Weekly News and Notes – May 23

Belen has named a new football coach and he’s a name familiar to high school football fans in the Albuquerque metro area. Phil Lopez, who coached Rio Rancho from 2003-06, was officially hired as the Eagles new coach on Friday, Belen Consolidated schools athletic director Steve Contreras announced. Lopez has spent the last five years as the New Mexico sales representative for  football helmet manufacturer Riddell. He replaces Ty House, who resigned after two seasons as Belen’s coach and intends to move to Texas, according to the Valencia County News-Bulletin. Lopez coached at Cobre and Fort Sumner before taking the Rio Rancho job. Lopez led Rio Rancho to a 29-14 record and three district championships, the first titles for the Rams program. He left Rio Rancho to coach at Bel Air High School in El Paso, Tex. for six years before taking the job with Riddell. Belen’s success over the past several years convinced Lopez that he could win with the Eagles. Belen reached the Class 5A state championship in 2017 under Greg Henington. Henington, who led Belen to a 27-9 record in three seasons (2016-2018), was recently named the new coach at Los Lunas after Jeremy Maupin was hired as the new coach at Artesia. Lopez said he plans to build the Belen program around a strong running game and defense, the same formula he used at Rio Rancho. But the Eagles will also spread it out and throw the ball too. Another aspect of the job made it attractive for Lopez: Belen is the only high school in the district. Essentially, they’re the only show in town. <strong>NOTES</strong>: -- While 2021 schedules have yet to be released, we know the date for the annual Cleveland-Rio Rancho Battle: Oct. 29, 2021. -- Former Rio Rancho WR Daymari Cox has moved to New Orleans, so he won’t be playing for the Rams this fall. Still, Rio Rancho should be loaded on both sides of the ball and goes into the 2021 season as a legitimate Class 6A championship contenders. -- Speaking of Rio Rancho, 2022 RB [player_tooltip player_id="26227" first="Zach" last="Vigil"] has announced an ambitious camp schedule. Our #2 overall prospect in the 2022 rankings plans to camp at SMU, Redlands (CA), UNLV, Utah State, Weber State and Air Force in the month of June. -- Capital High coach Bill Moon has resigned after nine seasons coaching the Jaguars. He served two stints at Capital. -- 2022 Los Lunas DE Mikkal Beltran has been offered by Arizona Christian. -- Bloomfield QB Raymundo Alcantar was honored as the New Mexico Athletic Directors Association Male Scholar Athlete of the Year. In addition to being a graduating senior involved in athletics and community service, nominees had to write an essay on how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted their educational process. "It’s just a blessing," Alcantar told the Farmington Daily News. “It was a crazy year for everyone. I feel like everyone adapted well. I just kept my head straight. I didn’t let it stray away with the pandemic, stayed on top of my school work, stayed on top of sports." https://twitter.com/VCNewsBulletin/status/1395872050141618176 https://twitter.com/sfnmsports/status/1395858871042777088 https://twitter.com/zacharyvigil21/status/1395776470493114368 https://twitter.com/_RRHSathletics/status/1395348965298556930