First Round Sights and Sounds: Mayfield-Highland (Recap/Video)

<p>This weekend featured 20 First Round playoff games across the state of New Mexico on Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Here is the recap and extensive video from Friday night's Mayfield-Highland 5A showdown at Milne Stadium.</p>   <p><strong>Highland 36, Mayfield 22</strong></p>   <p>Highland amassed nearly 400 yards on the ground in eliminating Mayfield from the Class 5A playoffs. Running backs <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1688720' first='William' last='Anchondo']</strong> (156 yards on 6 carries) and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1137423' first='Jose' last='Tapia']</strong> (220 yards on 33 carries) did most of the damage for the Hornets, combining for 376 yards and 5 touchdowns. Anchondo rushed for three TDs in the first half before Tapia took over most of the ball carrying duties in the second.</p>   <p>Anchondo's 56-yard TD run with 3:15 left in the first quarter gave the Hornets a 7-0 lead. Mayfield took the ensuing kickoff and drove the length of the field for a short TD run by QB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1599566' first='Xavier' last='Ochoa']</strong> and a successful 2-point conversion to take an 8-7 lead with 10:16 left in the second quarter.</p>   <p>Highland required all of 25 seconds to respond. Anchondo broke loose for a 63-yard TD run on the Hornets first offensive snap to hand the lead back to Highland at 13-8.</p>   <p>The Hornets never trailed again.</p>   <p>Anchondo's 18-yard TD run – his third score of the first half – pushed Highland's lead to 20-8 midway through the second quarter. Mayfield drove inside the red zone – Ochoa's 40-yard scamper was the big play – and eventually had one final play from the 5-yard line with two seconds left. Ochoa's pass into the back middle of the end zone was intercepted by DB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1787474' first='Curtis' last='Ryan']</strong>, keeping the score at 20-8 at halftime.</p>   <p>After stopping Mayfield on downs at the HIGH 29 in the third quarter, the Hornets launched a long, time-consuming drive that drained about 8 minutes off the clock. Tapia scored on a TD run on the next-to-last play of the third quarter to send the Hornets into the final frame with a 28-8 lead.</p>   <p>Early in the fourth quarter, Mayfield scored on a short TD run to cut the deficit to 28-15. Again, Highland needed little time to respond as Tapia raced 30+ yards for his second TD of the night to increase the lead back to three scores at 36-15.</p>   <p>Ochoa's 53-yard TD run less than a minute later made it 36-22. The Trojans attempted an onsides kick and recovered, giving them the ball around midfield. Seconds later, Ochoa threw an apparent TD pass to a wide open Mayfield receiver, but the score was nullified by a holding penalty. Mayfield also had a punt return for a TD negated by a penalty in the first quarter.</p>   <p>Moments after the apparent TD pass was wiped out, Mayfield fumbled the snap and Highland recovered. Sticking to the ground, the Hornets drained the remaining 5-1/2 minutes off the clock to seal the win and a trip to Artesia for next weekend's 5A quarterfinals.</p>   <p>Hornets junior LB <strong>Tony Fisher</strong> tied for the team high in tackles with 7, had 5.0 tackles for loss and collected 2.0 sacks. </p>   <p><strong>VIDEO 1: First Quarter (Highland TD)</strong></p>   <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/LCtmBNs10Q0?si=dNzXHtHKn6mGc3Zg </div></figure>   <p><strong>VIDEO 2: Second Quarter (Mayfield TD)</strong></p>   <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/1D60ciM-dnM?si=GNQ4qOsFtQsRwoRN </div></figure>   <p><strong>VIDEO 3: Second Quarter (Highland TD)</strong></p>   <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/pTn2DF8L-Ck?si=3VCqSppvgFT1mH8F </div></figure>   <p><strong>VIDEO 4: Late Second Quarter (Mayfield Stopped)</strong></p>   <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/FY-cnAGsjDI?si=6X9JjsuPJOTmnCtU </div></figure>   <p><strong>VIDEO 5: Third Quarter (Highland TD)</strong></p>   <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/azfaKw1KDZ8?si=9sRiFq3QtNsawand </div></figure>   <p><strong>VIDEO 6: Fourth Quarter (Mayfield TD)</strong></p>   <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/gpO9JcMgEbc?si=L810UDP1y556mlA0 </div></figure>   <p><strong>VIDEO 7: Fourth Quarter</strong> <strong>(Highland Forces Turnover + Runs out Clock)</strong></p>   <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/jii_IkS2ThI?si=HZMpD_mX1CgrQdFY </div></figure>   <p><strong>ADDITIONAL HIGHLIGHTS</strong></p>   <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">PLAYOFF FOOTBALL: Los Lunas beat Piedra Vista 28-24 on Friday. The Tigers advance to play #1 Las Cruces next week. Here are some of the highlights (courtesy NFHS network) <a href="https://t.co/cNqCIqa0Lw">pic.twitter.com/cNqCIqa0Lw</a></p>— NMAA (@_NMAA) <a href="https://twitter.com/_NMAA/status/1987020747974570392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 8, 2025</a></blockquote>   <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/PUqK5mnqXlc?si=g3PVik4dW_MAIeO3 </div></figure>

This weekend featured 20 First Round playoff games across the state of New Mexico on Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Here is the recap and extensive video from Friday night's Mayfield-Highland 5A showdown at Milne Stadium.