Week 5 Whiparound: Top Performances, Best Games and Fun Stuff

Week 5 of the New Mexico High School football season is complete. Here are some of the best performances, best games, fascinating numbers and other fun stuff from the fifth weekend of the 2021 season. <strong>Team of the Week</strong>: <strong>Roswell</strong>. The youthful Coyotes, rebuilding after capturing Class 5A championships in 2018 and 2019, lost their first four games this season, although they were competitive in the last three after losing big to Farmington (42-6) in Week 1. Friday, Roswell finally picked up their first win of the season on the road, beating Carlsbad, 21-14 behind a strong defensive effort. Roswell scored all 21 of their points in the second quarter. QB Rich Arreola ran 28 yards for the first TD. Less than a minute later, Jorge Chavez scooped up a Carlsbad fumble and returned it for another TD to give Rowell a 14- lead. Arreola connected with Sebastian Mendosa for Roswell’s third TD of the quarter.  Carlsbad scored the only points of the second half. Honorable Mention: La Cruces (rivalry win over Mayfield); Farmington (passed first true test) <strong>Player of the Week</strong>: <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="134990" first="Elijah" last="Ogas"]</strong>, Las Cruces. The senior running back amassed 145 rushing yards and scored four touchdowns in the Bulldawgs’ rivalry win over Mayfield. His TD run gave Las Cruces a 21-14 lead in the third quarter. After the Bulldawgs’ defense forced a turnover, Ogas scored again. He added a fourth TD in the final quarter. Las Cruces finished with over 250 rushing yards. Honorable Mention<strong>: </strong>Brandon Olivas (Eldorado); [player_tooltip player_id="134963" first="Nathan" last="Lopez"] (Cibola). <strong>Best Team Offensive Performance</strong>: Cleveland. If this sounds like a broken record, it is. The Storm scored 70 points at Artesia. According to the Albuquerque Journal, it’s believed to be the most points surrendered by Artesia since 1953 and probably the most points they’ve ever allowed in a single game. According to the Twitter feed from Artesia Daily Press sports editor Brienne Green, Storm QB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="139521" first="Evan" last="Wysong"]</strong> ran for two touchdowns and threw for another. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="139523" first="Nic" last="Trujillo"]</strong> had a 61-yard TD run and a 12-yard TD run in the first half, while RB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="138204" first="Josh" last="Perry"]</strong> had three TD runs. Cleveland outscored Artesia, 42-12, in the second half. Honorable Mention: Hope Christian. <strong>Best Team Defensive Performance</strong>: Moriarty. Not only had Bernalillo not allowed a single point this season in their first four games, but the Spartans’ offense had also averaged  about 50 points per game. In fact, Bernalillo has mercy ruled three of their first four opponents. However, the Moriarty defense shut them down in a 7-6 road victory for the Pintos. Moriarty is quietly building a Class 4A playoff contender. They battled 6A Santa Fe all game long in the weather-delayed season opener before falling in OT to Capital in a wild 35-34 game. But in the last two weeks, Moriarty has beaten Grants and now Bernalillo. They should be favored in at least four of their final five games. Watch out for the Pintos. Honorable Mention: Eldorado; Los Lunas. <strong>Best Game</strong>: Goddard 30, Hobbs 27. Goddard stunned Hobbs with a last-second touchdown to pull out the hard-fought victory. Trailing 27-23, Goddard had the ball at the Hobbs 4-yard line with 2.5 seconds left. Rockets QB <strong>Noah Reese</strong> pitched the ball to <strong>Hector Salvarrey</strong>, who powered his way into the end zone for the game-winning score. The two teams traded the lead throughout the game.  Hobbs had taken a 27-23 lead with 1:06 left, prompting Goddard to run the ‘one minute drill’ to perfection. Honorable Mention: Los Lunas 26, Cibola 19; St. Pius X 21, Portales 20; Tohatchi 26, Cuba 25. <strong>Best Finish</strong>: Belen 20, Piedra Vista 14 (OT). After Piedra Vista RB Jacob Ramsted tied the score at 14-14 in the fourth quarter with a 5-yard TD run, the two teams headed to overtime. The Belen defense forced the Panthers to fumble on their opening possession in OT. The Eagles won the thriller on their first OT possession when Belen WR <strong>Elijah Romero</strong> utilized his basketball skills to make a leaping grab over a PV defender in the left corner of the end zone for the victory. <strong>Best Rivalry Win</strong>: Las Cruces. The annual game between the Bulldawgs and Mayfield is still one of the  most storied in the state – if not the country – and continues to attract huge crowds. In front of an overflow crowd at the Field of Dreams, Las Cruces fell behind early but two straight touchdowns gave them the lead. Mayfield evened the score at halftime before Las Cruces dominated the second half and cruised to a 35-14 win. <strong>Rio Rancho, Cleveland Maintain Gap</strong>: Rio Rancho and Cleveland continued to separate themselves from the rest of Class 6A with lopsided victories in Week 5. The Storm made the long trip to the Bulldogs Bowl and scorched Artesia, 70-29. Rio Rancho scored 21 points in the first 1:03 of the game and led, 42-0, at the end of the first quarter before mercy ruling Organ Mountain, 61-7, midway through the third quarter. Centennial strengthened its claim to being the third best team in Class 6A  with a 35-12 road win at Atrisco Heritage. QB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26267" first="Ian" last="Lopez"]</strong> had two first-half rushing TDs for the Hawks, who have won four straight games after the season-opening loss to Cleveland. <strong>Class 5A Showdown Set</strong>: Exciting Week 5 victories by Goddard (30-27 over 6A Hobbs) and Los Lunas (26-19 over Cibola), the top two teams in last week’s MaxPreps Class 5A poll, have set the stage for Friday’s Clash of the Titans between the Rockets and Tigers at Los Lunas. The winner will strengthen its claim for the classification’s No. 1 playoff seed. However, unbeaten Farmington will likely have a claim to the top spot as well after beating cross-border rival Durango (Co.), 38-17, Friday night. The Scorpions trailed 17-14 at halftime before outscoring Durango, 24-0, in the second half. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26232" first="Brandon" last="Furbee"]</strong> threw for a TD and ran for three more for Farmington after being knocked out of the game briefly in the first quarter. Artesia and Mayfield are in the 5A mix as well. <strong>Backup QB Leads Eldorado As District Play Begins</strong>: District play began this weekend in District 2-6A  with Eldorado riding the hot hand of backup QB Brandon Olivas to a 28-12 Homecoming win over previously unbeaten Santa Fe at Wilson Stadium in Albuquerque. Olivas came off the bench when the game was scoreless in the second quarter and led the Eagles to four touchdowns in his first five drives. Ironically, his first TD came on a 36-yard pass to the QB he replaced, [player_tooltip player_id="135326" first="Elias" last="Franco"], who was moved to wide receiver. Olivas finished 18-of-24 for 214 yards. . .In other District 2-6A action, La Cueva blanked Sandia, 35-0. <strong>Stuff You Need To Know</strong>: Bernalillo finally surrendered a point this season as Moriarty won a defensive slugfest, 7-6, Friday at Bernalillo. . .St. Pius X has had four of its five games decided by seven points or less. RB Marcus Ybarra is one of the leading candidates for Class 4A Player of the Year. . . Bloomfield, ranked No. 2 in Class 4A by MaxPreps, beat Miyamura, 28-14, but QB Ryan Sharpe exited the game in the first quarter with  a strained MCL and his status for the Bobcats’ next game is questionable at best. . .In Class 3A, Hope Christian QB [player_tooltip player_id="26270" first="James" last="Jenkins"] rushed for 4 touchdowns and threw for 2 more as the Huskies pounded Grants, 69-29, while Raton won big over Escalante, 49-6, and Robertson crushed Espanola Valley, 54-0. . .Seven Pojoaque Valley senior players have been charged with hazing. They were initially suspended by school district officials and unable to play in Friday night’s homecoming game against Thoreau. But a district court judge granted a temporary restraining order allowing the players to play. Pojoaque Valley trounced Thoreau, 50-0. <strong>Week 6 Lookahead (Sept. 24-25)</strong>: Goddard at Los Lunas Carlsbad vs. Rio Rancho (at Portales) Mayfield at Roswell Volcano Vista at Sandia Eldorado at Albuquerque Manzano at Santa Fe Piedra Vista at Durango (Co.) Bernalillo at Taos La Cueva at Clovis Lovington at Artesia Silver at Chaparral Deming at Alamogordo Belen at Capital Miyamura at Moriarty Socorro at St. Michael’s (Sat.) https://twitter.com/PrepRedzoneNM/status/1439094536865599488 https://twitter.com/PrepRedzoneNM/status/1439096083230052359 https://twitter.com/PrepRedzoneNM/status/1439101914373713923 &nbsp; &nbsp;