Predicting Every Team’s 2023 MVP: Class 4A, Part 2

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We're now less than four months from kickoff of the 2023 New Mexico high school football season. We've been predicting the team MVPs for all 6A-3A programs. Today, we dive into Part 2 for Class 4A with the second group of eight teams in alphabetical order.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Lovington: [player_tooltip player_id='615565' first='Ondalis' last='Cardenas'], RB</strong>. Lovington has some of the best young talent in 4A with Cardenas and others. The rising junior has already gained close to 1,400 yards on the ground in his first two years. Potential 1,000-yard rusher. Between Cardenas, promising QB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='275459' first='Wyatt' last='Gomez']</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='613065' first='Camon' last='Ochoa']</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='615536' first='Alec' last='Holguin']</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='275593' first='Cesar' last='Gonzalez']</strong> and <strong>Ryan Weiser</strong>, the amount of offensive skill position talent for the Wildcats is impressive.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Moriarty: [player_tooltip player_id='592012' first='Santiago' last='Chavez'], RB</strong>. The entire Moriarty offense is built around a run-dominated scheme in which the wealth is shared among four or five ball carriers. Last season FIVE Pinto rushers gained 385+ yards on the ground. However, Chavez was the undisputed top dog of Moriarty's rushing attack with 147 carries for 917 yards and 10 TD. Chavez should be the clear No. 1 RB for the Pintos again but others will get a chance to join the party. That's the Pintos way.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Pojoaque Valley: [player_tooltip player_id='275554' first='Ethan' last='Meloy-Chavez'], ATH</strong>. After an encouraging 5-4 season in 2021, Pojoaque Valley fell back to 0-9 in 2022, and new head coach Zeke Villegas hopes Meloy-Chavez contributes on both sides of the ball as he did last season.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Portales: [player_tooltip player_id='613053' first='Manny' last='Chavez'], LB</strong>. Just like Lovington, we could have gone with a number of players in this spot, including 2025 QB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='615523' first='Paxton' last='Culpepper']</strong> (2,290 passing yards in 2022). Chavez gets the nod, though, because his defensive stats have been quite impressive. Going into his junior season, Chavez already has amassed 234 career tackles and 16.5 TFL. At his current pace, Chavez will become one of the few players in state history with 400+ tackles.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Silver: Adan Jacquez, QB</strong>. The Colts lost several major contributors on offense from last season but Jacquez and a new group of players hope to fill the void. Jacquez was the backup QB last season and carried the football 42 times in addition to making 37 tackles on defense. Jacquez is a tremendous athlete. Don't be surprised if the production of the Silver offense doesn't slip at all with Jacquez in control. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>St. Pius X: [player_tooltip player_id='275063' first='Aidan' last='Thomas'], OL/DL</strong>. Thomas is a physical specimen at 6-foot-5, 260 pounds. He's the starting left tackle and defensive tackle for the Sartans. He's also a legitimate prospect to play at the next level. He's been invited to camp by New Mexico State and Culver-Stockton College in Missouri. He attended a regional camp in Phoenix in January. Thomas will be one of the top trench warriors in the state this season. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Taos: [player_tooltip player_id='615432' first='Mateo' last='Salazar'], RB/WR</strong>. Graduating senior QB Dameon Ely was the central figure in Taos' offense last season, and for good reason as he joined the prestigious 1,000-1,000 club. Salazar had the second most carries with 96 for 359 yards and 6 TD. &nbsp;He also had 39 tackles on defense. Salazar figures to be the Tigers go-to guy on offense in 2023 as well as a defensive leader. &nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Valencia: [player_tooltip player_id='1103800' first='Daniel' last='Villegas'], RB</strong>. New Jaguars football coach LeDarrius Cage, a former Cleveland assistant, is looking for some offense weapons, and Villegas appears to be the guy with the best chance to emerge. Villegas was one of three Valencia RBs with 82+ carries last season (the other two were seniors) and he had the second most rushing yards with 391. If Cage's debut season is a success, he'll need Villegas to be very productive.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://twitter.com/Ondalis_33/status/1633203505447206912","type":"rich","providerNameSlug":"twitter","responsive":true} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/Ondalis_33/status/1633203505447206912 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>       </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://twitter.com/Aidanthomas70/status/1601341697174032386?s=20","type":"rich","providerNameSlug":"twitter","responsive":true} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/Aidanthomas70/status/1601341697174032386?s=20 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://twitter.com/CoachOrtizCOLTS/status/1650947765785214976?s=20","type":"rich","providerNameSlug":"twitter","responsive":true} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/CoachOrtizCOLTS/status/1650947765785214976?s=20 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed -->