2021 Season Preview: Centennial Hawks

<strong>Centennial 2021 Preview</strong> <strong>Head Coach</strong>: Aaron Ocampo <strong>Mascot</strong>: Hawks <strong>Twitter</strong>: @angrybirdfb <strong>Colors</strong>: Black, red and yellow <strong>Enrollment</strong>: 1,509 <strong>Spring Record</strong>: 1-2 <strong>Star Players</strong>: QB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26267" first="Ian" last="Lopez"]</strong>, OL <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26268" first="Jacob" last="Fielder"]</strong>, DL <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26245" first="Julian" last="Holland"]</strong>,  DL <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26262" first="Seth" last="Chavez"]</strong>, ATH <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="138077" first="Cole" last="Runyan"]</strong>, WR <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="137930" first="Isaiah" last="Abeyta"]</strong>. <strong>Breakout Star</strong>: QB [player_tooltip player_id="26267" first="Ian" last="Lopez"]. <strong>Overview</strong>:  Lopez shared snaps at quarterback with the graduated (and ENMU signee) [player_tooltip player_id="26168" first="Karsten" last="Rueckner"] in the spring, but his Hudl film is loaded with big plays and plenty of improvisation. He can fire the ball to receivers from different arm angles and scramble from the pocket when he has to. Centennial must replace [player_tooltip player_id="26175" first="Isaac" last="Gutierrez"] and [player_tooltip player_id="26195" first="David" last="Gomez"] at WR. Rising junior [player_tooltip player_id="137930" first="Isaiah" last="Abeyta"] takes over as the No. 1 WR. He started all three games in the spring and quietly had a solid campaign. <strong>Nathan Lara</strong> and <strong>Micah Gutierr</strong>ez are the running backs. The offensive line returns lots of experience. Fielder becomes the new left tackle protecting Lopez’s blind side. Chavez and Fielder anchor the D-Line. <strong>Schedule</strong>: As always, Centennial plays a rugged 9-game schedule (Gadsden opted to go independent). This year, the slate opens with a pair of home games against Class 6A power Cleveland and improving West Mesa. Two trips to Albuquerque sandwich a home game against local rival Mayfield. The campaign ends with potential three crucial games against district foes Carlsbad, Las Cruces and Hobbs. Aug. 21 CLEVELAND Aug. 28 WEST MESA Sept. 3 at Sandia Sept. 10 MAYFIELD Sept. 18 at Atrisco Heritage Sept. 24 Bye Oct. 1 at Organ Mountain Oct. 8 at Carlsbad Oct. 16 LAS CRUCES Oct. 22 HOBBS <strong>Top Storyline</strong>: Will Centennial finally break through and become King of the Mountain in Las Cruces high school football? <strong>Final Thoughts</strong>: Centennial has been a solid program for the past several years both in 5A and 6A, amassing 67 wins over the past 8 seasons.  They’ve won 10+ games five times, a remarkable sign of consistency. What they haven’t done is knock the Bulldawgs from their perch as the No. 1 team in Las Cruces and reached the championship game of the state playoffs in Class 6A. [player_tooltip player_id="26267" first="Ian" last="Lopez"] could develop into one of the most dynamic players in the state. Aaron Ocampo has done a wonderful job building the Hawks program since the school’s inception in 2012 and this fall looks to be another good year despite Centennial’s reliance on younger players. <strong>Coach’s Comments</strong>: “I can’t wait to see what Ian does this year. We played two guys at quarterback (in the spring) and that’s not ideal. But I thought a happy medium was to play both guys. Our players have a lot of confidence in Ian and he makes everybody around him better. He does everything real well. He provided a spark for us in the spring. . .One of our strengths is outstanding attitudes. We have the makings of a team that could have really good leadership. . .We don’t have a big senior class. Probably about 11 seniors, so we’re going to be young at a lot of positions this year. But we have some kids who can play and compete.” – Aaron Ocampo. https://twitter.com/ianlopzz/status/1402066901337968669 https://twitter.com/Angrybirdfb/status/1395787960335831042 https://twitter.com/Angrybirdfb/status/1391848904312844291