Thursday Night Throwdown: Ruidoso-West Las Vegas (Video/Recap)

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>LAS VEGAS </strong>– West Las Vegas displayed a flair for the dramatic at exactly the right time Thursday night.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Dons quarterback <strong>Fiddel Herrera</strong> threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver <strong>Andres Sena</strong> with 11 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to lift West Las Vegas to a thrilling 20-14 victory over Ruidoso. Sena made a leaping catch at the 7-yard line and quickly stepped into the end zone before he was tackled by the Ruidoso defense.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Dons improved to 2-1 with their second home win of the season. WLV hosts Portales in Week 4. Ruidoso fell to 1-2. The Warriors host Class 3A power Robertson next Saturday in Week 4.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ahead 14-13, Ruidoso's <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1155308' first='Tayton' last='Coker']</strong> recovered a West Las Vegas fumble at midfield with less than 3 minutes remaining. However, the Dons had all three timeouts in their pocket and exhausted them on the Warriors' offensive series. The West Las Vegas defense came up with the defensive stop it needed, tackling the Ruidoso ball carrier about a yard short of the first down marker on fourth-and-4 from the WLV 43.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Dons drove down the field, and were close to the red zone when Herrera found Sena on the left side at around the 10-yard line. Sena eluded several Ruidoso defenders on the way to the end zone for the game-winning score.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>West Las Vegas came close to taking the lead earlier in the fourth quarter. On fourth-and-8 from the Ruidoso 24, the Dons gave the football to dynamic senior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='853064' first='Devaughn' last='Kensey']</strong> on a jet sweep. He raced around the left side for 12 yards and a first down at the Ruidoso 12.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Moments later, the Dons got the ball to Kensey again. He fought his way inside the 5-yard line, where a pack of Ruidoso defenders managed to strip him of the football. The loose ball bounced towards the sideline but was recovered at the 1-yard line by Ruidoso just before it went out of bounds.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>After Warriors RB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='854298' first='Ashdyn' last='Urban']</strong> narrowly avoided a safety, Ruidoso drove close to midfield before the drive stalled. They punted with 2:57 left in the fourth quarter, setting the stage for the late game drama.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ruidoso took a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter when <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1613409' first='Mason' last='Fikany']</strong> turned a short reception into a 50-yard TD jaunt down the right sidelines. Fikany finished with 73 yards rushing on 18 carries, 2 receptions and 2 TD.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>West Las Vegas scored twice in the second quarter to take a 13-7 halftime lead. After a long catch-and-run by the Dons, Herrera powered over from the 1-yard line to even the score at 7-7 with 9:51 left. Less than 3 minutes later, junior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1791434' first='AJ' last='Trujillo']</strong> scooped up a fumbled punt snap by Ruidoso and cruised about 10 yards into the end zone for the key special teams score with 7:15 left in the second quarter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Ruidoso regained the lead at 14-13 with a short TD run by Fikany with just under five minutes remaining in the third quarter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Both teams finished with fewer than 200 yards in total offense.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Thursday Scoreboard</strong>:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Las Cruces 47, Rio Rancho 22</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>West Las Vegas 20, Ruidoso 14</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Los Alamos 58, Pojoaque Valley 20</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Atrisco Heritage 57, Rio Grande 7</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Anthony (TX) 48, Cobre 16</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Video 1</strong>: <strong>First Quarter (Ruidoso TD)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/XBeV0Wr4R-M?si=0ccFnBlPj_hF9oD_","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/XBeV0Wr4R-M?si=0ccFnBlPj_hF9oD_ </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Video 2</strong>: <strong>Third Quarter (Ruidoso TD)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/Fq9T9x3FysI?si=j8UTVntLDsmTb624","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/Fq9T9x3FysI?si=j8UTVntLDsmTb624 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Video 3</strong>: <strong>Early Fourth Quarter (WLV Denied at Goal Line)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/MEPhzEQC07o?si=QzoIXvLbW-t6a8a6","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/MEPhzEQC07o?si=QzoIXvLbW-t6a8a6 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Video 4</strong>:<strong> Late Fourth Quarter (WLV TD Drive)</strong> </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/ww2ec0cXmPY?si=_L5CTbr6eqOA9dkH","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/ww2ec0cXmPY?si=_L5CTbr6eqOA9dkH </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA</strong>:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Coin toss. <a href="https://t.co/H28Zz4UVMD">pic.twitter.com/H28Zz4UVMD</a></p>&mdash; Prep Redzone New Mexico (@PrepRedzoneNM) <a href="https://twitter.com/PrepRedzoneNM/status/1963797132080791721?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2025</a></blockquote> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:html --> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">FOOTBALL: West Las Vegas scored the go-ahead touchdown in the 4th to beat Ruidoso 20-14 ON THURSDAY NIGHT. The Dons are home against Portales next week. (video courtesy NFHS network) <a href="https://twitter.com/Westlasvegasfb?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Westlasvegasfb</a> <a href="https://t.co/nQIrTlsoGB">pic.twitter.com/nQIrTlsoGB</a></p>&mdash; NMAA (@_NMAA) <a href="https://twitter.com/_NMAA/status/1964058872047685697?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2025</a></blockquote> <!-- /wp:html -->