2023 Team Preview: Cleveland Storm

Cleveland 2023 Preview   Head Coach: Robert Garza                              Mascot: Storm                      Twitter: @CHSStormFB   Colors: Electric Blue and Silver                                    2022 Record: 11-2 (6A Championship)                                      Overview: Our good friend James Yodice of the ABJ raised an interesting question in a recent story – Is Cleveland a dynasty? If not, they're close. The Storm have won three straight ‘official' 6A state championships (2019,2021 and 2022), four if you include the abbreviated spring 2021 campaign when Cleveland was clearly the best team.  They've lost just one game to a New Mexico opponent since the middle of the 2019 campaign. The Storm lost its offensive ‘Big Three' to graduation (QB Evan Wysong, RB Josh Perry and WR Nic Trujillo). All three are now with the New Mexico Lobos.   As a result, some analysts might be predicting Cleveland will take a step back this season. Don't count on it. The Storm is still loaded, especially on defense, and the new offensive skill players appear quite capable of living up to the high expectations that come with their highly visible positions. The new quarterback is 6-foot-2 sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='851873' first='Jordan' last='Kekoa Hatch'], who impressed onlookers during 7x7 season with his pocket presence and arm talent. He can make all the throws and is developing into a good leader. He has an opportunity to become one of the few quarterbacks in Cleveland history to start for three years.   Replacing Perry at running back is the duo of [player_tooltip player_id='590512' first='Harris' last='Mbueha'] and Andre Aguirre. Mbueha was an unlikely hero of the state championship game win over La Cueva, rushing for 108 yards and four touchdowns. Aguirre transferred to Cleveland from Albuquerque High last summer and ended up excelling in the secondary in the fall. Aguirre rushed for over 1,000 yards in two seasons at AHS.   Who succeeds Trujillo at WR? Senior Carter Weddle looks like the guy after starting opposite Trujillo all last season. Weddle will get an opportunity to showcase his speed as he's one of the fastest Storm players. [player_tooltip player_id='1103860' first='Jaden' last='Davis'] will compete to become the No. 1 WR. Weddle and Davis are just two of a large group of receivers that will get a look during preseason camp. Junior tight end [player_tooltip player_id='836902' first='Jon' last='Baca'] will get an opportunity to catch passes after largely serving as a blocking TE  in 2022. He could end up being a key component in the Storm passing game.   [player_tooltip player_id='340188' first='Ben' last='Linfoot'], pound-for-pound one of the strongest players in the state, returns at center, along with both starting guards – Mason Jones and [player_tooltip player_id='837139' first='Gabriel' last='Marquez']. That trio gives Cleveland an outstanding interior offensive line. Both starting tackles will be new. An intriguing candidate to earn a starting job is athletic 6-foot-4, 250-pound sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='851862' first='Moses' last='Sparks'], our No. 1 prospect in the 2026 class. Sparks has already been offered by New Mexico. Junior [player_tooltip player_id='1118250' first='Robert' last='Sabado'] is competing for a starting job as well.   The Storm defense has the potential to be one of the best in the state. Everything starts, of course, with coveted senior LB [player_tooltip player_id='274701' first='Stratton' last='Shufelt'], our No. 1 prospect for the 2024 class. Shufelt holds 10+ offers, including Power 5 school Washington State. In two seasons, Shufelt has accumulated 150+ tackles. He is the undisputed leader – and the heart and soul - of the Storm defense.   Shufelt and senior [player_tooltip player_id='275565' first='Isaac' last='Medrano'], a First-Team All-State selection in 2022, will form one of the top LB duos in the state. Few, if any, will be better. The outside linebackers in Cleveland's 3-4 scheme are seniors [player_tooltip player_id='1103199' first='Chuka' last='Tutman'] (offered by Western New Mexico) and Marcus La Cuesta. Both are big, strong and tough. La Cuesta has been offered by Arizona State to play rugby.     [player_tooltip player_id='611047' first='Psalmon' last='Kegler'], Louie Birch and [player_tooltip player_id='590312' first='Nathaniel' last='Perry'] return to anchor the defensive line. All three were All-District or All-State (or both) performers in 2022. Micah Martinez is a newcomer that the coaching staff expects to have a major role in 2022. The secondary is led by ball hawking junior safety A.J. Manning. Michael Haynes and [player_tooltip player_id='611120' first='Juan' last='Munoz'], a transfer from Capital High in Santa Fe, will be the cornerbacks.      2023 Schedule: As always, Cleveland's schedule is quite challenging. The first six weeks of the season features road trips to Centennial and Artesia along with home games against a pair of prominent West Texas schools (Amarillo, Frenship), a Week 2 matchup with La Cueva in a rematch of last season's 6A title game and a Week 4 showdown with Las Cruces. The annual rivalry game with Rio Rancho is Oct. 27.      Aug. 19 at Centennial (Sat.)   Aug. 25 LA CUEVA   Sept. 1 AMARILLO (TX)   Sept. 8 LAS CRUCES   Sept. 15 at Artesia   Sept. 22 WOLFFORTH (TX) FRENSHIP   Sept. 29 at Volcano Vista*   Oct. 6 Bye   Oct. 13 ATRISCO HERITAGE*   Oct. 20 CIBOLA*   Oct. 27 at Rio Rancho*   * District Game        Coach's Comments: “Last year was a heckuva run. You couldn't ask for anything better. It was a fun team to be around. Moving forward, we have a bunch of key guys coming back. We lost some key guys too. Everybody knows the big three offensive guys we lost. But the new guys have been working hard all spring an summer to get geared up. . .Jordan has done a lot of growing over the last year. I'm sure he'll make some sophomore mistakes during the season but we're looking for him to really develop and become our guy. He has the ability to be a very good quarterback. He's growing into the leader of the offense and he's learning to put us into the right position. We've had some moving parts but Jordan has stayed pretty strong. He's done everything we've asked him to do. . .Harris and Andre are definitely our two guys at running back. They've shown what they're capable of doing. We have high expectations for them. They are two good running backs. Andre makes things happen with the ball. We plan on using him and Harris in different ways. Both will get as many touches as we can give them.” – Cleveland head coach Robert Garza.   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/Brandega/status/1686851878024339456 </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/Isaac_Medrano24/status/1686549054677975040 </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/Brandega/status/1686112071706918912 </div></figure>

Cleveland 2023 Preview