Semifinals in Review: Top Performers

The semifinal round (a/k/a Sweet 16) of the 2021 New Mexico High School football playoffs was filled with plenty of exceptional performances. Here are some of the top performers (in alphabetical order): <strong>Gabriel Buie, LaCueva</strong>: Buie got the La Cueva offense started on a  strong note by racing around right end and down the right sidelines for a 72-yard TD run on the Bears’ first offensive play. He added a short TD run later in the first quarter. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="137885" first="Paul" last="Cieremans"], Los Lunas</strong>: The Tigers’ dynamic QB dug deep in the fourth quarter of Saturday and led Los Lunas to a pair of TDs and a thrilling come-from-behind 26-21 victory over Goddard. Cieremans first carried 4 yards for a TD before passing 28 yards to Fabian Trujillo for the game-winning score. Cieremans rushed for 207 yards in the win and now has 1,256 rushing yards on the season. <strong>Mateo Contreras, Robertson</strong>: The Cardinals sophomore WR caught three TD passes in Robertson’s 38-29 win over No. 2 seed Socorro, a victory that propelled them into the Class 3A championship game against long-time rival St. Michael’s. <strong>Lucious Dickson, Cleveland</strong>: Dickson rushed for 148 yards and 1 TD on 19 carries as the Storm built a 35-7 lead late in the first half over Las Cruces before quashing the Bulldawgs’ comeback hopes in the second. <strong>Devin Flores, St. Michael’s</strong>: Flores scored the only TD in the Horsemen’s 7-0 3A victory over No. 1 seed Raton, leaping over a defender in the corner of the end zone to make the scoring grab with just 1:14 left in the second quarter, capping a 19-play, 81-yard drive in style.  He also carried two yards for a first down in the waning seconds to clinch the win. <strong>Phillip Finley Rascon, Artesia</strong>: The Bulldogs safety made the biggest defensive play in Artesia’s 57-14 romp past No.1 seed Farmington, snatching a pass from Scorpions QB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26232" first="Brandon" last="Furbee"]</strong> and racing 95 yards for a Pick-6 on the final play of the first half. Artesia dominated the second half on both sides of the ball and booked a spot in the Class 5A championship game against Los Lunas. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26261" first="Matthew" last="Gonzales"], Robertson</strong>: Gonzales totaled 298 yards of total offense and had a role in all five Cardinals touchdowns as Robertson beat Socorro, 38-29, in Class 3A. One of his TDs was a 47-yard scamper that gave the Cardinals a 28-13 lead.  Gonzales also starred on defense, forcing a fumble and intercepted two passes among a number of big plays. He rushed for 182 yards and passed for 116. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26248" first="Braxton" last="Hall"], Ruidoso</strong>: Hall is one of the most underrated running backs in the state and he proved it in the Warriors’ second impressive road win in the playoffs, a 35-22 victory over Bloomfield. Hall ran for 106 yards and 2 TD on a workhorse 28 carries in the win as Ruidoso was able to run the ball effectively all game long. Hall added 11 tackles on defense, too. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="134985" first="Tayten" last="Hilliard"], Lovington</strong>: The Wildcats routed Moriarty, 54-12, Saturday as Hilliard returned 2 punts for TDs, made 7 tackles on offense and caught 1 reception for 17 yards. <strong>Alec Holguin, Lovington</strong>: Just a freshman, Holguin scored 3 TD for Lovington against Moriarty. Holguin rushed for a team-high 64 yards and 2 TD and caught 1 TD pass. Along with fellow freshman Ondalis Cardenas, Lovington looks set at running back for the next three years. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="134902" first="Conagher" last="Pierce"], Eunice</strong>: Pierce threw for 248 yards and 3 TD as the Cardinals won their fourth straight Class 3A title by beating Jal, 28-15, on the Panthers home field. <strong>Dominick Priddy, Rio Rancho</strong>: With Rio Rancho’s star RB [player_tooltip player_id="26227" first="Zach" last="Vigil"] injured and unable to play after a brief appearance, the pressure fell on Priddy to carry the Rams offense. He did that in Rio Rancho’s wild come-from-behind 35-34 OT victory over La Cueva. In the first OT, Priddy saved the Rams by recovering a bad snap over his head and finding WR Javas Maria for the 10-yard TD play. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="208746" first="Cooper" last="Pritchett"], Ruidoso</strong>: One of two QBs employed by the Warriors accounted for 179 yards of offense in Ruidoso’s road win at Bloomfield with 133 passing yards, 10 rushes for 30 yards and 1 reception for 16 yards. Pritchett has shined in the playoffs with 115+ total yards in each of the three games. <strong>Nathan Taylor, Artesia</strong>: The Bulldogs QB brought his ‘A’ game to the semifinals, completing 24-of-38 passes for 380 yards and six TDs in a dominant performance by the Artesia offense against a Farmington defense that had allowed an average of 5.0 points per game. <strong>Ashton Thompson, Eunice</strong>: The sophomore had the game of his life in the Class 3A title game, catching 6 passes for 157 yards and 3 TD, including a 72-yarder. His number of receptions and receiving yardage were both season highs for Thompson. In fact, his previous single game high in yardage was 91. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="139521" first="Evan" last="Wysong"], Cleveland</strong>: The Storm’s dynamic dual threat QB, who’s only a junior, accounted for five TDs in Cleveland’s 42-24 victory over Las Cruces at Field of Dreams. Wysong led the Cleveland offense to 374 total yards in the first half alone, 507 overall. https://twitter.com/Roger_52_/status/1462487800125792269 https://twitter.com/marcoayb/status/1463213997545738242 https://twitter.com/tvler_1/status/1462581860534390786 https://twitter.com/KellanGehres23/status/1462554568181518337 &nbsp;