November Madness: Preview of 3A Semifinals, 2A Title game

In  our final preview for the weekend ahead, we take a look at the two Class 3A semifinal games. Three of the four teams involved come from the same district. In addition, we take a look at the Class 2A state championship game between two Lea County rivals <strong>CLASS 3A</strong> <strong>Raton (1) at St. Michael’s (4)(Sat., 1 p.m.): </strong>The top-seeded Raton Tigers return to Santa Fe to face St. Michael’s three weeks after beating the Horsemen, 14-0, in a grinding, physical, hard-hitting game on Oct. 29. A sizeable contingent from Raton was there to cheer on the Tigers, and presumably even more will be on hand Saturday afternoon. Raton brings 3A’s top rushing attack into the semifinals. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="138053" first="Cayden" last="Walton"]</strong>, of course, has been the ‘go to’ running back since he was a freshman in 2019. Whenever the Tigers need to hammer out a scoring drive or drain clock, they usually give the ball to Walton (1,809 rushing yards) over and over again. They did against West Las Vegas during the regular season and again three weeks ago in the second half when they snapped a scoreless deadlock with a pair of second half TDs to secure the district title and the overall No. 1 seed. Senior QB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26234" first="Dylan" last="Quartieri"]</strong> and senior TE <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="135313" first="Matthew" last="Quartieri"]</strong> are the major figures in the Tigers passing attack. St. Michael’s is looking to reach a state championship game for the first time in nine years. The Horsemen have managed to overcome plenty of adversity along the way this season, most notably a season-ending injury to QB [player_tooltip player_id="134997" first="Lucas" last="Coriz"] in Week 2. However, the offensive exploits of RB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26250" first="Daymon" last="Lujan"]</strong>, WR <strong>Isaac Ruiz</strong> and WR <strong>Devin Flores</strong> have helped overcome his absence. https://twitter.com/_CoachPier/status/1460093272697851908 <strong>Socorro (2) at Robertson (3)(Sat., 1 p.m.): </strong>Two of the top dual threat quarterbacks in Class 3A duel Saturday afternoon in Las Vegas. Socorro junior <strong>Marco Armijo</strong> and his brother, RB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="135324" first="Jordan" last="Armijo"]</strong>, fuel the Warriors offense. For Robertson, their own brother act leads the Cardinal offense. Cardinals senior QB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26261" first="Matthew" last="Gonzales"]</strong> is a member of the prestigious 1,000-1,000 club with 1,203 yards passing and 1,051 yards rushing. He’s accounted for 30 touchdowns. His younger brother, freshman RB <strong>Jesse James Gonzales</strong> (still the best name in NM high school football) , enjoyed a sensational first season with the varsity with 775 yards and 7 TD on the ground. This has all the ingredients for a high-scoring shootout. So, a key storyline is which defense will come up with enough stops to allow their team to win the game. [player_tooltip player_id="26261" first="Matthew" last="Gonzales"] leads the Cardinal defense with 85 tackles, while sophomore <strong>Mateo Contreras</strong> has 82 and junior <strong>Adrian Rivera</strong> 71. https://twitter.com/rick_tripp58/status/1459630629847404545 <strong>Class 2A (State Championship Game)</strong> <strong>Eunice (3) at Jal (1)(Sat., 1 p.m.): </strong>The final game in the distinguished career of our top 2022 prospect in the state, Jal OL <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26228" first="Roger" last="Carreon"]</strong>, should be a doozy between two Lea County schools located a few miles apart in the far southeastern corner of the state. Eunice and Jal have been two of the top two teams in Class 2A all season long, and six weeks ago they engaged in a 40-38 thriller with Jal pulling out the win. [player_tooltip player_id="26228" first="Roger" last="Carreon"], a Boise State commit, has helped pave the way all season long for his younger brother <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="138093" first="Alexavier" last="Carreon"]</strong>, a quarterback who is also one of the state’s top rushers with 1,773 yards on 168 carries and 29 TD. He also threw 5 TD passes, so he has accounted for 34 TD this season. RB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="138194" first="Jacob" last="Lujan"]</strong> rushed for 1,444 yards and 23 TD on 105 carries. While Jal wants to keep the ball on the ground, Eunice loves to put the ball in the air. Senior QB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="134902" first="Conagher" last="Pierce"]</strong> has thrown for 2,338 yards and 30 TDs on 131 completions. <strong>Micah Tippett</strong> is a 1,000- yard rusher, so the Cardinals can grind out yards as well. Overall, Eunice has generated over 4,500 yards of total offense (2,368 passing + 2,140 running) in 11 games, so the Jal defense will be severely tested.         <strong>   </strong> https://twitter.com/eunice_high/status/1459660859752517634 <strong> </strong>