Week 2 Whiparound: Top Performances, Best Games & Fun Stuff

Week 2 of the New Mexico High School football season is complete. Here is the second edition of our Weekly Whiparound, which takes a deep dive into everything that happened on the field:     Team of the Week: Piedra Vista. The Panthers (2-0) contained a Sandia offense that scored over 50 points in a Week 1 shootout win over Atrisco Heritage. [player_tooltip player_id='270048' first='Dax' last='Vigil'] had a pair of interceptions for the Piedra Vista defense The Panthers rallied from a 6-0 halftime deficit with Vigil scoring a TD, PV's first points of the game. Vigil killed Sandia's potential game-winning drive in the final minutes with his second p[ick of the game. Sandia RB [player_tooltip player_id='137923' first='Malachi' last='Thymes'] was held to 115 rushing yards on 18 carries a week after amassing 269 rushing yards and 5 TD vs. Atrisco heritage. Sandi was also held to 89 passing yards.      Honorable Mention: Centennial; Cleveland; Hobbs; St. Michael's; Roswell.   Player of the Week: Mikah Gutierrez, Centennial. Through 2 weeks, Centennial has a rightful claim to be called the best high school football team in New Mexico. The Hawks snapped Cleveland's 22-game winning streak on the Storm's home field in Week 1. This past Friday night, Centennial devoured one of the powerhouse high school football programs in El Paso, trouncing Franklin, 49-21, at Field of Dreams. Running behind one of the state's top offensive lines, Gutierrez was sensational again, rushing for 183 yards (156 in the first half) and 4 TD to key a statement win for NM high school football. Searching for a 2022 New Mexico Heisman favorite after two weeks? Gutierrez is your guy.                         Honorable Mention: [player_tooltip player_id='137861' first='Aden' last='Chavez'] (Cibola); Elliot Pasket-Bell (Volcano Vista); Omar Argott (Hobbs); [player_tooltip player_id='269560' first='David' last='Llanez'] (Bernalillo).      Best Team Offensive Performance: Hobbs. We said before the season started Hobbs had the potential to have one of the most explosive offenses in the state. So far, the Eagles have been exactly that. They scored 46 points against Clovis in the opener before amassing 600 yards in total offense (253 rushing; 347 passing) in a 69-48 victory over Artesia at Watson Stadium. Argott has completed 70 percent of his passes (26-37) for 423 yards in the first two games.                  Best Team Defensive Performance: Albuquerque Academy. Moriarty's Wing-T attack is very difficult to stop but the Chargers found a way in a 20-7 victory over the Pintos Saturday afternoon. Tied 7-7 at halftime, the game was  a physical, hard-hitting affair. Moriarty scored their lone TD on a 84-yard punt return, meaning the Academy defense blanked the Moriarty offense for the entire game, a remarkable feat. The Moriarty offense was held to 124 total yards as the Pintos rushed the ball 38 times compared to two passes but crossed midfield only twice.             Best Game: Cleveland 33, La Cueva 29. This wildly entertaining back-and-forth affair boiled down to a fourth-down play for La Cueva from the Storm 28. La Cueva QB [player_tooltip player_id='137862' first='Aidan' last='Armenta'] fired a pass intended for WR [player_tooltip player_id='274790' first='Jackson' last='Hix'] at the 10-yard line but Cleveland DB [player_tooltip player_id='270004' first='Devonte' last='Shendo'] hammered Hix at just the right moment and the ball was jarred loose from Hix's hands with 53 seconds left. Cleveland relied on explosive scoring play early with [player_tooltip player_id='139521' first='Evan' last='Wysong'] scoring on a 68-yrd run and [player_tooltip player_id='138204' first='Josh' last='Perry'] racing to paydirt from 46 yards out. Wysong ran for another TD with just 11.6 seconds left in the first half to give the Storm a 27-17 halftime lead. Armenta threw a pair of TD passes and scored on a 1-yard plunge. La Cueva faces Centennial Friday night at Wilkson Stadium in this week's Class 6A showdown.                Honorable Mention: St. Michael's 28, Capital 24 (Horsemen scored winning TD with 56 seconds left); Piedra Vista 14, Sandia 12; Carlsbad 35, Goddard 28; Texico 23, Santa Rosa 20; Taos 41, Los Alamos 34.   Best Rivalry Win: St. Michael's 28, Capital 24. St. Michael's, which has dominated the Santa Fe high school football scene for more than a decade, secured its 16th straight victory over city rival Capital, 28-24. Cole Sandoval scored on an 13-yard run with 56.3 seconds left in the fourth quarter for the game-winning points   Redemption for Rio Rancho: After its offense was stifled by La Cueva in Week 1, Rio Rancho QB [player_tooltip player_id='274972' first='Noah' last='Nelson'] and the entire Rams offense was looking for some redemption when they faced Eldorado Saturday at Wilson Stadium. Nelson threw a 64-yard TD pass to [player_tooltip player_id='270034' first='Mikey' last='Wood'] to ignite the offense as the Rams beat Eldorado, 34-17. Five different Rio Rancho players scored touchdowns. Anthony Raymer returned a kickoff 96 yards for a score. Nelson showcased his dual threat skills, rushing for 147 yards on 16 carries and threw for 136 yards.       Welcome back, [player_tooltip player_id='137861' first='Aden' last='Chavez']: Chavez made the most of his first start for Cibola since returning to New Mexico from Florida, completing 22-of-36 passes for 359 yards and 3 TD, all in the first quarter of Cibola's 68-14 mercy-rule win over Valley at Milne Stadium. Two of his TD passes were caught by [player_tooltip player_id='274792' first='Marcus' last='Wilson'] from 33 and 23 yards out. The Cibola defense forced five turnovers an scored two TD themselves.        No Ties In High School Football?: With overtime, we're not supposed to have ties but that's what happened Saturday in Hatch as Hope Christian and Hatch Valley played to a 14-14 tie. How? The game was twice stopped because of weather concerns, once at halftime and the other in the fourth quarter shortly after Hope Christian had tied the score on a long TD reception. The game never resumed after the second delay and the contest was declared a tie. [player_tooltip player_id='138201' first='Layton' last='Gillis'], the Hatch Valley Hercules, rushed for 132 yards on 22 carries and scored both of the Bears' touchdowns. Gillis is off to an excellent start with 277 rushing yards in the first two games.      Organ Mountain Defense Clamps Down: Friday night's game at Deming began on a sour note for the Organ Mountain defense as Deming RB Fabian Reyna broke loose for an 80-yard TD run on the game's first offensive snap. But the Knights' defense held the Wildcats scoreless the rest of the game in a 28-7 victory. The game turned in the second quarter when Organ Mountain scored 21 points for a two-touchdown lead at halftime. They add another touchdown in the third quarter. The game was physical and hard-hitting as several players had to be helped from the field. Organ Mountain faces city rival Mayfield Thur. night at Field of Dreams.        Things You Need To Know: Roswell set up a huge Week 3 cross-classification showdown with Hobbs by crushing Santa Fe, 50-0, at Ivan Head Stadium.  The Coyotes have scored 119 points in the first two weeks. .  .Volcano Vista QB Elliot Pasket-Bell has quickly emerged as one of the top signal callers in Albuquerque. He engineered the Hawks' surprisingly easy 50-20 victory over West Mesa, throwing for over 100 yards and 2 TD in the first half alone as Volcano Vista jumped out to a 35-6 lead at intermission and cruised home from there. . .Bernalillo bounced back from a disappointing Week 1 performance with a 36-6 win at Espanola Valley. RB [player_tooltip player_id='269560' first='David' last='Llanez'] rushed for 203 yards and 3 TD on 12 carries. . .Class 5A Highland continues to make rapid progress as a football program. Thursday night, the Hornets came out buzzing (literally), scoring 30 points in the first 13 minutes of the game to overwhelm St. Pius X, 38-14. Here's why we're optimistic about the future of Highland football: the Hornets' five touchdowns were scored by a junior and two sophomores, including QB Alex Lopez, a 2025 prospect who scored 3 of the touchdowns on runs of 16, 4 and 7 yards. . .Belen RB [player_tooltip player_id='274725' first='Diego' last='Avila'], one of the fastest players in the state, scored three early TD  as the Eagles mercy ruled Manzano, 52-0, at Milne Stadium, handing long-time Belen assistant Kevin Pena his first win as a head coach. Pena has been coaching on the Belen staff for 23 years. Belen plays at Artesia Friday night. . .West Las Vegas QB C.J., Perea continues to build his credentials as one of the state's top 2025 prospects as he threw for 354 yards and 3 TD in the Dons' 48-14 win over Dexter. Through two games, Perea has 632 passing yards and 4 TD. . .Portales junior [player_tooltip player_id='1103868' first='Braden' last='Beck'], a three-sport athlete, scored two TD and intercepted a pass on defense as the Rams beat Ruidoso, 26-14. . .Carlsbad bounced back from its heartbreaking Week 1 last-second loss to Artesia in the Eddy County War by going to Goddard and beating the Rockets, 35-28, at the Wool Bowl. . .Los Lunas continues to pound opponents on the ground. The Tigers compiled 222 rushing yards and 171 passing yards on just five completions in a 43-30 road win at Alamogordo.                   Key Week 3 Games (Sept. 1-3):   Centennial at La Cueva (Game of the Week)   Volcano Vista at Carlsbad   Hobbs at Roswell   Santa Teresa at Lovington   Albuquerque High at Sandia (Thur.)   Mayfield at Organ Mountain   Goddard at Deming   West Mesa at Cibola   Farmington at Los Lunas   Belen at Artesia   Portales at West Las Vegas   Santa Fe at St. Michael's (Sat.)   Atrisco Heritage at Eldorado   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/PrepRedzoneNM/status/1563388104848773120 </div></figure>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/PrepRedzoneNM/status/1563403293648252929 </div></figure>   Saturday's Week 2 Full Scoreboard   Rio Rancho 34, Eldorado 17 Atrisco Heritage 52, Rio Grande 0 Valencia 43, Del Norte 6 Albuq. Academy 20, Moriarty 7 Hope Christian 14, Hatch Valley 14 (Tie) NMMI 56, McCurdy 8 Socorro 54, SFIS 0 Robertson 20, Cobre 7 Grants 34, Gallup 0 Silver 26, Miyamura 9 Taos 41, Los Alamos 34 Shiprock 28, Crownpoint 14 Montezuma-Cortez (CO) 17, Aztec 8   Cathedral (TX) 39, Hot Springs 12

Week 2 of the New Mexico High School football season is complete. Here is the second edition of our Weekly Whiparound, which takes a deep dive into everything that happened on the field: