November Madness: Class 5A Championship Preview

<strong>Artesia (4) at Los Lunas (2) </strong> What: 2021 Class 5A State Championship Game Where: Tiger Stadium, Los Lunas, NM When: Sat., Nov. 27, 1 p.m. Team Records: Artesia (9-3); Los Lunas (12-0). The headline for the Class 5A championship game is, of course, Artesia head coach Jeremy Maupin’s return to Los Lunas. He led the Tigers to the 5A state championship game in 2018 and 2019 against Roswell. He accepted the Artesia job in the spring, returning to his alma mater and the town he grew up in. The second major headline is Los Lunas has one final opportunity to win a Class 5A championship before moving to 6A next season. The move isn’t official yet but the Los Lunas administration has acknowledged it will happen when the NMAA meets in December to discuss realignment for 2022-24. <strong>WHEN ARTESIA HAS THE BALL</strong>: The Artesia offense (and defense, too, for that matter as they intercepted 4 Farmington passes) was firing on all cylinders last weekend in the surprisingly easy 57-14 semifinal victory over No. 1 seed Farmington. Senior quarterback <strong>Nathan Taylor</strong> threw six TD passes for the Bulldogs, who have won six of its last seven games but must now play on the road for the first time in these playoffs. Taylor has been solid all season. Running back <strong>Jake Barrera</strong>, who has rushed for well over 1,000 yards, fuels the powerful ground game. Following in the footsteps of Braxton McDonald, sophomore <strong>Peyton Greathouse</strong> is the leading receiver and has a bright future over the next couple of years. <strong>WHEN LOS LUNAS HAS THE BALL</strong>: The more you watch Los Lunas junior QB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="137885" first="Paul" last="Cieremans"]</strong>, the more you’re impressed. As a member of the 1,000-1,000 club, we already knew about his enormous physical talents. But in last weekend’s semifinal win over Goddard, he displayed some serious chutzpah in engineering the Tigers’ comeback from a fourth quarter deficit to secure its spot in the championship game. Cieremans has passed for 1,307 yards and rushed for 1,256 more, and accounted for 36 touchdowns. Impressive. And he’s got one more season to play.  Los Lunas’ second leading rusher is senior <strong>Karlos Cieremans</strong> (607 yards on 90 carries). Behind leading receiver <strong>Emilio Mora</strong> (38 receptions), the Tigers passing attack is balanced with four receivers catching between 14 and 19 passes. <strong>10 MORE PLAYERS TO WATCH</strong>: <strong>Malachi Roybal</strong>, Los Lunas: The Tigers’ No. 3 option at RB with 348 yards and 4 TD rushing this season. <strong>Kody Watson</strong>, Artesia: The Bulldogs’ No. 2 receiver behind Greathouse with 16 receptions. <strong>Fabian Trujillo</strong>, Los Lunas: Averages 23.6 yards per reception with 4 TD. He’ll be counted on to catch some deep throws from Cieremans. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="135579" first="Seth" last="Johnson"]</strong>, Artesia: The Bulldogs’ middle linebacker has been one of Artesia best defensive players all season long. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="134906" first="Mikkel" last="Beltran"]</strong>, Los Lunas: One of the top defensive ends in the state with a frame (6-3, 250) suited for the next level. He’ll be counted on to apply pressure on Artesia QB Nathan Taylor. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26259" first="Dominic" last="Pacheco"]</strong>, Artesia: Another Bulldog senior who’s helped turnaround Artesia’s defense this season. <strong>Zander Doyle</strong>, Los Lunas: The senior OLB is tied for the team lead in tackles with 91. Playmaker on defense. <strong>Rylee Jarratt</strong>, Artesia: One of the Bulldogs’ best defensive players at sacking the quarterback. <strong>Gavyn Fredrickson</strong>, Los Lunas: The senior safety leads Los Lunas with 5 sacks on the season to g along with 7.0 TFL. He knows how to get into the opposing backfield. <strong>Israel Calderon, Artesia</strong>: Junior OLB has helped bolstered Artesia’s defense. https://twitter.com/artesiafootball/status/1462818424577536005 https://twitter.com/LLTigerSports/status/1462185533887627266 https://twitter.com/artesiafootball/status/1463197386155646978 https://twitter.com/artesiafootball/status/1462212633873035271