Week 2 Whiparound: Top Performances, Best Games and Fun Stuff
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Week 2 of the New Mexico High School football season is complete. Here are some of the best performances, best games and fascinating numbers from the second weekend of the 2021 season. Team of the Week: Cibola. Any Given Sunday?…
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Continue ReadingWeek 2 of the New Mexico High School football season is complete. Here are some of the best performances, best games and fascinating numbers from the second weekend of the 2021 season.
Team of the Week: Cibola. Any Given Sunday? How about Any Given Friday. Cibola’s 33-21 victory over mistake-plagued Las Cruces Friday night at Community Stadium demonstrates just how unpredictable high school football can be. The Cougars were sluggish on both sides of the ball in Week 1 against La Cueva, but they looked like an entirely different team from the opening kickoff against the Bulldawgs. Quarterback Aden Chavez Aden Chavez 6'5" | 210 lbs | QB Cibola | 2023 State NM threw three first-half touchdowns, including an 86-yarder to Jonah Vaquera midway through the first quarter and a 77-yarder to Branden Castillo on a slant pattern. Cibola led, 19-0 at halftime. Las Cruces was afflicted with turnovers (lost three fumbles) and too many penalties. The victory by the Cougars sets up a possible showdown game with Eldorado on Sept. 10.
Honorable Mention: Eldorado; Cleveland; Rio Rancho; Artesia; Organ Mountain.
Player of the Week: Josh Gerardo Josh Gerardo 6'1" | QB Volcano Vista | 2022 State NM , Volcano Vista. Gerardo won a quarterback battle in preseason camp, and so far the decision is paying off for the Hawks. Gerardo threw for 365 yards and four touchdowns in just the first half of Saturday’s 63-20 drubbing of Manzano at Wilson Stadium in Albuquerque. Throwing deep against Manzano’s beleaguered secondary, Gerardo completed 20-of-29 passes for 443 yards and six touchdowns. Five of his six TD passes were 29 yards or longer.
Honorable Mention: Dominic Esquibel (Pojoaque Valley); Branden Castillo (Cibola); Martell Mora Martell Mora 5'9" | 185 lbs | RB Santa Fe High | 2022 State NM (Santa Fe); Marco Ybarra Marco Ybarra 5'10" | 190 lbs | RB St. Pius X | 2022 State NM (St. Pius X).
Best Team Offensive Performance: Rio Rancho. This sentence in the lede from the Albuquerque Journal’s game story perfectly summed up Friday night’s Rio Rancho-La Cueva game at Wilson Stadium: “The Rams did whatever they pleased.” The fact they did it against a very good La Cueva defense was shocking. Rio Rancho amassed 431 yards of total offense – 279 yards on the ground – before mercy-ruling the Bears, 50-0. We knew the Rams offense would be prolific, but against one of the top defenses in Class 6A? Wow.
Honorable Mention: Volcano Vista (718 total offensive yards vs. Manzano); Farmington.
Best Team Defensive Performance: Goddard. The Carlsbad Cavemen opened the season with an impressive 31-6 victory over Artesia, but they were stonewalled most of the night by the aggressive Rockets defense, which forced three turnovers and didn’t allow a point until the 8:35 mark of the fourth quarter.
Honorable Mention: Artesia; Los Lunas.
Best Game: Eldorado 28, Mayfield 21 (OT). The Eagles never led in regulation but managed to tie the score with less than two minutes left in the fourth quarter. In overtime, QB Elias Franco Elias Franco 5'11" | 185 lbs | QB Eldorado | 2022 State NM scored on a 10-yard run on the first play from scrimmage. Moments later, Eldorado intercepted a pass near the line of scrimmage to seal the emotional road win.
Honorable Mention: Ysleta (TX) 34, Clovis 33; Cleveland 35, El Paso Franklin 32; St. Pius X 41, Kirtland Central 34.
Best Finish: Fort Sumner 52, Tatum 50. A wild, wacky, back-and-forth game boiled down to Tatum’s two-point conversion try in the final seconds. Fort Sumner made the stop to preserve the victory.
Best Rivalry Win: St. Michael’s. The Horsemen pummeled local rival Capital, 60-8, Saturday at the Christian Brothers complex in Santa Fe. Normally, a passing-oriented team with dual threat QB Lucas Coriz Lucas Coriz 6'2" | QB St. Michael's | 2022 State NM , St. Michael’s punished Capital on ground, amassing 400 rushing yards on just 23 carries, an average of 17.4 yards per rush. Ten rushes gained 20+ yards. St. Michael’s first running play produced an 85-yard TD run by RB Daymon Lujan Daymon Lujan 5'10" | 165 lbs | RB St. Michael's | 2022 State NM , who finished with 140 yards rushing on just 4 carries. Marcus Leyba had 109 yards rushing on six carries. Credit the St. Michael’s offensive line for dominating the line of scrimmage.
Honorable Mention: Artesia (Beat Hobbs)
Las Cruces vs. Albuquerque: After going 0-3 against Las Cruces schools in Week 1, APS school bounced back with a pair of victories in Week 2: Cibola over Las Cruces and Eldorado over Mayfield in OT. However, West Mesa lost to Centennial. So, after Week 2, Las Cruces leads 4-2. In Week 1. Las Cruces beat Volcano Vista, Mayfield walloped Manzano and Organ Mountain beat Albuquerque High.
First Career Catch: Cibola WR Jonah Vaquera’s first career catch turned out to be one of the plays of the weekend. He caught a wide receiver screen, eluded several Las Cruces defenders and raced down the left sideline for an 86-yard TD in the first quarter.
Road Warriors: Bloomfield made the three-hour trip to Albuquerque to take on Hope Christian at Milne Stadium and the Bobcats pulled out a 36-27 victory. . .Eldorado traveled to Las Cruces to take on Mayfield at the Field of Dreams and prevailed, 28-21 in OT (see above). . .Piedra Vista went to Albuquerque and beat Valley, 16-6. . .Silver traveled to Hatch Valley and went home with a convincing 31-0 victory. . .Socorro made the long trip to the Four Corners and trounced Miyamura, 51-6.
Six Turnovers? No Problem: Typically, teams committing six turnovers rarely win. But Bloomfield managed to overcome all the miscues for a 9-point win over Hope Christian as Bloomfield dominated the second half. Bloomfield QB Ryan Sharpe ran for a pair of 3rd quarter TDs. After Hope Christian made it a two-score game with 9:23 left, Bloomfield held the ball for seven minutes before the game was called for lightning with 2:38 left.. The drive featured a courageous fake punt on fourth-and-15 from its own 15 when Sharpe completed a 21-yard pass.
Bad Luck: The team with the worst luck in New Mexico has to be Atrisco Heritage, which has yet to play a game. The Jaguars’ scheduled opener against Del Norte was cancelled due to covid protocols within the Del Norte program. Then, last Thursday’s game against Rio Grande was postponed due to weather. Atrisco Heritage sought to play the game Saturday morning but the Ravens declined, citing the absence of head coach Dennis Minidis, who had to be away from the team that day for personal reasons.
Just The Facts: After blanking Deming, 21-0, before the game was called at halftime, Organ Mountain is 2-0 for the first time since 2005. . .Farmington crushed Belen, 53-13, and have outscored its first two opponents, 95-19. . .St. Michael’s now has a 22-game winning streak against city rivals Santa Fe and Capital. The Horsemen haven’t lost to either team since 2009. That lengthy streak will be on the line Friday when St. Michael’s faces improved Santa Fe (27-13 weather delayed win at Moriarty Friday night) at Ivan Head Stadium. . .Pojoaque Valley and Los Alamos, two northern New Mexico programs that have struggled in recent years, are both 2-0. Pojoaque crushed Santa Fe Indian School, 64-12, Friday night, and are undefeated after two games for the first time in a decade.. Pojoaque Valley should be favored in their next four games, possibly keeping them undefeated going into the Oct. 2 clash against Hope Christian. Los Alamos beat Taos, 35-24, but the Hilltoppers’ schedule is about to get more challenging with contests against Bernalillo, St. Michael’s and West Las Vegas before the end of September. . .According to the Albuquerque Journal, La Cueva’s 50-0 loss to Rio Rancho was the worst in school history and the first time they’ve been walked off since the 50-point mercy rule was instituted.
Week 3 Lookahead (Sept. 2-4):
Organ Mountain at Mayfield
Lovington at Alamogordo
Carlsbad at Volcano Vista
Centennial at Sandia
La Cueva at Las Cruces
Los Lunas at West Mesa
Artesia at Belen
Eldorado at Rio Rancho (Game of the Week)
Roswell at Hobbs
Deming at Goddard
St. Michael’s at Santa Fe
Kirtland Central at Taos
Los Alamos at Bernalillo
Gadsden at Santa Teresa
Hatch Valley at Tularosa
West Las Vegas at Portales
Hope Christian at Albuquerque Academy
Grants at Bloomfield
Trinidad (Co.) at Raton
Funniest Moment of Week 2? Seconds after throwing a long TD pass, Manzano QB Jared Melfi races over to the sidelines and proceeds to wipe out his coach with a celebratory chest bump.
Video: https://t.co/RsDYNcNWrq@Brandega
@BethanyKOAT@ManzanoFB @_NMAA pic.twitter.com/kJutJEKsVU— Prep Redzone New Mexico (@PrepRedzoneNM) August 30, 2021
https://twitter.com/jonahvaquera81/status/1431666440738799617
Thank you Van Tate@krqesports @cibolafootball @CoachRodWill pic.twitter.com/eV5DUT31Tn
— Aden Chavez (@AdenChavez08) August 29, 2021
Week 2 Highlights: Game ended at half, 3 TDs, 229 all purpose yards ‼️ Check out my highlight – https://t.co/jeynO2L49Q @Rude_WUBearcats @CoachGonzUNM @jeffthomas4 @IsaacKKParker @JoeBushman5 @CoachChrisBall, @PrepRedzoneNM
— Kellan “KG” Gehres (@KellanGehres23) August 30, 2021
What a day for St. Pius X's Marco Ybarra! 🏈💪🏽
4 TD, 150+ yards AND gives a shoutout to Mom on TV…you gotta love it! 😂
Sartans (1-1) pick up their first win of the season, 41-34 over Kirtland Central.@Sartan_football @marcoayb pic.twitter.com/JDaDPuRBvC
— Bethany Miller (@BethanyMillerTV) August 29, 2021
ICYMI@AcademyChargers shutout Tucumcari 50-0
A safety in the first quarter is followed by this dime from @AndresAJRivera1 to Mark McIntosh for TD pass@KOB4 @NMGameDay @CoachGehres pic.twitter.com/J23DKUPRts
— Brandon Ortega (@Brandega) August 29, 2021