for Artesia, which goes into Friday night’s home game vs. Alamogordo with a 1-3 record. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26190" first="Sean" last="Hays"], Alamogordo</strong>: McDonald won’t be the only standout finishing his career Friday nigh at Bulldog Bowl. Hays has been one of the best running backs in New Mexico for the past couple of seasons. Since the beginning of the 2019 season, Hays has 2,312 rushing yards in 15 games, an average of 154.13 yards per game. Will he get an opportunity at the next level? <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26162" first="Jeston" last="Webskowski"], Clovis</strong>: Like McDonald and Hays, Webskowski will play the final game of his prep career Friday night when Class 5A power Roswell visits Leon Williams Stadium. Unlike McDonald and Hays, though, Webskowski knows where he’ll be playing college football in the fall: University of New Mexico. <strong>Talon Sanders, Roswell</strong>: The leader of a Coyotes defense that will have its hands full Friday night trying to contain Webskowski. Sanders is a very physical player, as he showed last week when he knocked Goddard QB Adrian Solis out of the game with a devastating hit.    <strong> </strong> <strong>TOMORROW</strong>: 20 Players To Watch In Saturday’ s Games https://twitter.com/lvtwildcatsfb/status/1377731003305889803 https://twitter.com/_NMAA/status/1377735422982299651 https://twitter.com/artesiafootball/status/1377450688746119169