Weekly Whiparound: State Championship Saturday

The state championship games of the 2021 New Mexico High School Football playoffs are complete with four new champions crowned in Classes 6A-3A. Here are some of the best performances, best games, fascinating numbers and other fun stuff from the weekend. All four state championship games were played Saturday afternoon at various locations throughout the state. <strong>Team of the Week</strong>: <strong>Cleveland</strong>. Quoting the late, great Wilt Chamberlain, nobody cheers for Goliath. But maybe we should, or at least appreciate the greatness that is the Storm. Head coach Heath Ridenour has built a machine in Rio Rancho, and it shows few signs of slowing down. Saturday, Cleveland jumped out to a quick 21-0 lead in the first quarter (thanks in part to a failed fake punt by Rio Rancho) before stiff-arming a Rams rally by dominating the second half. Rio Rancho’s offense only scored seven points as one of their TDs came on a 95-yard kickoff return by <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="198295" first="Devin" last="Rice"]</strong> in the first quarter that briefly gave the Rams hope. If you believe - or hope - the Storm fall back to the rest of the 6A pack in 2022, that’s unlikely. Dynamic dual threat quarterback <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="139521" first="Evan" last="Wysong"]</strong>, top running back <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="138204" first="Josh" last="Perry"]</strong> (see below), elite linebacker Stratton Shufelt (offered by New Mexico) and several other key contributors return next season. Cleveland carries a 22-game winning streak into next season’s opener. The last time they lost a game was midway through the 2019 season. That means there are many players on Cleveland’s roster who have never tasted defeat. The reality is the rest of Class 6A must rise to Cleveland’s level, not vice versa. <strong>Players of the Week</strong>: Championship Saturday was filled with many exceptional individual performances, but three players stood out. Singling out one guy is virtually impossible, so here are our three choices: <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="138204" first="Josh" last="Perry"], Cleveland</strong>: Lost in the discussion about Rio Rancho RB [player_tooltip player_id="26227" first="Zach" last="Vigil"]’s status was the fact Saturday also marked the return of Perry from a midseason injury (broken collarbone). Perry rushed for 166 yards and 4 TD in front of almost 7,000 fans as Cleveland rolled to a 35-14 victory over its local rival. The Storm rushed for 160 yards in the first quarter. Perry capped a 12-play, 88-yard drive in the third quarter with a 1-yard TD run and then clinched the win with a 58-yard TD scamper in the fourth quarter. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="137885" first="Paul" last="Cieremans"], Los Lunas</strong>: We’ve been describing Cieremans as the best dual threat quarterback in the state all season long and Saturday he showed why. Cieremans put the exclamation point on the Tigers’ perfect 13-0 season with a performance for the ages, rushing for 291 yards and three second half touchdowns as Los Lunas beat Artesia, 40-28, in the Class 5A championship game on their home field. Cieremans raced 59 yards for the championship-securing TD after the Tigers defense had stopped Artesia, trailing by six points at the time, on fourth down inside Los Lunas territory. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26261" first="Matthew" last="Gonzales"], Robertson</strong>: Gonzales staked his claim to Class 3A Player of the Year (his primary competition for the award is Raton RB [player_tooltip player_id="138053" first="Cayden" last="Walton"]) with one of the best performances in state championship history. Gonzales rushed for 301 yards with TD runs of 47, 22 and 73 yards and intercepted three passes on defense in Robertson’s 28-7 victory over district rival St. Michael’s in Las Vegas. His 47-yard TD run late in the second quarter snapped a scoreless tie. <strong>Best Team Offensive Performance</strong>: <strong>Los Lunas</strong>. The Tigers came into Saturday’s Class 5A state championship game against Artesia with a simple game plan: Run the football over and over again. The Tigers executed the game plan to perfection, rushing for 421 yards on 46 carries, an impressive average of 9.15 yards per attempt. They threw the ball just four times. <strong>Best Team Defensive Performance</strong>: <strong>Cleveland</strong>. Even though Rio Rancho RB [player_tooltip player_id="26227" first="Zach" last="Vigil"] was limited due to a rib injury, the Storm defense held the Rams to 157 yards of total offense, just 49 on the ground. Vigil, who is committed to New Mexico, was held to 31 yards on 13 carries. But he wore a protector under his jersey for his injured ribs. The Storm edged out <strong>Robertson</strong> for the award. The Cardinals intercepted St. Michael’s four times on six possessions in the second half on their way to the Class 3A title. <strong>Lovington Wins First Title In Decade</strong>: In Class 4A, Lovington was arguably the top team all year long. The Wildcats prepared for district play with a challenging schedule that included contests against 5A schools Santa Teresa, Roswell and Artesia and one game against a 6A opponent, Hobbs. The scheduling strategy paid off as Lovington won its first state championship in a decade with a come-from-behind 41-21 win over Ruidoso Saturday at Brian Urlacher Field. Lovington QB <strong>Ashton Aranda</strong> led the comeback from an early 13-0 deficit by throwing for three touchdowns and running fortwo more. Lovington led, 21-13, at halftime and scored again in the third quarter for a 28-13 advantage. Ruidoso cut the deficit to 7 points before the Wildcats score twice in the fourth quarter to claim the blue trophy. <strong>Realignment on Horizon: </strong>The NMAA Board of Directors meets Thursday and realignment for the upcoming two-year cycle (2022-24) tops the agenda. The classification that looks to be impacted the most is 5A. Los Lunas is definitely moving up to 6A (the school has acknowledged it on social media) along with possibly other schools. How the Tigers fare in 6A next season on the heels on its first (and perhaps only) 5A state championship will be one of the fascinating storylines of the 2022 season. <img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-240949" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/redzone/uploads/2021/11/Screenshot-2021-11-29-at-16-11-11-New-Mexico-High-School-Football-Scores-MaxPreps-300x151.png" alt="" width="300" height="151" /> https://twitter.com/LLTigerSports/status/1464726461726662656 https://twitter.com/_NMAA/status/1464734236737347584 https://twitter.com/sfnmsports/status/1464710647674019856 https://twitter.com/CHSStormFB/status/1465004779453796354