Look Back, Look Ahead: Class 4A

We continue our popular ‘Look Back, Look Ahead' series with a comprehensive look back at the 2022 season in Class 4A and a look ahead to some of the key storylines, topics, players and questions going into the 2023 season. Less than eight months to kickoff!    LOOK BACK   Team of the Year: Bloomfield. The Bobcats steamrolled their way to the Class 4A championship, outscoring opponents 553-151 in their 13 games. They lost just one game, 45-6 to Silver on a neutral field in Socorro, before avenging that setback in the 4A title game with a hard-fought 13-7 victory in the Four Corners. The Bobcats had an array of talent on both sides of the ball. The defense led by LB [player_tooltip player_id='269607' first='Auggie' last='Aguilar'] and two-way standout Jesse Seitzinger, only allowed 151 points in 13 games (11.6 points per game).                 Offensive Player of the Year: [player_tooltip player_id='208748' first='Ryan' last='Sharpe'], Bloomfield. Sharpe was the engineer of the Bobcats' high-scoring offense, throwing for 2,541 yards and 30 TD in 12 games. After missing a significant portion of the 2021 season with an injury, Sharpe demonstrated in 2022 what he is capable of doing from a numbers standpoint when he's healthy.   Defensive Player of the Year: [player_tooltip player_id='544218' first='Reuben' last='Holguin'], Silver. Edging out a strong field, Holguin didn't have the most tackles but he did lead the state in one key category: sacks. Holguin sparked the Silver defense from his defensive end spot with a staggering 14.5 sacks, an average of more than one per game. He also finished with 82 tackles and 3 forced fumbles.              Junior of the Year: [player_tooltip player_id='275042' first='Drew' last='Perez'], Bloomfield. One-half of the top QB-WR combination in Class 4A, Perez was the only Class 4A receiver to eclipse 1,000 receiving yards (per MaxPreps). In fact, he was the lone 4A receiver with more than 800 receiving yards. Perez finished with 60 receptions for 1,102 yards and 17 TD. He was also fantastic on defense too with 49 tackles.               Sophomores of the Year: Paxton Culpepper and Manny Chavez, Portales.  Here's the scary part for the rest of Class 4A – Portales' best offensive and defensive players in 2022 were both sophomores. Culpepper quarterbacked the Rams offense and threw for 2,290 yards and 27 TD in 12 games. Only Sharpe threw for more yards in 4A. Chavez led 4A in tackles with 137. In two years, Chavez already has 234 career tackles.         Freshmen of the Year: Isaiah Rivera, Albuquerque Academy. Younger brother of Albuquerque Academy QB [player_tooltip player_id='137884' first='A.J.' last='Rivera'], Isaiah Rivers emerged this season as one of the top offensive linemen in 4A, earning honorable mention All-State honors as a center. Impressive feat for a freshman.      Breakthrough Player of the Year: Dameon Ely, Taos. Ely and the Tigers had a toughs tart to the season with a loss at St. Michael's. But Taos responded by winning its next 10 games before losing to Bloomfield in the 4A playoff semifinals. The 6-foot-8 Ely led the way by throwing for 1,361 yards and 14 TD and rushing for 1,001 yards on 109 carries. He joined the prestigious 1,000-1,000 club for quarterbacks.       Game(s) of the Year: Lovington 20, Portales 14 AND Lovington 29, Portales 23. Lovington and Portales gave us two classics with the Wildcats squeezing out victories in both. First, Lovington stopped a late Portales drive in a winner-take-all district championship game on the final weekend of the regular season. Two weeks later, the two teams met again in the quarterfinals of the 4A playoffs. Lovington scored a late TD to pull out the victory.          LOOK AHEAD   Top Storyline for 2023: Will we see the same parity next season that we saw in 2022? All four Class 4A districts are represented in the top five of the final rankings. The four semifinal teams (Bloomfield, Silver, Taos, Lovington) came from four different districts. That's parity we don't see very often in New Mexico. Will we see the same level of parity in 2023? Good question.           Player To Watch: [player_tooltip player_id='275459' first='Wyatt' last='Gomez'], Lovington. Departing senior [player_tooltip player_id='269564' first='Ashton' last='Aranda'] has been Lovington's starting quarterback for the past two season, passing for over 4,000 yards. Now Gomez, a rising senior, gets his chance to quarterback the Wildcats offense for one season. The starting quarterback for Lovington is one of the most visible players in all of Class 4A, if not the state.        Team On The Rise: Espanola Valley. The Sundevils enjoyed one of their best seasons in recent memory in 2022, finishing 6-4, although they just missed out on a playoff berth. Espanola Valley's top two rushers return (Alejandro Chavez, Jack Purdy) as well as its top three receivers. Head coach Tylon Wilder did a remarkable job in his first season at the helm.             Team Looking To Bounce Back: St. Pius X. The Sartans won a district title and earned a top four playoff seed in 2021 but fell to 2-9 this past season. Head coach David Montoya was abruptly fired in December after six seasons in charge. The new coach must decide on a starting quarterback as [player_tooltip player_id='137890' first='Alejandro' last='Sapien'] will graduate as well as a No. 1 running back. A new coach and new players will give St. Pius X a fresh look in 2023.   Player Ready to Blow Up: [player_tooltip player_id='275041' first='Baylor' last='Seabolt'], Aztec. As a junior in2022, Seabolt proved to be one of the best two-way players in Class 4A. Offensively, he rushed for 333 yards and 6 TD while catching 58 passes for 643 yards and 6 TD. He massed over 1,000 total yards. Defensively, he made 130 tackles, including 15.5 for loss.

We continue our popular ‘Look Back, Look Ahead' series with a comprehensive look back at the 2022 season in Class 4A and a look ahead to some of the key storylines, topics, players and questions going into the 2023 season. Less than eight months to kickoff!