Week 6 In Review: Top Performers

Week 6 of the New Mexico High School football season was filled with plenty of exceptional performances. Here are some of the top performers (listed in alphabetical order): <strong>Exodus Ayers, La Cueva</strong>: In case you haven’t heard, one of the top prep basketball players in the state has proven to be a very good football player as well. Ayers scored 4 touchdowns Friday night as the Bears trounced Clovis, 55-13, at Leon Williams Stadium. <strong>Juan Badillo, NMMI</strong>: Badillo threw for 132 yards and 2 touchdowns and ran for 73 yards to account for 205 total yards as NMMI quashed Loving, 45-0. <strong>Jake Barrera, Artesia</strong>: Our Player of the Week, Barrera had a career for some players in one game, Friday night’s wild 69-58 victory over Lovington at the Bulldog Bowl.  Barrera rushed for 306 yards on 35 carries and three touchdowns and caught a pair of passes for 78 yards and a touchdown, giving him 384 total yards and four TDs. <strong>Kaden Bell, Los Lunas</strong>: Few players have faced a more pressure-packed situation than Los Lunas’ placekicker towards the end of last Friday’s Game of the Week between the Tigers and Goddard. Bell came through with a 32-yard field goal with 3:39 left to lift Los Lunas to a hard-fought 17-14 victory over the Rockets. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="137885" first="Paul" last="Cieremans"], Los Lunas</strong>: The best play by arguably the most dynamic dual threat quarterback in the state wasn’t a score even though he had a 43-yard TD run against Goddard. Instead, just prior to Bell’s game-winning kick, he bulldozed a Goddard defender at the 25-yard line and managed to pick up 5 more yards to the 20. Those 5 yards proved crucial in the end. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="198070" first="Julian" last="Cobos"], Santa Teresa</strong>: After the Desert Warriors’ offense struggled in the first half, Cobos kicked the offense into gear in the second half, accounting for 140+ yards as Santa Teresa rallied for 38-14 win over Ruidoso. <strong>Dontrelle Denetso, Navajo Prep</strong>: As Navajo Prep’s QB, Denetso ran for more than 200 yards and threw for 150+ yards as the Eagles beat Cuba, 36-12 in a Class 3A battle. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="198250" first="Dominic" last="Esquibel"], Pojoaque Valley</strong>: The Elks keep rolling along and so does the 6-foot-2, 225-pound Esquibel, who has emerged as one of the Top 10 running backs in the state. Esquibel rushed for 209 yards on just 8 rushes in a 54-0 win over Gallup. Esquibel surpassed the 1,000-yard rushing mark in the win and now has 18 TDs. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="137928" first="Kellan" last="Gehres"], Albuquerque Academy</strong>: The Chargers are one of the top teams in Class 4A and Gehres ignites the passing attack with his sure handed catches. Against Escalante, he had 118 receiving yards and 3 touchdowns. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26247" first="Josh" last="Gerardo"], Volcano Vista</strong>: The Hawks’ QB has thrown for 12 touchdowns and nearly 1,400 yards at the halfway point in the schedule. Friday, he threw for 397 yards and 4 TDs in a 47-28 victory over Sandia. <strong>Kayden Gonzalez, Farmington</strong>: He returned a kickoff for a touchdown in Farmington’s 50-0 mercy rule win over Del Norte. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26233" first="Isaac" last="Hinson"], Lovington</strong>: As always, Hinson was all over the field on both sides of the ball for Lovington in Friday’s high-scoring affair at Artesia. Offensively, he had 6 receptions for 133 yards and 2 TDs and scored two 2-point conversions. Defensively, he collected 9 tackles, 1 forced fumble and 2 blocked PAT’s. <strong>DeAngelo Hunch, Tohatchi</strong>: Hunch did it all for Tohatchi by throwing for 2 TDs, running for a 2-point conversion, intercepting a pass and returning a punt for a TD in the Cougars’ 36-12 win over Crownpoint. <strong>Elijah Kladiihbah, Portales</strong>: Just a sophomore, Kladiihbah had a 16-yard run for a TD and a 41-yard punt return for a TD in the first half of Portales’ mercy rule 53-0 win over Rio Grande Saturday. <strong>Zachary Martinez, St. Michael’s</strong>: Making his first career start at QB for the Horsemen, Martinez was dynamic, connecting on 17-of-21 passes for 218 yards and 3 touchdowns in St. Michael’s 35-7 win over Socorro in a battle between two of the top teams in Class 3A. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26265" first="Martell" last="Mora"], Santa Fe</strong>: Every week, Mora adds another layer to his Player of the Year credentials. This week, he amassed 267 rushing yards and three touchdowns as Santa Fe beat Manzano, 35-27 for a win the Demons probably had to have if they wanted to qualify for the 6A playoffs. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26240" first="Adrian" last="Rodriguez"], Santa Teresa</strong>: Buoyed by a strong offensive line, Rodriguez rushed for 158 yards and 3 TDs in Santa Teresa’ 38-14 win over Ruidoso. He now has 612 rushing yards and 7 TDs on 93 carries in the first 6 games. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="137890" first="Alejandro" last="Sapien"], St. Pius X</strong>: SPX RB [player_tooltip player_id="26257" first="Marco" last="Ybarra"] garners most of the attention, and deservingly so, but Saturday’s 27-24 victory over Aztec was mainly attributable to Sapien’s accurate passing. He threw 3 TD passes as the Sartans pulled out another close win. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26251" first="Zakk" last="Thomas"], Kirtland Central</strong>: A few weeks after scoring 8 touchdowns in a game, Thomas was at it again against Grants, rushing for 150+ yards and scoring 5 touchdowns in a 63-14 win over Grants. <strong>Sam Tibbs, Belen</strong>: The Eagles’ star running back had 185 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns(42 and 24 yards)  in Belen’s 47-30 road win at Capital. The eagles won their third straight game after opening the season with losses to Farmington and Artesia. Tibbs now has 383 yards rushing in 5 games. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="135097" first="Kaden" last="Valdez"], Volcano Vista</strong>: Valdez destroyed the Sandia secondary with 7 receptions for 258 yards (36.9 yards per catch). He had three TD receptions of 83, 43 and 14 yards. In 4 games, Valdez has 21 catches for 420 yards in 4 games this season. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="138053" first="Cayden" last="Walton"], Raton</strong>: At this pace, Walton will be the runaway winner of the Class 3A Player of the Year. Walton had 218 rushing yards on 10 carries in yet another Raton blowout win, 63-28 over Clayton. So far, Walton has 920 rushing yards and 11 TDs in 5 games. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26227" first="Zach" last="Vigil"], Rio Rancho</strong>: Vigil is a regular on this weekly list and for good reason. He’s the top running back in the state (He’s 1A and [player_tooltip player_id="26265" first="Martell" last="Mora"] could be 1B) and he reminded Carlsbad of his status by scoring four touchdowns  in Rio Rancho’s 50-0 mercy rule win over Carlsbad at ENMU Stadium in Portales. https://twitter.com/ExodusAyers_/status/1442299519064891403 https://twitter.com/KellanGehres23/status/1442247659612344325 https://twitter.com/zacharyvigil21/status/1441911528114909185 https://twitter.com/lvtwildcatsfb/status/1442352996231307270 https://twitter.com/lvtwildcatsfb/status/1442557264452280324