Tuesday's This And That: Things You Need To Know

Here's our first edition of Tuesday's This and That, where we dive more deeply into some of the developments from the previous weekend in New Mexico High School football:   PURSUIT FOR 10,000 PASSING YARDS: Eunice senior quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='854273' first='Elijah' last='Melancon']'s march towards becoming just the fourth quarterback in state history to reach 10,000 career passing yards renewed this past weekend as the Cardinals overpowered Ruidoso, 60-39, with 530 yards in total offense. Melancon completed 19-of-34 passes for 249 yards and 4 TD with 0 interceptions. His favorite target was WR [player_tooltip player_id='1600116' first='Dyson' last='Lord'], who had 8 receptions for 142 yards and 3 TD.   Melancon now stands at 8,293 passing yards, which currently places him 8th on New Mexico's all-time passing list. Circle this date on your calendar: Sept. 20 when Eunice makes the long trip to Santa Fe to face Class 3A power St. Michael's. It's definitely one of the most intriguing cross-classification games in the state this season. Before then, Eunice travels to Estancia and hosts NMMI  and Morton (TX).       HAWKS FLYING: Volcano Vista didn't have much time to celebrate its one-point win over La Cueva last Thursday at Wilson Stadium. The Hawks have another Thursday night road clash this week when they travel south on I-25 to square off with the Las Cruces Bulldawgs at Field of Dreams (7 p.m.) in a battle of prominent Class 6A programs.   Quarterback Spirit Penn-Cook started things on the right foot for the Volcano Vista offense by racing 61 yards on a QB keeper on the game's fourth play. When Penn-Cook was shaken up later in the game, junior Aurelius Wiley took the reins and ended up rushing for 53 yards on 5 carries. He also caught 3 passes for 49 yards. Junior [player_tooltip player_id='1423739' first='D'Angelo' last='Mitchell'] rushed for 112 yards on a career-high 21 carries.         “We have a lot of new players, so hopefully the win over La Cueva will help give us some momentum,” Volcano Vista coach Chad Wallin told Prep Redzone New Mexico. “Spirit had a great game. We try to center our offense around a quarterback who's a dual threat. D'Angelo is our engine. Things start with him on the ground. We try to set a physical tone with our offensive line and D'Angelo running the football. He runs hard and he's fast. If we can find a rhythm with it, that really helps open things up for our offense.”   Volcano Vista and La Cueva split two games in 2024. In Week 2 last August, Volcano Vista rallied in the second half for a 27-24 victory. But the Bulldawgs got a measure of revenge in the quarterfinals of the 6A playoffs by beating the Hawks with an impressive defensive performance. The Bulldawgs are coming off an impressive performance in the season opener against local rival Mayfield.   “Las Cruces is very good. They return a lot of guys from last year,” Wallin said. “It will be a heckuva battle. We're facing a lot of adversity playing down there on a Thursday night. We're going to have to overcome a lot to give ourselves a chance to win. We'll see what kind of grit we have.”   THE SECRET IS OUT: Eldorado coach Charlie Dotson has been coaching for a long time and he has a very good – and likely very accurate – assessment of what will happen in the wake of [player_tooltip player_id='1155116' first='Jahari' last='Morehead']'s monster Week 1 game against Organ Mountain last Friday at Wilson Stadium when the speedy junior WR amassed nearly 300 receiving yards and caught 4 TD passes in just over one half of football. In the fall, Morehead deftly juggles school, football and a 30-hour-per-week job, Dotson said.     “I have a lot of respect for Jahari,” Dotson said. “He has a tough road ahead. He's going to have two of three guys covering him from this point on. Opponents are not going to let him beat them. Other guys are going to have to step up and we still have to run the ball because that will pull people into the box.”         A major reason Eldorado was able to throw the ball so successfully to Morehead was they established the run early with dynamic sophomore RB [player_tooltip player_id='1613434' first='Nolan' last='Romero-Williams'], who had 110 rushing yards and 2 TD on 12 carries.   “Nolan had a very good game,” Dotson said. “That will open things up. Safeties will have to look for that. Being able to run and pass made our offense very efficient.”   Eldorado plays the next four games on the road starting Sept. 5 when they take on Cibola at Community Stadium. Their next home game at Wilson Stadium isn't until Oct. 3 when they clash with rival La Cueva.     AZTEC'S AMAZING COMEBACK: Probably accurate to say few people were paying attention to the Aztec-Rio Grande game at Milne Stadium in Albuquerque on Friday night. Understandable considering the two teams combined to go 0-18 last season. But they missed perhaps the best comeback of Week 1. Aztec fell behind 20-0 at halftime before roaring back with 28 unanswered points in the second half. What makes the comeback even more amazing is: 1) Aztec didn't scrimmage another team during preseason camp due to low numbers: 2) Ten of the 29 players Aztec brought to Albuquerque were freshmen.   “I'm proud of the resilience in our guys,” Aztec head coach Spencer Conley told Prep Redzone New Mexico. “Basically, we had our first scrimmage in the first half of that game. The second half was our first game. We had to bypass the scrimmage. At least we had a first game this year.   “We stayed true to the things we believe our guys do best. It was enough to pull out the win. We just started making plays. We fell behind by 20 points, but Rio Grande never dominated the game. Because of that, our guys stayed resilient and stayed together. Once we started clicking,  we saw what happened. I love what we're doing as a team.”   Senior [player_tooltip player_id='1248683' first='Lorenzo' last='Lucero'], running behind an inspired offensive line, totaled 156 yards and 2 TD on the ground on 20 carries. Tanner Olguin had 46 yards on 7 carries.   “Lorenzo had some big runs,” Conley said. “When we watched the film, we were really pleased with what our guys did up front. Our young skill position guys played well.”       Conley gave considerable credit to the balanced Aztec defense, which blanked Rio Grande in the second half. Junior LB Drake Rivera led the way with 8 tackles but he got plenty of help from other Tiger defenders as well. One statistic stands out: Aztec had 18 QB hurries. The Tigers wreaked a lot of havoc in Rio Grande's offensive backfield.   “If we don't have a second half shutout, we might not win that game since we were already down 20 points,” Conley said. “What Lorenzo did was the highlight. What our defense did was the work. We can't overlook that. When it was time to go do it, our guys did it. The win is what our community needed. It was a great step in the right direction. It was an amazing team effort. We had some kids that just got eligible and they were able to contribute.”   Aztec hosts 5A Miyamura on Friday night.         THE NEXT MUMBA?: How Highland's offense would look in 2025 was a key question heading into Week 1 since the Hornets lost elite RB Amiri Mumba to graduation. Mumba signed to play RB for Eastern New Mexico. Based on what happened in Week 1, Highland should be fine. The Hornets rushed 40 times for 219 yards, 141 by sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='1688720' first='William' last='Anchondo'] and 71 by sophomore Andre Acosta, in a hard-fought 20-12 victory over Manzano. The Hornets threw the ball just 7 times, so their offensive philosophy hasn't changed much in the early stages of the post-Mumba Era. Anchondo rushed for 2 TD and averaged an impressive 11.8 yards per attempt. Is he the next Mumba? We might get a better answer on Thursday night when Highland battles Bernalillo and its ‘Goon Squad' defense at Milne Stadium in a very intriguing game.   LOBO LOCALS: New Mexico released its game notes Tuesday afternoon for Saturday's 2025 season opener at Michigan (5:30 p.m. MT Kickoff, NBC). The Lobos roster contains 12 former New Mexico HS players (listed in alphabetical order):   Carlos Barela, La Cueva   Elijah Brody, West Mesa   Melaki Gutierrez, Los Alamos   Hunter Haemker, La Cueva   D'Sean Martinez, Pojoaque Valley   David Murphy, Rio Rancho   John Sierra, Centennial   Grey Smith, La Cueva   Charles Steinkamp, Los Alamos   Thomas-James Pettus, Volcano Vista   Landon Williams, Albuquerque High   Evan Wysong, Rio Rancho   <blockquote class="twitter-tweet">FINAL: Hawks 21, La Cueva 20 🏈🔥 The boys are back — top of the food chain 🦅⚡ Nothing stronger than having the Hawk Family behind us. 🖤<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoHawks?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoHawks</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HawkPride?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HawkPride</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TopOfTheFoodChain?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TopOfTheFoodChain</a> <a href="https://t.co/PlcmmYs5la">pic.twitter.com/PlcmmYs5la</a>— Volcano Vista HS Football (@vvhsfootball) <a href="https://twitter.com/vvhsfootball/status/1959453714839977992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 24, 2025</a></blockquote>   <blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Week 1 vs La Cueva HS 4 Receptions, 72 total receiving yards 5 QB carries, 57 total rushing yards SLOT, QB CO 2027<a href="https://twitter.com/PrepRedzoneNM?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PrepRedzoneNM</a><a href="https://twitter.com/CSAPrepStar?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CSAPrepStar</a><a href="https://twitter.com/mister_football?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MISTER_FOOTBALL</a><a href="https://twitter.com/CoachWallin?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CoachWallin</a><a href="https://twitter.com/vvhsfootball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@vvhsfootball</a><a href="https://twitter.com/Valdez5Island?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Valdez5Island</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/coach_jb71?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@coach_jb71</a> <a href="https://t.co/QcwCidZjEn">https://t.co/QcwCidZjEn</a>— Aurelius Wiley (@AureliusWiley) <a href="https://twitter.com/AureliusWiley/status/1959701540870209986?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 24, 2025</a></blockquote>

Here's our first edition of Tuesday's This and That, where we dive more deeply into some of the developments from the previous weekend in New Mexico High School football: