The 10 Finalists For The 2025 New Mexico Heisman Award

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The 2025 New Mexico High School football season was filled with exceptional performances. We're getting closer to awarding the 2025 New Mexico Heisman to the most deserving players. As we've said before, this is an individual award based on team success (much like the real life college football award). Here are the 10 finalists for the 2025 New Mexico Heisman Award:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1137388' first='Daniel' last='Amaro'], Las Cruces</strong>: Amaro wasn't the state's rushing leader, be he was arguably the best running back all season long. He rushed for 1,843 yards and a staggering 39 TD, fourth most for a single season in state history. He also caught 3 TD for a total of 42 TD, tying him for fourth most in state history. He was clearly the Bulldawgs' go-to guy in the red zone and combined with quarterback [player_tooltip player_id='853029' first='Gunnar' last='Guardiola'] to give Las Cruces perhaps the most dynamic offense in the state. Amaro was a huge reason Las Crices reached the Class 6A state championship game for the first time since 2016. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Manual Chavarria, Bloomfield</strong>: Is he the favorite? Chavarria, rewarded for his patience, had a remarkable season in his one year directing the Bloomfield offense. He led the state in passing with 3,577 yards and 53 TD passes (fourth most in state history). Only two quarterbacks have thrown more TD passes in a single season than Chavarria. The Bobcats finished 12-1 and captured their second consecutive Class 4A state championship with an emphatic win over St. Pius X in last Saturday's title game.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1613755' first='Cross' last='Figg'], Texico</strong>: If there was an award for Most Valuable Player, Figg would probably win it because no player meant more to his team than Figg this season. Figg took the reins of the Texico offense when starting QB [player_tooltip player_id='1343408' first='Bennett' last='Wahlen'] was injured in the opening game of the season and didn't return until the regular season finale. Figg threw for close to 1,000 yards and rushed for 1,668 yards and 19 TD, narrowly missing joining the prestigious 1,000-1,000 club. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='851873' first='Jordan' last='Kekoa Hatch'], Cleveland</strong>: Hatch closed out his prep career by helping lead the Storm to a second consecutive Class 6A state championship. Hatch finished the season with 2,896 passing yards and 40 TD passes. He completed an amazing 75.2 percent of his passes, so his accuracy was uncanny.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1604744' first='Jordan' last='Herrera'], Los Alamos</strong>: In many way, this was the Year of the Running Back in New Mexico. Nobody was better than Herrera, who rushed for a state best 2,224 yards and 34 TD to lead theilltoppers to HIlltoppers to an undefeated regaulr season &nbsp;Hilltoppers to an unbeaten regular season and the District 5A-1 championship. He was the only running back with more than 1,900 rushing yards, although eight had 1,500+ yards.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1605057' first='Junior' last='Medrano'], Hobbs</strong>: Hobbs has a history of producing outstanding quarterbacks (Gavin Hadison, etc.) and Medrano could be remembered as one of the all-time great for the Eagles. He threw for 1,811 yards and 22 TD while rushing for 1,475 yards and 16 TD. Overall, he accounted for 3,286 yards and 38 TD to lead Hobbs to its first ever Clas s6A playoff semifinal berth and its first semifinal berth in any classification since 1981. He'll go into next season near the top of most lists of the best quarterback in the state. &nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='854273' first='Elijah' last='Melancon'], Eunice</strong>: Eunice was beaten in the Class 2A championship game by Texico, but that loss doesn't diminish Melancon's superb senior season. He threw for 2,648 yards and 38 TD passes. He concluded his remarkable career with 10,830 passing yards and 154 TD passes. He is second all-time on the state's career passing yardage list and second all-time in career TD passes.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1250361' first='Hershul' last='Olloway Jr']., St. Pius X</strong>: The speedy Olloway eclipsed 1,700 rushing yards for the second straight season as he helped lead the Sartans advance to the Class 4A state championship game for the second straight season. Olloway is arguably the fastest player in the state and numerous times this season he showed off the blazing speed that has caught the attention of major college coaches. He goes into his senior season in 2026 with 3,715 rushing yards, giving him an excellent chance of becoming just the seventh RB in state history to surpass 5,000 career rushing yards.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1139144' first='Bryce' last='Parra'], Artesia</strong>: It was very difficult deciding between Parra and Artesia QB [player_tooltip player_id='1672571' first='Derrick' last='Warren'] as to which Artesia standout should be on this coveted list. I went with Parra because not only was he an outstanding running back (1,231 rushing yards + 17 TD) this season, he was also exceptional on special teams. Para had FOUR kickoff returns for touchdowns this season. It's rare enough just to get one, but four in one season? Wow. And they all seemed to come at big times in games, too.           </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1600843' first='Kamal' last='Stith'], St. Michael's</strong>: Stith's Heisman Moment may have come towards the end of Saturday's 3A state championship game against Dexter when Stith powered his way into the end zone on a fourth-and-5 play from the 10-yard line to give St. Michael's the lead, and the title. Stith passed for a school record 33 TD and rushed for 786 yards. Dynamic dual threat QB.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">2025 season highlights <br>back to back 6A state champions!<br>75% completions<br>40 passing TD<br>5 INT<br>45 total TD<br>2896 yards passing<br>3,043 total yards<br>146 passer rating <a href="https://twitter.com/Coach_Ridenour?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Coach_Ridenour</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Coach_RGarza?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Coach_RGarza</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MooseB90?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MooseB90</a><a href="https://twitter.com/nmpreps?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@nmpreps</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/PrepRedzoneNM?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PrepRedzoneNM</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/nmprepcosports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@nmprepcosports</a><a href="https://twitter.com/AdamDiehl15?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AdamDiehl15</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/SebastianNoel47?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SebastianNoel47</a>…</p>&mdash; [player_tooltip player_id='851873' first='Jordan' last='Kekoa Hatch'] (@Kekoa1_) <a href="https://twitter.com/Kekoa1_/status/1995906972437413929?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 2, 2025</a></blockquote> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:html --> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Regular season highlights/stats❗️<br>144 Carries 1,514 yds<br>10.51 avg per carry <br>18 receptions 359 yds <br>2,097 all purpose yds <br>36 Touchdowns <br>⁦<a href="https://twitter.com/mjlopezdawgs?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@mjlopezdawgs</a>⁩ ⁦<a href="https://twitter.com/LCHSFOOTBALL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@LCHSFOOTBALL</a>⁩ ⁦<a href="https://twitter.com/PrepRedzoneNM?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PrepRedzoneNM</a>⁩ <a href="https://t.co/ake4yKimw1">pic.twitter.com/ake4yKimw1</a></p>&mdash; [player_tooltip player_id='1137388' first='Daniel' last='Amaro'] (@AmaroDaniel22) <a href="https://twitter.com/AmaroDaniel22/status/1986634668972871787?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 7, 2025</a></blockquote> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:html --> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Season Highlights <br>2,222 rushing yards #1 in NM<br>35 total touchdowns <a href="https://twitter.com/Coach_Eck?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Coach_Eck</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Waters21John?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Waters21John</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/c_crawfordiii?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@c_crawfordiii</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Coach_BerryFB?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Coach_BerryFB</a> <a href="https://t.co/lAgSMGM0z9">https://t.co/lAgSMGM0z9</a> <a href="https://t.co/vv6rgDM0pk">pic.twitter.com/vv6rgDM0pk</a></p>&mdash; [player_tooltip player_id='1604744' first='Jordan' last='Herrera'] (@JordanHerrera27) <a href="https://twitter.com/JordanHerrera27/status/1991218696178790431?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 19, 2025</a></blockquote> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:html --> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Regular Season Highlights‼️<br><br>9 games played<br>126 carries 1558 yards <br>12.4 yards a carry<br>13 catches 260 yards<br>25 total TDs<br>1,818 all purpose yards✅<a href="https://twitter.com/PrepRedzoneNM?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PrepRedzoneNM</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/nmpreps?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@nmpreps</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/thecoachflakes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@thecoachflakes</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/docampo98?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@docampo98</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MonahanJordyn?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MonahanJordyn</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/popetrey8?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@popetrey8</a> <a href="https://t.co/pGGiIXUoPc">https://t.co/pGGiIXUoPc</a></p>&mdash; [player_tooltip player_id='1250361' first='Hershul' last='Olloway Jr'] (@Hersh_Olloway2) <a href="https://twitter.com/Hersh_Olloway2/status/1987605397923144155?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 9, 2025</a></blockquote> <!-- /wp:html -->