Weekly Whiparound: Quarterfinals

The first round of the 2022 New Mexico High School football playoffs is complete as 20 games took place in Classes 6A-2A throughout the state.      Team of the Week: Raton. The Tigers marched into Las Vegas and stunned defending Class 3A champion Robertson, 23-14, on the road in front of a hostile crowd. Running back [player_tooltip player_id='138053' first='Cayden' last='Walton'], who's illustrious career is winding down, had one of his best all-around games of the season with 198 rushing yards and 1 TD on 30 carries and an 80-yard passing TD to younger brother Cannon, while on defense he collected 11 tackles, a 57-yrd Pick-6 and 2 pass breakups. The score could have been quite lopsided but Raton had 4 TD called back due to penalties. [player_tooltip player_id='138053' first='Cayden' last='Walton'] had about 100 yards rushing, two rushing TD and a receiving TD negated because of penalties. But Raton persevered and pulled out the road win. They host Ruidoso Saturday in one of two Class 3A semifinals.      Honorable Mention: Deming; Volcano Vista.                          Player of the Week: [player_tooltip player_id='138061' first='Kaden' last='Sago'], Ruidoso. Ruidoso is one victory away from reaching the state championship game in consecutive years in two different classifications. Last year they lost to Lovington in the Class 4A championship game. NMAA realignment last December moved the Warriors to Class 3A. Ruidoso drubbed West Las Vegas, 52-14, at home in the quarterfinals as Sago rushed for 177 yards and 1 TD on just 16 carries. He averaged 11.1 yards per attempt.   Honorable Mention: [player_tooltip player_id='138204' first='Josh' last='Perry'] (Cleveland).            Best Team Offensive Performance: Centennial. The Rio Rancho defense has been solid most of the season. In fact, they allowed just 7 points in each of their last two victories – including a 21-7 win over Alamogordo in the first round - prior to Friday night's quarterfinal clash with the Hawks at Field of Dreams. But the Hawks totaled 379 yards of total offense and RB [player_tooltip player_id='208691' first='Mikah' last='Gutierrez'] rushed for 158 yards and scored 3 TD in a 41-14 win over the Rams. Gutierrez's night included an 81-yard TD run and a nice over-the-shoulder catch circling out of the backfield for another score. QB [player_tooltip player_id='340297' first='Daniel' last='Hernandez'] threw for 184 yards and 2 TDS on 15-of-19 passing. Nathan Lara got the Centennial offense rolling on the third play of the game when he caught a WR screen pass and raced 65 yards down the left sideline for the early TD.   Best Team Defensive Performance: Bloomfield. Moriarty had scored 53+ points in three of its Iast four games entering the quarterfinals, including a 53-2 win over Kirtland Central in the first playoff round. But Moriarty lost, 28-7, to Taos in a district championship game on Oct. 28 and the Bloomfield coaches must have studied that game film for hours. The Bobcats held the Pintos to just one TD in a 62-7 rout in the Four Corners while rushing for 321 yards themselves.         Best Game: Volcano Vista 35, Hobbs 31. No. 5 seed Volcano Vista made the long trip to No. 4 Hobbs and pulled out a dramatic victory late, rallying from an early 14-0 deficit, as QB Elliot Pasket-Bell found WR Tristan Cordova for an 18-yard game-winning TD pass with 19 seconds left. Hobbs had taken a 31-28 lead on a 24-yard field goal with 2 minutes left. Volcano Vista's game-winning drive  began with a 25-yard pass from Pasket-Bell to [player_tooltip player_id='274709' first='Alijah' last='Gonzales']. Pasket-Bell completed 18-of-33 passes for 242 yards and 2 TD. Gonzales finished with 11 receptions for 111 yards. Volcano Vista faces No. 1 seed Cleveland Friday night in the 6A semifinals.        Honorable Mention: Lovington 29, Portales 23 (Wildcats win 2nd close game over Portales in 3 weeks); Socorro 21, Cobre 14; Taos 24, Albuq. Academy 19.     How Top Heavy Is NM High School Football?: If you sought evidence that New Mexico High School football is top heavy, the quarterfinals went a long way towards proving your case. Ten of the 16 quarterfinal matchups were decided by 27+ points. Cleveland trounced Los Lunas, 49-9, as RB [player_tooltip player_id='138204' first='Josh' last='Perry'] rushed for 212 yard and 4 TD. . .Two weeks after crushing Farmington, 62-19, in a winner-take-all district championship game, La Cueva did it again, beating the Scorpions 41-6, as QB [player_tooltip player_id='137862' first='Aidan' last='Armenta'] threw 4 TD to 4 different receivers. Farmington QB [player_tooltip player_id='274791' first='Trel' last='Griego'] rushed for 118 yards and scored the Scorpions' only TD. . .In Class 5A, Artesia posted its 4th shutout of the season in a mercy-rule 50-0 victory over Valley at the Bulldog Bowl. Matthew Saiz returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown and Artesia was off and running. The Bulldogs scored FIVE more touchdowns in the first quarter and led, 43-0, after the opening 12 minutes.   Some Close Games: While the majority of the quarterfinal matchups produced lopsided outcomes, some of the games were close. In Las Vegas, Taos edged Albuquerque Academy, 24-19, at NM Highlands' Stadium as QB [player_tooltip player_id='269567' first='Daemon' last='Ely'] scored 2 TD runs for the Tigers. The Taos defense also had a goal line stand. When Academy pulled to within 14-13 in the third quarter, Taos RB [player_tooltip player_id='335471' first='Elijah' last='Romero'] had a TD run early in the 4th quarter. . .At Lovington, the Wildcats edged Portales for the 2nd time in 3 weeks, 29-23. Lovington QB [player_tooltip player_id='269564' first='Ashton' last='Aranda'] was 12-of-19 passing for 167 yards. Alec Holguin caught 7 passes for 124 yards. .           Things You Need To Know: Silver will host defending Class 4A champion Lovington Saturday afternoon after walloping Aztec, 48-12, in the quarterfinals. [player_tooltip player_id='208819' first='Aidan' last='Granado'], questionable for the game after sustaining an injury in the regular season finale, scored an offensive TD and a defensive TD on a Pick-6 in the first half. Silver scored 21 straight points in the 2nd quarter to pull away. .  .St. Michael's warmed up for its semifinal clash at No. 1 Socorro by cruising past Thoreau, 50-0, in Santa Fe. The Horsemen scored 5 TD on their first 11 offensive plays and led, 38-0, in the first quarter. . .Speaking of Socorro, their quarterfinal matchup with Cobre was probably a little closer than most folks expected. Two weeks after blanking Cobre, 29-0, in a district championship game, the Warriors had to hold off Cobre in the second half of a 21-14 win. Socorro built a 21-0 lead before Cobre rallied. . .Piedra Vista (10-1) will get a rematch with Roswell at the Wool Bowl in the 5A semifinals after beating Mayfield, 42-7, in Farmington. The Trojans made the long trip from Las Cruces to the Four Corners but saw their first season in Class 5A come to an end as Panthers QB Logan Howell threw 3 first half touchdowns while Piedra Vista forced three first half turnovers and didn't allow a Mayfield first down until the 4-minute mark of the third quarter. . .Roswell ended Gadsden's dream season with a 53-0 victory at the Wool Bowl.           Semifinal Matchups: The semifinals in Classes 6A-3A will take place Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Interestingly, 6 of the 8 semifinal contests in Classes 6A-3A will be played in the southern region of the state. Only exceptions are Albuquerque (Cleveland-Volcano Vista at Community Stadium) and Bloomfield.      Class 6A   Cleveland at Volcano Vista, Fri., 7 p.m. (11/18)   La Cueva at Centennial, Sat., 1 p.m. (11/19)   Class 5A   Artesia at Deming, Sat., 1 p.m. (11/19)   Piedra Vista at Roswell, Sat., 1 p.m. (11/19)   Class 4A   Lovington at Silver, Sat., 1 p.m. (11/19)   Taos at Bloomfield, Sat., 1 p.m. (11/19)   Class 3A   St. Michael's at Socorro, Fri., 6 p.m. (11/18)   Ruidoso at Raton, Sat., 1 p.m. (11/19)   Class 2A (Championship Game)   Jal at Texico, Fri., 7 p.m. (11/18)   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/GadsdenPanthers/status/1591919880965869569 </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/1591582163715121154 </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/1591308913692971008 </div></figure>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/9I1kpIi23xc </div></figure>

The first round of the 2022 New Mexico High School football playoffs is complete as 20 games took place in Classes 6A-2A throughout the state.