Weekly News and Notes: June 13

Located within a long touchdown pass of the New Mexico-Texas border, the Gadsden High football team has always felt a little out of place with its Class 6A district rivals in Las Cruces and beyond. They’ve struggled to keep pace, with the 2019 campaign being just the latest example. The Panthers were outscored by district opponents Las Cruces, Mayfield, Centennial, Hobbs and Carlsbad by the combined score of 236-19. Gadsden coaches and administrators had seen enough. Earlier this week, Gadsden confirmed on social media that the Panthers will play the 2021 season as an independent, forgoing games against the aforementioned 6A foes for contests against Organ Mountain (the only Las Cruces school they will face), Santa Teresa, Chaparral and others. Gadsden has yet to release its 2021 schedule. No word yet on whether the Panthers plan to remain an independent in 2022. The fallout from Gadsden’s decision to play 2021 as an independent reached into Las Cruces. The Bulldawgs, Hawks and Trojans will play only nine regular season games this fall. <strong>MANZANO HIRES NEW COACH: </strong>Manzano has hired Artesia defensive coordinator Stephen Johnston as the Monarchs’ new head coach, succeeding Phillip Martinez, who recently resigned to become Rio Rancho’s defensive coordinator. Johnston was set to work for new Artesia coach Jeremy Maupin, but Manzano’s history of winning (2017 Class 6A state champions) was too much to ignore. “Manzano just seems like a very special place to be,” Johnston told the Albuquerque Journal. “It’s great for people who are excited about football and excited about kids.  I created a short list in my mind of places I would leave Artesia for, and Manzano was part of that list.” Johnston, born and raised in Artesia, served as the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator under Rex Henderson and coached defensive backs when Cooper Henderson was the Bulldogs’ head coach. <strong>NOTES</strong>: -- The Las Cruces Public Schools released the 2021 football schedules for the four major high schools in the city: Las Cruces, Centennial, Mayfield and Organ Mountain. -- Rio Rancho RB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26227" first="Zach" last="Vigil"]</strong> continued his summer camp tour at the University of Redlands in southern California this week before heading to Las Vegas for another camp. He posted a photo of himself and a University of San Diego coach on his Twitter feed, an indication the Toros are showing interest. USD signed 2021 Cleveland DB [player_tooltip player_id="26163" first="Trey" last="Ortega"]. -- Highland LB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="135135" first="Abraham" last="Lopez"]</strong> also participated in the University of Redlands camp. He’s headed to Lubbock Monday for the Texas Tech camp. -- 2023 Cibola TE/DE <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="137935" first="Brayden" last="Mummert"]</strong> is also attending the Texas Tech camp Monday, as well as 2023 La Cueva QB [player_tooltip player_id="137862" first="Aidan" last="Armenta"]. -- After recently traveling to the Pacific Northwest for a couple of camps and visits, 2022 Valencia <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="135310" first="Jonathon" last="Croker"]</strong> has been invited to attend Linfield University’s camp in McMinnville, Ore. in July. In addition, he has been offered a roster spot on the 2022 Rose-Hulman Fightin’ Engineers football team. -- 2022 Albuquerque DE <strong>Landon Williams</strong> attended the SMU camp last weekend. Stephen F. Austin University has expressed interest. Williams, a standout hoops player as well, has spoken with Washington State. -- 2023 Goddard speedster <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="138088" first="Javyn" last="Morales"]</strong> has run 100 meters in under 11 seconds. He has attended camp at Texas Tech and planned to be in Las Vegas this weekend. -- 2022 St. Pius X DB/OLB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="135303" first="Dominic" last="Esparza"]</strong> took a virtual tour of the College of Wooster in Wooster, OH. -- 2022 Farmington QB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26232" first="Brandon" last="Furbee"]</strong> attended the SMU mega-camp last weekend. https://twitter.com/GadsdenPanthers/status/1402048055512207360 https://twitter.com/zacharyvigil21/status/1403172896864755723 https://twitter.com/Abe58Lopez/status/1403420219188473860 https://twitter.com/Croker65/status/1403042896761208835 https://twitter.com/Croker65/status/1402363678054400012