Weekly Whiparound: Semifinals Edition

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: Jal. The Panthers did the smart thing in beating Texico, 41-21, to earn their first state championship since 1999. They gave the ball over and over again to dynamic 6-foot-1, 215-pound running quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='138093' first='Alexavier' last='Carreon'], younger brother of former Jal standout OL Roger Carreon, who is now playing for Boise State. Carreon rushed a staggering 48 times for 226 yards and 4 TD as the Panthers wrapped up a perfect 13-0 season. [player_tooltip player_id='138194' first='Jacob' last='Lujan'] had nine rushes for 77 yards. Jal controlled the ball for about 34 minutes compared to just 14 for Texico.     Honorable Mention: Piedra Vista; Silver, Ruidoso, St. Michael's.                           Player of the Week: [player_tooltip player_id='138204' first='Josh' last='Perry'], Cleveland. Perryrushed for 291 yards and 5 TD as Cleveland dominated the second half in a 47-24 victory over Volcano Vista Friday night at Community Stadium to earn the Storm's fourth straight trip to the 6A championship game (2018-2019-2021-2022). Cleveland totaled 578 yards of offense, 435 rushing. In his last three games, Perry has rushed for 185 yards against Rio Rancho, 242 yards against Los Lunas in the quarterfinals and then 291 against Volcano Vista to put him around 1,800 rushing yards for the season. That's 718 rushing yards and 12 TD for Perry in just the last three games.   Honorable Mention: [player_tooltip player_id='269525' first='Gabriel' last='Buie'] (La Cueva); [player_tooltip player_id='208748' first='Ryan' last='Sharpe'] (Bloomfield); Creed Chavez (St. Michael's).   Best Team Offensive Performance: La Cueva. The Centennial defense had not allowed more than 20 points in any of their past seven games going into Saturday's semifinal matchup with the Bears. In five of those games they surrendered 14 or fewer points. Saturday, the high powered La Cueva offense led by quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='137862' first='Aidan' last='Armenta'] and wide receiver [player_tooltip player_id='270020' first='Ian' last='Sanchez'], statistically the top QB-WR combination in the state, and running back [player_tooltip player_id='269525' first='Gabriel' last='Buie'] showed up at the Field of Dreams in Las Cruces for the Hawks' toughest test in a while.     Buie rushed for 208 yards, including a 1-yard TD run with 1:35 left, as La Cueva escaped FOD with a thrilling 42-35 victory over the Hawks. La Cueva totaled 431 yards of offense, 235 on the ground and 196 through the air. Armenta was 16-of-25 passing. With the score tied 35-35, the Bears took possession at its 14 with 6-1/2 minutes left. La Cueva proceeded to run the ball on the final 8 plays of a 13-play drive with Buie rushing 9 times for 66 yards on that drive. He finished with 4 rushing TD, including a 73-yard scamper on the second play of the game.           Best Team Defensive Performance: Piedra Vista. The Panthers returned to the Wool Bowl, where they lost to Roswell, 32-14, in late September for their lone loss in the regular season. But the outcome was far different this time. The stifling Piedra Vista defense caused five turnovers, including four interceptions, and held Roswell to a single TD in a 13-7 victory over the Coyotes, setting up a Class 5A final with long-time powerhouse Artesia in Farmington on  Saturday. QB Logan Howell and RB [player_tooltip player_id='208794' first='Jacob' last='Ramsted'] each rushed for a Piedra Vista TD.     Honorable Mention: St. Michael's; Silver.         Best Game: Ruidoso 21, Raton 20. Raton has suffered multiple heartbreaking losses this season and Saturday marked another kick to the gut. Ruidoso scored the go-ahead TD with 3:20 left and then stopped the Tigers on 4th-and-1 from midfield to secure a spot in the Class 3A semifinals. [player_tooltip player_id='138053' first='Cayden' last='Walton']'s 57-yard TD run out of the Wildcat gave Raton a 14-8 lead in the third quarter. Ruidoso RB [player_tooltip player_id='138061' first='Kaden' last='Sago'] tied the score at 14-14 with a 1-yard TD with 8:42 left in the fourth quarter. But Raton took the lead back with a 41-yard TD pass to WD Hyer. However, the PAT was blocked and that proved to be the difference. Sago capped an 11-play Ruidoso drive by scoring the game-winning TD on a 5-yard run with 3:20 left.         Honorable Mention: La Cueva 42, Centennial 35; Piedra Vista 13, Roswell 7; St. Michael's 14, Socorro 6.     Walton's Final Tally: Even though he had a 90-yard run negated because of a holding penalty, Raton RB [player_tooltip player_id='138053' first='Cayden' last='Walton'] closed out his brilliant career Saturday by rushing for 155 yards on 26 carries in the one-point loss to Ruidoso. Walton finished his career with a state record 7,971 rushing yards and 92 TD. He also set a new single season rushing mark with 3,123 yards on 291 carries. He had 30+ carries 5 times and 23+ carries 8 times. Workhorse should be his middle name.       Things You Need To Know: Bloomfield has been dominant all season and that continued on Saturday as the Bobcats routed Taos, 45-13. QB [player_tooltip player_id='208748' first='Ryan' last='Sharpe'] threw 3 TD passes and ran for another score as Bloomfield advanced to the 4A championship game against Silver. The Bobcats never looked back after grabbing a 13-0 lead after the first quarter. They extended the lead to 25-0 late in the second quarter. Taos saw its 10-game winning streak snapped as the Tigers finished 10-2. . .Artesia has historically been the most dominant high school program in New Mexico, and the Bulldogs will get a chance to capture a 31st state title against Piedra Vista Saturday. The Bulldogs advanced to the title game with a convincing 49-12 road win over Deming. RB Jesse Leroch scored two TD as Artesia jumped out to a 22-0 lead in the first 10 minutes of the game and cruised to the win as the Bulldogs defense intercepted four Deming passes. . . Silver's defense led the way as they shut down the Lovington offense in a 23-7 semifinal win at Silver City. Lovington didn't score until the second half as Silver led 14-0 at halftime and 20-0 in the third quarter. Silver QB Adan Jacquez rushed for a TD and threw a 35-yard TD to [player_tooltip player_id='270075' first='Mason' last='Lockett']. . .Including the Class 2A championship game, road teams were 7-2 this weekend. Only Bloomfield and Silver won at home. . .St. Michael's managed to do something Friday night that nobody had done all season – score enough points to beat Socorro. With the score tied 6-6, the Horsemen drove down the field for the game-winning TD by Marcus Leyba with about 2 minutes remaining. QB [player_tooltip player_id='335455' first='Zach' last='Martinez'] ignited the drive with a 34-yard run on 3rd-and-1 and added a 12-yard run on the next series of downs. St. Michael's hosts Ruidoso Saturday in the Class 3A championship game.             Semifinals Scoreboard (Fri. 11/17-Sat. 11/18):   6A: La Cueva 42, Centennial 35   6A: Cleveland 47, Volcano Vista 24     5A: Artesia 49, Deming 12   5A: Piedra Vista 13. Roswell 7   4A: Bloomfield 45, Taos 13   4A: Silver 23, Lovington 7   3A: Ruidoso 21, Raton 20   3A: St. Michael's 14, Socorro 6.   2A: Jal 41, Texico 21 (Championship Game)   Championship Saturday Matchups (All Games Nov. 26, 1 p.m.):      Class 6A: Cleveland at La Cueva (Wilson Stadium)   Class 5A: Artesia at Piedra Vista   Class 4A: Silver at Bloomfield   Class 3A: Ruidoso at St.Michael's   <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/1594382650751406080 </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/w5kiYgBRWRc </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/kD3WdGSrH8Q </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/TbMEbhFvFWI </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/_NMAA/status/1594083165206781953 </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/kaylalujan/status/1594388203762434048 </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/_NMAA/status/1593818779686883328 </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/_NMAA/status/1593819491573506049 </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/_NMAA/status/1594129303062515713 </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.