2024 Look Ahead: Lovington Expects Fierce QB Battle
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One of the cornerstones to Lovington’s two Class 4A state championships since 2021 has been exemplary quarterback play. Three seasons ago, Ashton Aranda threw for nearly 2,200 yards and 29 TD as the Wildcats won the title. This past season,…
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Continue ReadingOne of the cornerstones to Lovington’s two Class 4A state championships since 2021 has been exemplary quarterback play.
Three seasons ago, Ashton Aranda threw for nearly 2,200 yards and 29 TD as the Wildcats won the title. This past season, Wyatt Gomez Wyatt Gomez 6'2" | 180 lbs | QB Lovington | 2024 State NM had one of the best season by a QB in school history with 3,676 passing yards and 51 TD.
Gomez was close to flawless in the playoffs, throwing more TD passes than incompletions, a key reason he was named our 2023 New Mexico Heisman winner.
Now Lovington must look to a new signal caller for the 2024 season.
Right now, two candidates are set to battle this offseason for the coveted position: rising senior Mathew Prudencio – last season’s backup – and rising junior Jayden Gutierrez Jayden Gutierrez 5'8" | 160 lbs | DB Lovington | 2026 State NM , a defensive standout for the Wildcats in 2023.
Like Gomez, Prudencio has patiently waited for his turn to lead the Wildcats offense.
Lovington head coach Anthony Gonzales realizes whoever wins the QB job has extremely large shoes to fill with Gomez graduating and likely moving on to the next level.
Regardless of who wins the job, Prudencio and Gutierrez promise to be a different type of QB than Gomez.
“We’ve always had a next man up philosophy,’ Gonzales said. “For us, it’s always been the next guy in line. Mathew did play some last season but we were fortunate Wyatt never got injured. Mathew has played a lot of JV football and some for the varsity. Mathew is a different quarterback from Wyatt, who liked to sit in the pocket and deliver the football.
“Mathew is the opposite. He still has a great arm and does a very good job throwing the football. But he has very good speed and he does a great job running the option stuff. So, we’re going to go back to the kind of offense we had with Ashton and even before him. We’re going to utilize the quarterback run game because Mathew is very good at that.”
Gutierrez was a Second-Team All-State free safety for Lovington last season and also saw action as a slot receiver.
“Jayden is probably one of the best athletes in our program,” Gonzales said. “He is very dynamic. He does a great job throwing the football. As good of an athlete as Jayden is, we knew we had to get him on the field somehow and not have him just standing on the sidelines as a backup quarterback. We found a spot for him at safety. But he’s grown up in our system as a quarterback. So, he’ll battle it out with Mathew for the job. Both are working hard in the weight room right now.”
Gonzales expects the battle to continue through the summer and the scrimmage during preseason camp before he names a starter for the 2024 season opener at home against Hobbs.
“We’ll figure out which one is the best fit and go from there,” Gonzales said. “Both of them are great athletes. The cupboard is not bare. We definitely have two guys that are going to battle it out. Whichever one wins the job will do a great job for us and continue our streak of talented, outstanding quarterbacks.”
Although Lovington will have a new QB for the 2024 season – along with moving to Class 5A – the Wildcats return their top two rushers in Camon Ochoa Camon Ochoa 5'8" | 155 lbs | RB Lovington | 2025 State NM and Alec Holguin Alec Holguin 5'8" | 155 lbs | WR Lovington | 2025 State NM , who accounted for 71.2 percent (183 of 257) of the carries and 76.6 percent (1,107 of 1,446) of the rushing yards last season. So the new QB should benefit from the support of a strong ground game. Talented rising junior receiver Elijah Rivero Elijah Rivero 5'9" | 150 lbs | WR Lovington | 2026 State NM (54 receptions for 823 yards and 8 TD) also returns to headline the receiving corps.