November Madness: Class 5A and 4A Semifinal Previews

All four semifinal games in Classes 5A and 4A will be played Saturday afternoon at locations throughout the state. Here’s a look at each game. <strong>CLASS 5A </strong> <strong>Goddard (6) at Los Lunas (2)(Sat., 1 p.m.)</strong> When these two teams met Sept. 24, they engaged in a spirited 48-minute battle that wasn’t decided until the final minutes when a 32-yard field goal by Los Lunas lifted the Tigers to a hard-fought 17-14 victory over the Rockets. It was the closest game Los Lunas has played all year en route to a perfect 11-0 record. The player most responsible for Los Lunas’ unblemished record is quarterback <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="137885" first="Paul" last="Cieremans"]</strong>, who is now a card-carrying member of the prestigious 1,000-1,000 club with 1,232 yards passing and 1,049 yards rushing. He is arguably the state’s top dual threat QB. Against Goddard nearly two months ago, Cieremans rushed for 113 yards on 11 carries, one of four games this season he has eclipsed the 100-yard mark. Seniors <strong>Karlos Cieremans</strong> (553 rushing yards on 79 carries) and <strong>Malachi Roybal</strong>  (349 yards on 39 carries) are nice complements in the run game. <strong>Emilio Mora</strong> (34 receptions) is [player_tooltip player_id="137885" first="Paul" last="Cieremans"]’ favorite target in the passing game. Together, they’ll face a Goddard defense  led by DB <strong>Elias Armendariz</strong> that has allowed more than 20 points just once in the last seven games. Last week the Rockets surrendered only a field goal to rival Roswell in the quarterfinals. The Los Lunas defense will face a different quarterback than they did in September. Rockets starter <strong>Adrian Vega</strong> suffered an injury in the first half of the first game and didn’t return to action until the first-round playoff win over Valley. <strong>James Torrez</strong>, who also returned from an injury against Valley, <strong>Colton Franzoy</strong> and <strong>Jon Silva</strong> are a productive running back trio for the Rockets. Goddard loves to run the football and drain the clock at hyper-speed. Most of their games are over in a blink of an eye. So, don’t blink. The Los Lunas defense has been just as stingy as Goddard’s this season. The Tigers have allowed only 79 points in 11 games, and are coming off a shutout win over Belen in the quarterfinals. Seniors <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="208831" first="Miguel" last="Andrade"]</strong> and <strong>Zander Doyle</strong> lead Los Lunas with 79 tackles each. <strong>Farmington (1) at Artesia (4)(Sat., 1 p.m.)</strong> Even though Farmington is the No. 1 seed in Class 5A, they’re headed to southeastern New Mexico and one of the state’s shrines of high school football, the Bulldog Bowl. The Scorpions will bring one of the 5A’s most potent offenses with them. Led by transfer quarterback <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26232" first="Brandon" last="Furbee"]</strong>, Farmington has scorched opposing defenses all season long. Between Week 2 and Week 10, Farmington scored 50 or more points seven times. But they’ve also been able to lean on a defense that has posted 6 shutouts and allowed just 51 points in 11 games, an average of fewer than 5 points per game. Furbee is surrounded by an array of offensive talent, including receivers <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="135130" first="Patrick" last="Shay"]</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26252" first="Chance" last="Carrillo"] </strong>and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="198301" first="Ethan" last="Thomas"]</strong>. As a result, the Artesia defense – fondly known as ‘Orange Crush ‘ by Bulldog supporters - will certainly have their hands full keeping Farmington out of the end zone. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="135579" first="Seth" last="Johnson"]</strong> will be counted on to make the tackles for the Artesia defense. But the Farmington defense will have its hands full as well dealing with an Artesia offense led by QB <strong>Nathan Taylor</strong> and RB <strong>Jake Barrera</strong>, who has been menacing opposing defenses all season long. And he’s one of Artesia best receivers as well. Sophomore <strong>Payton Greathouse</strong> has been a favorite target of Taylor’s all season long. https://twitter.com/artesiafootball/status/1460309180124913666 <strong>CLASS 4A</strong> <strong>Moriarty (4) at Lovington (1)(Sat., 1 p.m.)</strong> As far as offering contrasting offensive styles, no semifinal game anywhere in any classification is more fascinating than this one. Moriarty, which has won seven straight games since an 0-2 start (two games lost to covid) averages a staggering 287.1 rushing yards per game. Run-pass ratio? 9-to-1. The Pintos have attempted just 21 passes all season compared to 366 runs. The key for the Pintos with the ground game is they don’t just rely on one guy. In fact, SIX ball carriers have 240+ rushing yards. Junior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="138054" first="Erik" last="Wolf"]</strong> leads the way with 621 yards on 56 carries. <strong>Kenneth Poyner</strong> has by far the most carries with 129 for 608 yards. In last week’s 20-14 quarterfinal win over Albuquerque Academy, Poyner had 132 yards on 23 carries. Senior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="135110" first="Cayden" last="Dunn"]</strong> has 353 rushing yards. Lovington? Yeah, they like to throw it. And when you have talented receivers such as <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26256" first="Adam" last="Aguilera"]</strong> (55 receptions for 883 yards), <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26233" first="Isaac" last="Hinson"]</strong> (43 for 710) and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="134985" first="Tayten" last="Hilliard"]</strong> (30 for 506), why not? Junior QB <strong>Ashton Aranda</strong> is happy to oblige. He has thrown for 1,874 yards and 25 TD. Along with linebacker <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="135336" first="Joseph" last="Perez"]</strong> (108 tackles), Hinson (94 tackles, 4 INT) and Hilliard (85 tackles, 7 INT) are also two of Lovington’s top defense players. But the Wildcats aren’t allergic to running the football. When they do, dynamic freshman <strong>Ondalis Cardenas</strong> usually gets the ball. Cardenas has rushed for 637 yards (96 yards in quarterfinal win over Silver) and is averaging 7.2 yards per attempt. He’s one of the top 2025 prospects in the state, and we’ll be hearing a lot about him over the next three seasons. <strong>Ruidoso (6) at Bloomfield (2)(Sat., 1 p.m.)</strong> Another team that likes to run the football is Ruidoso, which features a 1,300-yard rusher (<strong>Bracxton Hall</strong>) and an 850-yard rusher (<strong>Griffin Hooker</strong>). Hooker has also thrown for over 1,000 yards, so he’s less than 160 rushing yards away from joining the exclusive 1,000-1,000 club. Hooker had 121 rushing yards in last weekend’s 33-8 victory at St. Pius X, while Hall had 132. Doing the math, that’s 253 combined rushing yards from the Warriors’ top two ball carriers. Based on that impressive victory at Community Stadium, we know Ruidoso won’t be intimidated by the long 350-yard road trip to the Four Corners. When they finally get to Bloomfield, they’ll find a No. 2 seeded Bobcats team that has found a way to overcome various injuries, most notably to quarterback <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="208748" first="Ryan" last="Sharpe"]</strong>, who did play in last week’s quarterfinal victory over Valencia. Freshman <strong>Blake Spencer</strong> has filled in admirably. Bloomfield will lean on the running of <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="198283" first="Diego" last="Snell-Martinez"]</strong> (403 rushing yards on 69 carries) and the pass catching ability of <strong>Marc Armenta</strong> (31 receptions for385 yards). Snell-Martinez is also Bloomfield’s top defensive player with 81 tackles from his secondary spot. https://twitter.com/lvtwildcatsfb/status/1459744263768477698 https://twitter.com/goddardfootball/status/1461333372274311174 https://twitter.com/Brandega/status/1461474083707756548 &nbsp;