Thursday Night Throwdown: City of Vision Rivalry (Recap/Video)

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>RIO RANCHO</strong> – Playing its best football at the right time, Cleveland secured no worse than the No. 2 seed for the upcoming Class 6A playoffs with a convincing 49-14 victory over cross-town rival Rio Rancho Thursday night in a winner-take-all District 6A-1 championship game at Rams Stadium.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cleveland has an outside chance at the No. 1 seed but that would take a Las Cruces loss to Centennial Friday night at Field of Dreams and some favorable math. The Bulldawgs beat Cleveland earlier this season in a thriller at Lightning Bolt Stadium.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>UNM commitment <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='851903' first='Jacob' last='Maldonado']</strong> scored three touchdowns – two receiving and one rushing – and quarterback <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='851873' first='Jordan' last='Kekoa Hatch']</strong> threw four TD passes as Cleveland dominated from start to finish on both sides of the ball against the Rams.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cleveland has now beaten Rio Rancho 12 straight times. &nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The tone was set early in Thursday's City of Vision matchup. Rio Rancho mishandled the kickoff and was tackled inside the 5-yard line. On the second play, Rams QB [player_tooltip player_id='1604705' first='Micah' last='Takahashi']'s pas was tipped and intercepted by senior Karson Weddle. Cleveland quickly scored on <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='851903' first='Jacob' last='Maldonado']</strong>'s sweep around the left side less than one minute into the game.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Rio Rancho punted on its second possession when a promising start was sabotaged by a sack. Maldonado's 20+ yard run across midfield ignited Cleveland's second drive of the night. Moments later, WR <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1613490' first='Evan' last='Nanez']</strong> caught a short Hatch pass to the outside, evaded several Rio Rancho defenders and raced down the right sidelines for the touchdown.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cleveland led, 14-0, less than four minutes into the game.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Rio Rancho appeared to have something going on their third drive as they moved into Cleveland territory. However, Takahashi was sacked on fourth down from the CLE 37 to turn the ball over to the Storm.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cleveland scored less than 30 seconds into the second quarter on Maldonado's run right up the middle to take a 21-0 lead.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Rio Rancho put together another promising drive before disaster struck again for the Rams. Karson Weddle jumped the route on Takahashi's pass to the flat around midfield and raced down the sideline into the end zone for the TD that gave Cleveland a 28-0 lead with 8:29 left in the 2^nd quarter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Eighth-grader <strong>Crew Victor</strong> replaced Takahashi at quarterback in the middle of Rio Rancho's next possession when the latter apparently suffered an injury. He was seen with a sling around his arm during the post-game handshake.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Victor finished the drive, which ended with <strong>Ethan Rolon</strong>'s short TD run with 3:30 left in the second quarter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Unfazed, Cleveland drove down the field. Running back <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1600936' first='Samuel' last='Bustillos']</strong> (9 rushes for 90 yards and 1 TD) broke free for a long run early in the drive and Hatch connected with WR <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1651252' first='Ajay' last='Vigil'] </strong>for a pass to the RR 2-yard line. Cleveland scored moments later on a short run to increase its lead to 35-7 with 25 seconds left in the second quarter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cleveland scored the first points of the second half – and ignited the running clock - on a Hatch TD pass to Maldonado in the back of the end zone three minutes into the third quarter.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The score made its 42-7. The rest of the game was played with a running clock.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Late in the third quarter, Cleveland blocked a Rio Rancho field goal attempt, scooped up the loose football and ran to the RR 3. Hatch quickly threw a short TD pass to <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1142637' first='Noah' last='Escudero']</strong> to make it 49-7.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Victor ran for a Rio Rancho TD on fourth down in the fourth quarter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>While the Rams were routed by their rival, they can take solace in Victor's solid performance at quarterback. He finished 5-for-7 passing for 34 yards. Takahashi is a junior, so he'll be back next year. But for 2027 and beyond, Victor is the future. He has been the JV starting quarterback all season and done well.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Thursday Night Scoreboard (Oct. 30)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cleveland 49, Rio Rancho 14 (Cleveland wins District 6A-1)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Eldorado 70, Atrisco Heritage 43</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>West Mesa 34, Santa Fe 30</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Highland 48, Del Norte 14</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Belen 22, Capital 14</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Albuquerque Academy 34, Valencia 0</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Pojoaque Valley 19, West Las Vegas 16</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Legacy Academy 6, Santa Rosa 0 (Legacy Academy wins District 2A-2) </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Navajo Prep 30, Newcomb 22</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Gallup 40, Shiprock 20</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Cleveland-Rio Rancho</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Video 1: Team Runouts</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/SQlzx_5q4SA?si=uTrGpZnGYZ3-P0Bo","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/SQlzx_5q4SA?si=uTrGpZnGYZ3-P0Bo </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Video 2: First quarter (Two Cleveland TDs)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/hKb35oLE2b0?si=V-v8V-C0CzTVTu1N","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/hKb35oLE2b0?si=V-v8V-C0CzTVTu1N </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Video 3: Late First Quarter/Early Second Quarter (Cleveland TD)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/ouJd_UAcxFo?si=8xXJWAri4FuLMXzY","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/ouJd_UAcxFo?si=8xXJWAri4FuLMXzY </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Video 4: Second Quarter (Rio Rancho TD)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/cem1b-gCSRM?si=jqOO7rie8kpHqsx-","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/cem1b-gCSRM?si=jqOO7rie8kpHqsx- </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Video 5: Late Second Quarter (Cleveland TD)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/UkMwjtLScR4?si=-VGJk1b17ghVC7Eb","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/UkMwjtLScR4?si=-VGJk1b17ghVC7Eb </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Video 6: Third Quarter (Cleveland TD) </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://youtu.be/fSLXl2p5aw8?si=VZlUn30AnAxS-jWM","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/fSLXl2p5aw8?si=VZlUn30AnAxS-jWM </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Additional Highlights</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">FOOTBALL: Belen beat Capital 22-14 on Thursday night with a go-ahead touchdown by Elijah Schaffino-Vallejo in the 4th quarter. The Eagles improve to 6-4 overall and 5-2 in district. Here are some of the highlights (courtesy NFHS network/Sports Primo) <a href="https://t.co/gRMwLa0rzw">pic.twitter.com/gRMwLa0rzw</a></p>&mdash; NMAA (@_NMAA) <a href="https://twitter.com/_NMAA/status/1984286435772625087?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2025</a></blockquote> <!-- /wp:html -->