Week 6 Whiparound: Top Performances, Best Games and Fun Staff

Week 6 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 sixth weekend of the 2021 season. Team of the Week: St. Michael’s. Rumors of the Horsemen’s demise after starting QB [player_tooltip player_id="134997" first="Lucas" last="Coriz"] was lost for the season in Week 2 were highly exaggerated. Saturday, the St. Michael’s defense forced five turnovers and had a pair of Pick-6 interceptions in a 35-7 victory over previously unbeaten and No. 2 ranked Socorro in Santa Fe. Offensively, QB Zachary Martinez made his starting debut for St. Michael’s and completed 17-of-21 passes for 218 yards and three touchdowns. Overall, the St. Michael’s defense collected four interceptions and forced a late fumble that clinched the win. Socorro played without three of their best players – [player_tooltip player_id="138083" first="Marcus" last="Armijo"], [player_tooltip player_id="135670" first="Adadrian" last="Jackson"] and Jordan Armmijo. But you’ll hear little sympathy from the Horsemen, who lost Coriz for the year against heated rival Santa Fe. Honorable Mention: Artesia, Roswell. Player of the Week: Jake Barrera, Artesia. On a night filled with offensive stars, Barrera shined the brightest. Giving new meaning to the phrase ‘workhorse,’ he rushed for 306 yards on 35 carries and three touchdowns, caught two passes for 78 yards and a touchdown and amassed 384 total yards and four TDs in Artesia’s wild 69-58 victory over Lovington Friday night at the Bulldog Bowl. Honorable Mention: Damian Gallegos (West Las Vegas); [player_tooltip player_id="137885" first="Paul" last="Cieremans"] (Los Lunas); [player_tooltip player_id="26227" first="Zach" last="Vigil"] (Rio Rancho). Best Team Offensive Performance: Artesia and Lovington. Jake Barrera wasn’t the only offensive player who excelled in Friday’s frantic contest in Artesia. The two teams combined for 1,226 total offensive yards, which comes out to an average of 613 yards per team. Out of the combined 24 possessions during the game, only six didn’t result in a TD. Appropriately, Artesia secured the win when they faked a punt on fourth-and-23 and picked up enough yardage for the first down, allowing them to run out the clock The defenses? MIA in this one. Honorable Mention: West Las Vegas, Volcano Vista. Best Team Defensive Performance: Rio Rancho. Carlsbad came into the season with one of the best offenses in Class 6A. Everything came together nicely in the Eddy County War when they beat Artesia, 31-6. But since then, it’s been a bit of a struggle. Rio Rancho made sure the Carlsbad offense never got going in Friday night’s neutral site 50-0 whitewashing at ENMU Stadium in Portales. Honorable Mention: St. Michael’s; Los Lunas; Taos Best Game: Los Lunas 17, Goddard 14. This is what high school football looks like when it’s played, coached and officiated at a high level. Two of the best Class 5A schools locked horns for 48 spirited minutes, and the action was clean, hard-hitting and highly competitive. With the score tied at 14-14, the game-winning points scored on a clutch 32-yard FG by Kaden Bell with 3:39 remaining. Goddard’s ensuing last-gasp drive ended with an incompletion on fourth-and-7 with 1:57 left. Los Lunas needed just one first down to run out the clock and they got it. Kudos to the five game officials. They largely stayed out of the way and let the teams go at each other tooth-and-nail. They only threw seven flags all night long, allowing the game to flow nicely. Honorable Mention: Artesia 69, Lovington 58; Roswell 29, Mayfield 21. Best Finish: St. Pius X 27, Aztec 24. With less than four minutes remaining, Aztec trailed 27-18. They blocked a SPX punt and quickly scored a touchdown on a 22-yard pass. But the PAT failed (one of 4 missed PATs by the Tigers). The onside kick failed and SPX took over in Aztec territory. But the Tigers defense forced a punt, and the Aztec offense got the ball back with 35 seconds left. But they had to travel about 60 yards without any timeouts left for a potential game-tying field goal. The Sartans’ defense held and SPX pulled out another close victory. Four of their six games have been decided by 3 points or less. Rio Rancho Does It Again: As the weeks go by, the separation between local rivals Rio Rancho and Cleveland and the rest of Class 6A widens. Friday night, the Rams crushed Carlsbad, 50-0, in a neutral site game at ENMU Stadium in Portales. The Cavemen came into the game ranked No. 8 in the latest Class 6A MaxPreps poll. Rams RB [player_tooltip player_id="26227" first="Zach" last="Vigil"] rushed for four TDs to spark the high-powered Rio Rancho offense. Roswell Roars Again: If you had Roswell dead and buried after the Coyotes’ 0-4 start, you’d better take a second look. The youthful Coyotes pulled out their second straight win, 29-21, over Class 5A rival Mayfield at the Wool Bowl Friday night and now head into their bye week. Roswell played its best half of football this season in the first half against the Trojans. After a TD run by Bryce Sanchez, Roswell recovered an onsides kick and quickly marched downfield for the go-ahead TD, 21-14. A blocked punt led to another TD before a safety produced a 29-14 halftime lead. Big Play Ability: Volcano Vista might have the highest percentage of explosive plays per touchdowns in the state this season. Friday night, each of the Hawks’ first four TD plays went 43 yards or more in a 47-28 victory over Sandia. [player_tooltip player_id="135097" first="Kaden" last="Valdez"] caught 83 and 43-yard TD passes, while [player_tooltip player_id="198052" first="Kieran" last="Cordova"] had a 60-yard reception and [player_tooltip player_id="26258" first="Kieran" last="Gonzales"] caught a 56-yard pass. That’s why we’ve dubbed them the ‘Special K’ unit. QB [player_tooltip player_id="26247" first="Josh" last="Gerardo"] finished 14-of-20 passing for 397 yards and 4 TD. Class 3A Showdown Set: Lopsided victories by Raton (63-28 over Clayton) and West Las Vegas (72-34 over Los Alamos) sets up an enticing showdown Friday night in Week 7 between the two remaining unbeaten teams in Class 3A. Raton RB [player_tooltip player_id="138053" first="Cayden" last="Walton"] continued his sensational 2021 campaign by rushing for 218 yards and 4 touchdowns on just 10 carries, while QB [player_tooltip player_id="26234" first="Dylan" last="Quartieri"] threw for 148 yards and 4 touchdowns to lead the Tigers, who are averaging 45.6 points per game. West Las Vegas got EIGHT rushing touchdowns from [player_tooltip player_id="26269" first="Damien" last="Gallegos"] and freshman QB C.J. Perea threw for 3 TDs in a 72-34 win over Los Alamos. Things You Need To Know: Santa Fe (5-1) snapped its 20-game losing streak vs. schools in New Mexico’s highest classification with a 35-27 victory over Manzano Friday night at Ivan Head Stadium. It was also the Demons’ first district win over a team in New Mexico’s highest classification in 13 years. [player_tooltip player_id="26265" first="Martell" last="Mora"] rushed for 267 yards and 3 touchdowns for Santa Fe, boosting his Player of the Year credentials. . .It’s time to start taking Valencia (4-2) seriously as a Class 4A playoff contender? The Jaguars upended previously unbeaten Bloomfield, the No. 1 team in the latest MaxPreps Class 4A poll, 34-21, Friday night at home. . .What’s happened to the Bernalillo offense? After winning three of their first four games by the mercy rule, the Spartans have been held to 6 points (Moriarty) and 7 points (Taos) the last two weeks. . .A few weeks after scoring 8 touchdowns in a single game, Kirtland Central RB [player_tooltip player_id="26251" first="Zakk" last="Thomas"] scored 5 TDs in the Broncos’ emphatic 63-14 victory over Grants. Tyler Beach made his first start at QB for Kirtland Central, replacing [player_tooltip player_id="198066" first="Kragen" last="Cadman"], who was moved to receiver. . .Farmington continued their march through the 2021 schedule with a 50-0 mercy rule win over Del Norte. Either Farmington or Los Lunas will be the No. 1 team in Class 5A when the new MaxPreps poll is released Monday or Tuesday. Week 7 Lookahead (Oct. 1-2): La Cueva at Eldorado (Thur.) Carlsbad at Las Cruces (Thur.) Cibola at Rio Rancho Silver at Deming Raton at West Las Vegas Gadsden at Lovington Centennial at Organ Mountain West Mesa at Volcano Vista Centennial at Organ Mountain Farmington at Los Alamos Atrisco Heritage at Cleveland Ruidoso at Artesia Piedra Vista at Miyamura Santa Fe at Sandia Belen at Valley (Sat., 1 p.m.) Hope Christian at Pojoaque Valley, (Sat., 1 p.m.) Bernalillo at Albuq. Academy (Sat., 7 p.m.) https://twitter.com/_NMAA/status/1442235962231181319 https://twitter.com/JulianT39759827/status/1442166217385512969