Week 3 Whiparound: Top Performances, Best Games and Fun Stuff

Week 3 of the New Mexico High School football season is complete. Here is the third edition of our Weekly Whiparound, which takes a deep dive into everything that happened on the field:     Team of the Week: Organ Mountain. In a rivalry game whose outcome was secondary to celebrating Knights player Abraham Romero, the Knights blanked Mayfield, 28-0. Romero collapsed during Organ Mountain's Week 2 game at Deming and was airlifted to a hospital in El Paso. He was put into a medically induced coma and is still unconscious. Organ Mountain persevered and beat Mayfield for the first time since 2017. Fundraising efforts have raised thousands of dollars for the Romero family.           Player of the Week: Abraham Romero, Organ Mountain. As Abraham laid unconscious in his hospital bed, his mother played the Organ Mountain-Mayfield game on her computer as she held his hand. It's safe to say no single player inspired his team to victory more than Romero, a well respected and hard-nosed team leader for the Knights. In fact, Organ Mountain coach Steve Castille described him as the “undisputed captain of our team.” Clearly, the highly motivated Knights wanted to go out and win last Thursday's game for their fallen teammate and they did exactly that with a flourish.   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/OrganMountainFB/status/1563647342535790597 </div></figure>   Best Team Offensive Performance: Atrisco Heritage. The Jaguars' vast array of offensive weapons was on full display as they piled up 576 yards in total offense in a 54-33 victory Saturday over Eldorado at Wilson Stadium. Atrisco outscored Eldorado, 40-16, in the second half. The two teams combined for 99 passes. Atrisco QB [player_tooltip player_id='275207' first='Dean' last='Marquez'] threw for 351 yards and 4 TD. The Jaguars' offense spread the wealth with Latavious Morris, [player_tooltip player_id='274705' first='Marquise' last='Renfro'], Andres Villalobos and Manny Sedillo taking turns making big plays. The Jaguars' offense is filled with fast and athletic skill position players, and in the second half Eldorado's defense had few answers to deal with them. The Atrisco defense also came up big, limiting Eldorado to 9 rushing yards on 20 attempts.                         Best Team Defensive Performance: Robertson and Santa Rosa. The Cardinals and Lions locked horns in  Santa Rosa on Friday night and combined for just 10 points with the defending 3A champions heading home with a hard-fought 7-3 victory. Robertson RB Jesse James Gonzalez rushed for 122 yards, but he may have been the only offensive player on either team to accumulate anything. Great defense by both sides.                 Best Game: La Cueva 28, Centennial 21. Trailing 21-14 with less than 5 minutes remaining, La Cueva rallied with two touchdowns, including the game-winning TD with 1.1 seconds left, to pull out the win at Wilson Stadium. Backup QB and 3rd-string RB Cameron Dyer powered over from the 1-yard line for the win. After La Cueva tied the score at 21-21 with  a five-minute scoring drive, the Bears defense forced a punt by Centennial. The short punt gave the ball to La Cueva in Centennial territory and they took full advantage. QB [player_tooltip player_id='137862' first='Aidan' last='Armenta'] (262 passing yards) made several clutch throws on the Bears' final two drives. Centennial will look to bounce back against Mayfield while La Cueva faces APS rival Volcano Vista in a 6A showdown in Week 4. La Cueva's No. 1 RB [player_tooltip player_id='269525' first='Gabriel' last='Buie'] did not play in Friday night‘s game but could be available Fri. night against the Hawks.                        <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/1565906961693978624 </div></figure>   Best Rivalry Win: St. Michael's 47, Santa Fe 0. The Horsemen dominated the Demons in a weather delayed game as QB [player_tooltip player_id='335455' first='Zach' last='Martinez'] strengthened his grip on the starting job by throwing for 243 yards and 3 TD. St. Michael's also ran for 145 yards against a Demons defense that has struggled in the first 3 games. Santa Fe also had to replace several key pieces on offense. RB Marcus Leyba rushed for 77 yard and scored 4 TD for St. Mike's, which claimed its 15th city championship in 21 years.       Huge Win For New Mexico HS Football: Don't underestimate the importance of Cleveland's 47-30 road victory over the Amarillo (TX) Sandies. RB [player_tooltip player_id='138204' first='Josh' last='Perry'] rushed for 177 yards and 2 TD on 25 carries for the Storm. Yes, Cleveland is the school that actually played the game but they carried the weight of New Mexico high school football on their shoulders. So, depending on how small or big you want to make it, the Storm' success was also a victory for New Mexico high school football over Texas high school football. Same for Centennial's convincing win over El Paso (TX) Franklin a couple of weeks ago. Hey, we'll take our victories wherever we find them.          <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/Brandega/status/1565916679590367232 </div></figure>   Chaos in Class 6A?: So, Centennial beat Cleveland in Week 1, Cleveland beat La Cueva in Week 2 and La Cueva beat Centennial in Week 3. What does it mean? We have chaos in Class 6A. But it's a good chaos. Right now, 6 to 8 schools probably - and rightfully - believe they are good enough to reach the Thanksgiving weekend state championship game: Centennial, Cibola, Cleveland, Hobbs, La Cueva, Los Lunas, Rio Rancho and Volcano Vista. Cibola rallied from a 21-0 deficit to outlast West Mesa, 35-28. Cibola QB [player_tooltip player_id='137861' first='Aden' last='Chavez'] completed 26-of-33 passes for 386 yards and 3 TD. At the Wool Bowl, Hobbs overwhelmed Roswell, 51-7, as QB Omar Argott threw for 296 yards and 4 TD. [player_tooltip player_id='269534' first='Ethan' last='Vanlandingham'] had 4 receptions for 130 yards. At Carlsbad, Volcano Vista jumped out to a 26-0 halftime lead and beat Carlsbad, 32-19. The Hawks erupted for 242 rushing yards with QB Elliot Pasket-Bell and RB [player_tooltip player_id='274709' first='Alijah' last='Gonzales'] both eclipsing 100 yards. Rio Rancho won a defensive slugfest over Eastlake (TX), 13-7.                    Four Corners Fun: The Four Corners schools enjoyed a successful Week 3, starting with Piedra Vista's hard-fought 14-13 over Durango (CO), a game that was delayed two hours by weather in the third quarter and malfunctioning lights at Hutchison Stadium. QB Logan Howell threw a 40-yard TD pass to [player_tooltip player_id='270048' first='Dax' last='Vigil'] in the 3rd quarter. An early season surprise, PV is 3-0 for the first time since 2016. . .In Los Lunas, Farmington took full advantage of the absence of Tigers QB [player_tooltip player_id='137885' first='Paul' last='Cieremans'] (injured in last week's win at Alamogordo) in a 26-11 victory, the Scorpions first of the year. QB [player_tooltip player_id='274791' first='Trel' last='Griego'] threw for 3 TD and ran for another to ignite the Farmington offense. . .Unbeaten Bloomfield continues to roll as [player_tooltip player_id='208748' first='Ryan' last='Sharpe'] passed for two TD and Jesse Seitzinger ran for two more in a 43-0 win over Grants. Bloomfield travels to Albuquerque Academy for a highly anticipated Class  4A showdown on Friday night. Finally, Aztec beat Bayfield (CO), 12-7, in a contest halted in the third quarter. [player_tooltip player_id='138058' first='Tristen' last='McNeal'] returned a kickoff 80 yards for a Tigers TD. QB [player_tooltip player_id='137893' first='Marcquis' last='Henry'] scored on a short TD shortly before the game was stopped.      Things You Need To Know: The Las Cruces Bulldawgs are 0-2 after losing 63-35 to El Paso (TX) Eastwood Friday night. Las Cruces fell behind 28-0 early in the second quarter and never got closer than 27 points after the midway point of the 2Q. David Barela had a 75-yard TD run for Las Cruces. It doesn't get any easier for the Bulldawgs in Week 4 with powerful Cleveland coming to Field of Dreams for a Saturday afternoon clash. . .Bernalillo drilled Del Norte, 60-22, in the first game on its new turf. Senior DL [player_tooltip player_id='138072' first='Michael' last='Ash'] made an astounding 27 tackles and 7 TFL for the Spartans. If that total stands, it will be a new state record for most tackles by one player in a single game. The old record was 26. Highland at Bernalillo is an under-the-radar Week 4 game. . . Albuquerque Academy set the stage for Friday's showdown with Bloomfield by blanking Hope Christian, 35-0. QB [player_tooltip player_id='137884' first='A.J.' last='Rivera'] threw for 2 TD and ran for a third, while RB [player_tooltip player_id='138056' first='Cole' last='Conway'] rushed for 2 TD. . .Raton RB [player_tooltip player_id='138053' first='Cayden' last='Walton'] continued his march to 6,000 career rushing yards by rushing for 214 yards and 4 TD as the Tigers walloped geographic rival Trinidad (CO), 48-8, to retain the Coal Bucket. Walton now has 818 rushing yards on the season, giving him 5,666 career rushing yards. Raton hosts Tucumcari Friday night. . .After allowing 96 points in the first two games, the Artesia defense blanked Belen in the Bulldogs' 44-0 home victory. Artesia built a 37-0 halftime lead, meaning the entire second half was played with a running clock. The Bulldogs jumped out quickly on a 68-yrd TD connection from Nye Estrada to [player_tooltip player_id='138074' first='Devyn' last='Fierro'] less than 4 minutes into the game. Five minutes later, Payton Dean score on a 3-yard run. Artesia added 3 touchdowns in the second quarter and cruised to the win. . . The RB duo of Randon Matthews (135 rushing yards) and [player_tooltip player_id='1001437' first='Demusico' last='Edsitty'] (143) combined for 278 rushing yards in Kirtland Central's 36-6 win over Thoreau. . . [player_tooltip player_id='138061' first='Kaden' last='Sago'] rushed for 161 yards in Ruidoso's 42-0 win over Chaparral. . .Speaking of outstanding RB duos, Santa Teresa's twosome of Angel Hernandez (236 rushing yds) and Jack Bumgardner (167) combined for 403 yards on the ground in the Desert Warriors' 52-39 rod win at Lovington. . .Goddard jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead and never trailed thereafter in a 28-13 win at Deming. . . Valley bounced back from its lopsided loss to Cibola with a 28-20 win over St. Pius X.       <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/HobbsAthletics/status/1565916332666761216 </div></figure>   Key Week 4 Games (Sept. 8-10):   Volcano Vista at La Cueva   Centennial at Mayfield   Organ Mountain at Rio Rancho   Clovis at Carlsbad   Hobbs at Lovington   West Mesa at Albuquerque High   Bloomfield at Albuquerque Academy   Roswell at Los Lunas   Cleveland at Las Cruces (Sat.)   Socorro at Hope Christian   Eldorado at Piedra Vista   Miyamura at Goddard   Deming at Artesia   Capital at Alamogordo   Santa Teresa at Cobre   Silver at Santa Fe   Ruidoso at Robertson   Valley at Belen   West Las Vega at Espanola Valley   Portales at Valencia   Highland at Bernalillo   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/BradBenson7/status/1566166813682966528 </div></figure>

Week 3 of the New Mexico High School football season is complete. Here is the third edition of our Weekly Whiparound, which takes a deep dive into everything that happened on the field: