Thursday Throwdown: Eldorado-West Mesa (Recap and Video)

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>ALBUQUERQUE</strong> – Ranked No. 9 by MaxPreps in Class 6A coming into Week 10, Eldorado sealed a postseason berth with a hard-fought 28-6 victory over West Mesa Thursday night at Community Stadium.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Eagles improved to 6-3 overall, 4-2 in District 6A-2. They return to Community Stadium next Saturday to face Atrisco Heritage at 11 a.m. in the final regular season contest for both teams. If they win that game, Eldorado will have a strong case to host a first-round playoff game at Wilson Stadium on the weekend of Nov. 8-9, particularly with No. 8 Farmington hosting Rio Rancho and facing rival Piedra Vista in its final two games.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>West Mesa fell to 4-5 overall, 2-4 in district and now faces a must-win situation at Santa Fe on Thursday night in its final regular season game. If they win, the Mustangs could sneak into the 6A playoffs as the No. 12 seed, just as they did last season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Thursday, Eldorado got on the board first late in the first quarter on RB <strong>Isaiah Quintana</strong>'s short TD run for a 7-0 lead. The score came after the Eagles had a safety negated by a penalty and they forced a short West Mesa punt. The drive began at the WM 37 and consisted of nine running plays as the Eagle ball carriers gained chunks of yardage running behind an impressive offensive line led by bookend tackles <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1672549' first='Matheu' last='Alderman']</strong> (6-5, 270, Jr.) and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1406446' first='Isaic' last='Alderman']</strong> (6-4, 301, So.). Both are back next season. &nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Eldorado recovered a West Mesa punt on the final play of the first quarter but didn't scare. The Mustangs later drove to the Eldorado 30 but was stopped on downs. In fact, neither team scored in the second quarter as the Eagles took a 7-0 lead into the locker room.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>West Mesa took the second half kickoff and mounted an impressive scoring drive that drained more than 6 minutes off the clock. Mustangs junior RB <strong>Logan Jacabson</strong>, West Mesa's second leading rusher coming into the game, rans 4 yards through the middle with 5:54 left in the third quarter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Eldorado responded quickly. QB <strong>Emiliano Morrison</strong> raced 51 yards to the West Mesa 21-yard line. Moments later, Quintana raced around the left side for his second TD of the night. The PAT gave Eldorado a 14-6 lead with just over four minutes left in the third quarter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Eldorado carried the 14-6 lead into the fourth quarter and that's when the Eagles defense took over. West Mesa began a drive at its 10-yard line with 7-1/2 minutes remaining. A minute later, though, Eldorado senior DB <strong>Jaxson Fischer</strong> jumped in front of a West Mesa Mesa receiver and intercepted the pass. He cruised into the end zone for the decisive Pick-6 that gave Eldorado a 21-6 lead.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Fischer added a second interception with less than four minutes left on a long pass attempt. After the Eagles punted the ball back to West Mesa, Eagles DB <strong>Daniel Saavedra</strong> intercepted a pass and returned it 60 yards for a TD, the second Pick-6 of the quarter for the Eagles.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In all, the Eldorado defense registered three interceptions in the fourth quarter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>VIDEO 1: First Possessions</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/rsJa8YAN_QU?si=uQKuczJ7iuqknyPJ","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/rsJa8YAN_QU?si=uQKuczJ7iuqknyPJ </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>VIDEO 2: First Eldorado TD</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/7o5N_nhvfdw?si=GTTulnptFX3beJ3_","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/7o5N_nhvfdw?si=GTTulnptFX3beJ3_ </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>VIDEO 3: Second Quarter</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/-rezATuyGIM?si=WlIL92zFh0D3AcH6","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/-rezATuyGIM?si=WlIL92zFh0D3AcH6 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>VIDEO 4: Third Quarter</strong> <strong>(West Mesa TD)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/cX33MjlTmLI?si=WSdGDM_yAfI7ouAr","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/cX33MjlTmLI?si=WSdGDM_yAfI7ouAr </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>VIDEO 5: Third Quarter (Eldorado TD)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/9dZhfEjPckE?si=B50QLQetBvwaGu-K","type":"video","providerNameSlug":"youtube","responsive":true,"className":"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/9dZhfEjPckE?si=B50QLQetBvwaGu-K </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>      </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>WEEK 10 THURSDAY SCOREBOARD (10/24)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"id":1540971,"sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://prepredzone.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/Screenshot-2024-10-25-at-13-30-13-Prep-Redzone-New-Mexico-@PrepRedzoneNM-_-X.png?w=535" alt="" class="wp-image-1540971" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Photo: Twitter</figcaption></figure> <!-- /wp:image -->