2023 New Mexico Heisman Award: The 12 Finalists

<p>The 2023 New Mexico High School football season is complete. New state champions in Classes 6A-2A have been crowned. The season featured many outstanding individual performances. The time has come to continue thinking about the top contenders for the 2023 New Mexico Heisman award. Today we present the 12 Finalists. The winner will be announced soon.</p>   <p>The three major factors we consider in choosing the winner are: 1) Individual statistics; 2) Consistent performance; and 3) Team success. Unlike the college football Heisman Trophy, we don't choose a winner until after the playoffs conclude. Yes, the playoffs matter. Like the college award, we focus on offensive skill position players, the guys who typically have the ball in their hands, or outstanding two-way players. Here is our list of the 12 finalists (in alphabetical order):</p>   <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='275488' first='Elijah' last='Brody'], West Mesa</strong>: Brody, who has been offered by New Mexico, ENMU and WNMU, led West Mesa to the 6A playoffs as one of the top dual threat quarterbacks in the state. He earned First-Team All-District honors. He threw for 1,563 yards, rushed for 1,772 yards and accounted for 42 TD.    </p>   <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='275599' first='Nicolas' last='Chavez'], Santa Rosa</strong>: Statistically, Chavez was the state's top two-way player this season. Not only did he rush for 2,127 yards and 33 TD for the Lions, he made 164 tackles on defense. Santa Rosa advanced to the 2A semifinals before losing to eventual champion Texico.    </p>   <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='615523' first='Paxton' last='Culpepper'], Portales</strong>: Culpepper led Portales to the Class 4A state championship game by throwing for 2,687 yards and 39 TD. His TD Pass-to-INT ratio was a stellar 39-8, almost 5-to-1. He also rushed for close to 500 yards. Just a  junior, he returns next season.    </p>   <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='611098' first='Cameron' last='Dyer'], La Cueva</strong>: Did Dyer, a junior, have his NM Heisman moment in the second quarter of the 6A state championship game when he twice rushed 72+ yards for touchdowns to give the Bears a lead over Cleveland they would never relinquish? Perhaps. Accounted for 46 TD and nearly 4,000 yards.   </p>   <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='275206' first='Mason' last='Espinda-McChriston'], Bernalillo</strong>: If [player_tooltip player_id='275599' first='Nicolas' last='Chavez'] of Santa Rosa (see above) was statistically the state's top two-way player this season, Espinda-McChriston wasn't far behind. Finished with 49 receptions for 955 yards and 13 TD on offense + 142 tackles (4<sup>th</sup> highest in the state), 13.0 TFL and 5 INT on defense.   </p>   <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='590681' first='Nye' last='Estrada'], Artesia</strong>: Very likely Estrada will never have to buy another meal in high school football-made Artesia for the rest of his life. Estrada capped off a remarkable two-year run as the Bulldogs' starting QB by leading them to their 32<sup>nd</sup> state title, one year after Artesia beat Piedra Vista for the 5A championship. He threw for over 2,700 yards and 34 TD this season.    </p>   <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='275459' first='Wyatt' last='Gomez'], Lovington</strong>: Gomez, who patiently waited his turn to become the Wildcats' starting QB, took full advantage of his one year at the helm of Lovington's offense. He's the No. 1 passer in the state with 3,676 yards and 51 TD. He was nearly flawless in the 4A title game, completing 27-of-33 passes for 384 yards and 6 TD, matching his season high.      </p>   <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='274709' first='Alijah' last='Gonzales'], Volcano Vista</strong>: Volcano Vista suffered a surprising home loss to Farmington in the 1<sup>st</sup> round of the playoffs but Gonzales was sensational all season long, rushing for 1,791 yards on a workhorse 276 carries, most in the state. He averaged 25.1 carries per game. Few teams relied as much on one offensive player as the Hawks did on Gonzales.      </p>   <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='590712' first='Charles' last='Lopez-Burton'], Valley</strong>: Valley reached the 5A quarterfinals for the second consecutive year largely due to Lopez-Burton's exploits. He was one of the top RBs in the Albuquerque Metro Region with 1,832 yards on 195 carries. He also made 89 tackles and 6 sacks on defense. He's been offered by Eastern New Mexico, Western New Mexico and New Mexico Highlands.</p>   <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='590512' first='Harris' last='Mbueha'], Cleveland</strong>: Just as Cleveland sophomore QB had the thankless task of trying to replace Evan Wysong, Mbueha took over for Josh Perry at running back and enjoyed a fantastic season with over 1,600 rushing yards and 25 TD to lead the Storm offense.  </p>   <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='854273' first='Elijah' last='Melancon'], Eunice</strong>: Just a sophomore, Melancon led Eunice to the district championship and the Class 2A state championship game by throwing for over 2,500 yards. He also rushed for over 500 yards. Overall, Melancon accounted for over 3,000 total yards.       </p>   <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='340165' first='Bryce' last='Sanchez'], Roswell</strong>: The Coyotes didn't lose a game until the Class 5A championship game and the ball carrying exploits of the powerfully built Sanchez (5-10, 220 pounds) helped Roswell to a memorable season. A year after rushing for close to 900 yards, Sanchez surpassed 1,500 rushing yards as a senior. New Mexico Highlands has offered. Few QB-RB duos were better this season than [player_tooltip player_id='425194' first='Manny' last='Fuentez'] and Sanchez.  </p>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/wmhs_mustangFB/status/1727346597909168384?s=20 </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/camdyer7/status/1729544079048839549?s=20 </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/charleslb07/status/1729232407658951081?s=20 </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/MbuehaHarris/status/1725358337867292911?s=20 </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/mason_espinda/status/1724453500220743752?s=20 </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/jeremy_maupin/status/1729305717390409771?s=20 </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/lvtwildcatsfb/status/1729364723915796896?s=20 </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/44_atrain/status/1723417979562365014?s=20 </div></figure>

The 2023 New Mexico High School football season is complete. New state champions in Classes 6A-2A have been crowned. The season featured many outstanding individual performances. The time has come to continue thinking about the top contenders for the 2023 New Mexico Heisman award. Today we present the 12 Finalists. The winner will be announced soon.