City Series: Top 5 Wide Receivers In Northern New Mexico

We continue with Phase 3 of our ‘City Series’ by taking a look at the top wide receivers in northern New Mexico entering the 2022 season: <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="138058" first="Tristen" last="McNeal"], Aztec</strong>: How athletic is McNeal? Very. He recently broke the long-standing school record (set in 1974) in the long jump with a leap of 22-feet, 8-inches. He caught 27 passes for 511 yards and 4 TD in 2021. He has a promising young QB in [player_tooltip player_id="275457" first="Landan" last="Frost"] throwing him passes, so McNeal could have a big season for the Tigers in 2022. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="274724" first="Mateo" last="Contreras"], Robertson</strong>: Contreras played a vital role in Robertson’s run to the Class 3A championship in 2021. He was one of the top wide receivers in Class 3A this season with 40 receptions for 636 yards. He saved his best for the playoffs, catching 3 TD passes in Robertson’s semifinal win over Socorro. Contreras is listed at 6-foot-3, so colleges are going to come calling. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="208825" first="Favian" last="Cordova"], Taos</strong>: Hidden in the mountains, Taos has more talent than people think and you can put Cordova on the list of Tigers players who don’t get the attention they deserve. Cordova caught 22 passes for 559 yards and 8 TD in 2021. Six-foot-7 QB [player_tooltip player_id="269567" first="Daemon" last="Ely"] and Cordova could form one of the best QB-WR combinations in Class 4A <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="269537" first="Jaydin" last="Vigil"], West Las Vegas</strong>: Both running and catching the football, Vigil enjoyed a nice season for West Las Vegas in 2021. He had 31 receptions for 466 yards and 6 TD along with 213 rushing yards on 32 carries. WLV’s top rusher and receiver ([player_tooltip player_id="26269" first="Damien" last="Gallegos"]) is graduating, so look for Vigil to take on an increased role in the Dons’ offense led by rising sophomore QB C.J. Perea in 2022. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="269555" first="Javier" last="Martinez"], Capital</strong>: The Jaguars could experience some tough sledding in 2022 as they move to Class 6A (Capital HS is located in the rapidly growing south side of Santa Fe). District games against Clovis, Los Lunas and cross-town rival Santa Fe await while Albuquerque Academy makes the trip to the state’s capitol on Sept. 16. Martinez was the Jaguars’ top receiver in 2021 and will likely be again this coming season. <strong>Honorable Mention</strong>: [player_tooltip player_id="275041" first="Baylor" last="Seabolt"] (Aztec); Tavian Lozada (St. Michael’s); Luke Torrez (Escalante); [player_tooltip player_id="275570" first="Noah" last="Washington"] (Taos); Nathanial Gonzales (Robertson); [player_tooltip player_id="275042" first="Drew" last="Perez"] (Bloomfield); Josiyah Archuleta (Farmington); Wyatt Berry (Raton); Alex Mora (Santa Fe). https://twitter.com/TristenMcNeal2/status/1511408926864318466 https://twitter.com/WLV_DONS_FB/status/1465325551812554758