Championship Saturday: Class 4A Title Game Preview

CLASS 4A CHAMPIONSHIP GAME PREVIEW   WHAT: Silver (11-1) vs. Bloomfield (11-1), Class 4A Championship Game   WHERE: Bobcat Stadium, Bloomfield, NM   WHEN: Sat., Nov. 26, 1 p.m.   LIVE STREAM: NFHS Network New Mexico; KENN 92.1 FM and 1390 AM (Wally D and Bruce Hatch)   After winning 9 games and advancing to the Class 4A semifinals in 2014, the next seven seasons were not kind to the Silver Fighting Colts football team. Between 2015-21, Silver was a combined 31-41.   But this season, they found the magic again.   The only outcome separating Silver from a perfect record going into Saturday's 4A state championship game against Bloomfield is a seven-point home loss to Class 5A Deming in late September.   “I was confident we would be in the mix at the end of the season,” Silver coach Jerome Ortiz told Prep Redzone New Mexico. “Luckily, we are pretty close to what my assistants and I predicted before the season.”       Silver dealt Bloomfield its only loss of the season on Oct. 7, handing the Bobcats a 45-6 loss on a neutral field (Socorro), but Colts coach Jerome Ortiz puts zero stock in that game.   “I told our team that's not 45-6 anymore, it's 0-0,” Ortiz told Prep Redzone New Mexico. “Bloomfield is a very different team from what I've seen on film. They got some players back from injury and they're doing some things differently. Honestly, though, we don't look too far into the other team because we feel that if we do what we're supposed to do and show up and do it well, we should be OK.”        The Colts have an array of weapons on offense and a stout defense that has posted six shutouts in 12 games. Last week, they held defending 4A champions Lovington to seven points and 193 total yards in a 23-7 semifinal victory in Silver City.   WHEN SILVER HAS THE BALL   As balanced a rushing attack as you will see, Silver has three running backs they rely on regularly – [player_tooltip player_id='208819' first='Aidan' last='Granado'] (894 rushing yards on 102 carries), Ricky Vasquez (500 yards on 65 carries) and [player_tooltip player_id='270075' first='Mason' last='Lockett'] (489 yards on 71 carries). Together, the aforementioned trio has rushed for 29 TD this season.   “All three of our running backs are great,” Ortiz said. “[player_tooltip player_id='270075' first='Mason' last='Lockett'] is a thumper. He's the biggest running back we have and definitely one of the fastest kids on the team. Aidan is a thumper and he can make people miss. He elevates everybody's game when he's on the field. Ricky, if he finds a hole or you miss, you're not going to touch him again. That's his game. He has amazing footwork.”           Quarterbacks [player_tooltip player_id='138079' first='Emiliano' last='Jimenez'] and Adan Jaquez do enough in the passing game to keep opposing defenses for loading the box. Jimenez has passed for 1,092 yards and 12 TD. Most importantly, he has thrown just 3 interceptions.   “Emiliano does a very good job with ball security and not throwing interceptions,” Ortiz said. “He's our deep ball thrower and he can really get it going for us. We have a nice 1-2 punch at the QB spot with Emiliano and Adan Jaquez.”       WHEN BLOOMFIELD HAS THE BALL   Bloomfield loves to throw the football and with a quarterback as talented as [player_tooltip player_id='208748' first='Ryan' last='Sharpe'], why not? During the regular season he threw for over 2,000 yards and 25 TD. His favorite target was [player_tooltip player_id='275042' first='Drew' last='Perez'] (41 receptions for 848 yards and 14 TD).   Jesse Seitzinger (466 rushing yards and 7 TD in regular season) is the main threat when the Bobcats run the football. Seitzinger had a pair of rushing touchdowns in the second half of last week's 45-13 victory over Taos in the semifinals, while Andres Gordo had one.   “It's going to be a fight between their offense and our defense,” Ortiz said. “We'll make adjustments based on what we've seen on film. I think we have one of the best defenses in the state.   “They have a pretty high powered offense. They've thrown the ball a lot but in the last three or four games they've run the ball. Our run defense is pretty good. It'll be their best versus our best.”     Sharpe was outstanding in that game with three TD passes and 1 rushing score. He connected with Perez on a 64-yard score early in the second quarter.   The most points the Silver defense has allowed this season is 14. They've given up double digit points only twice.   “We pride ourselves on our defense,” Ortiz said. “Hats off to my defensive coordinator and the players. They work their butts off on that side of the ball. It's awesome to see the opportunity we've created for ourselves.”   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/_NMAA/status/1594129303062515713 </div></figure>            <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/redzone/uploads/2022/11/Screenshot-2022-11-25-at-13-48-45-Silver-vs-Bloomfield-Football-11_26-MaxPreps.png" alt="" class="wp-image-524761"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Photo: Statbroadcast</figcaption></figure>

CLASS 4A CHAMPIONSHIP GAME PREVIEW