Sights and Sounds: Week 1 (Video and Recaps)

<p>Week 1 of the 2026 New Mexico High School Football season is in the book, As always, Prep Redzone New Mexico was there to capture the sights and sounds of the nonstop action:</p>   <p><strong>Cleveland 34, Centennial 7</strong></p>   <p>The Cleveland Storm are the two-time defending Class 6A champions and Friday night they demonstrated they're not willing to give up the crown without a fight.</p>   <p>Their dominating win over Centennial began early when the Storm took the opening kickoff and quickly drove down the field, scoring the game's first touchdown on an 8-yard pass from new starting <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2181232' first='Michael' last='Denison']</strong> to elite WR <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1613490' first='Evan' last='Nanez']</strong>, our No. 1 prospect in the 2028 class.</p>   <p>Naez showed off his elite athleticism on the first play of the second quarter when he caught a fourth down pass by Dension, shook off multiple Centennial defenders and raced 36 yards into the end zone to give Cleveland a 14-0 lead.</p>   <p>The Storm increased their lead to 20-0 a few minutes later when they took advantage of a short Centennial punt. Denison lofted a fourth down TD pass to 6-foot-3 junior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1473331' first='Kaeleb' last='Escudero']</strong> into the left corner of the end zone. Escudeo did a great job catching the pass and keeping his feet inbounds.</p>   <p>Cleveland added one more TD before halftime when Denison fired quick pass to WR <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1651252' first='Ajay' last='Vigil']</strong> over the middle and Vigil did the rest, outracing the Centennial defense for an 80-yard TD play. Centennial drove inside the 5-yard line with just seconds remaining in the first half. But a fourth-down pass into the end zone fell incomplete.</p>   <p>Cleveland led, 27-0, at halftime.</p>   <p>Just as the two teams were getting ready to take the field for the second half kickoff, a nearby lightning strike forced a lengthy weather delay. When the teams finally returned to the field, each team scored one TD in the second half before the Storm celebrated their first win of the season. The Storm hosts Littleton (CO) Chatfield in Week 2. Centennial travels to El Paso (TX) Andress.</p>   <p><strong>Video 1: Cleveland's Opening TD Drive</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/EeA0fjbNAEY?si=FlI4O1lTx3UM_TR9 </div></figure>   <p><strong>Video 2: Late First Quarter</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/Y7jx7R379ME?si=cDVjNpNCK1qV7sbz </div></figure>   <p>Video 3: Early Second Quarter (Cleveland TD)</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/us17v1zZ10s?si=L5K6vFWmQk-V0pDK </div></figure>   <p><strong>Video 4: Late Second Quarter (Centennial Stopped On 4th Down)</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/br8sm-EJgsU?si=lmFhQtd3EKKkHCsb </div></figure>   <p><strong>Albuquerque Academy 40, Manzano 12</strong></p>   <p>For Albuquerque Academy, the 2026 season couldn't have started much better. Moments after an interception, senior quarterback <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1369761' first='William' last='Braun']</strong> tossed a 90-yard TD pass to WR <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1605074' first='Logan' last='Hague']</strong> down the right sideline on the Chargers' FIRST play from scrimmage. Later in the first quarter, Braun threw another TD pass to Hague to give Academy a 13-0 lead. The Chargers' defense did its part in the first quarter as well by forcing three Manzano turnovers. Two of those miscues turned into Academy touchdowns.</p>   <p>Academy expanded its lead to 19-0 on the first play of the second quarter when Braun found Hague in the end zone for the third time. Trailing by three scores, Manzano bounced back in the final 10 minutes of the second quarter when dynamic RB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1613352' first='Broden' last='Price']</strong> ran for a TD out of the Wildcat midway through the frame and the Monarchs' special teams blocked two punts. Academy led, 19-6, at halftime.</p>   <p>The Chargers took the second half kickoff and drained more than 6 minutes off the clock with a drive culminated by Braun's fourth TD pass of the game to sophomore <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2262641' first='Emilio' last='Houghton']</strong> in the middle of the end zone. Manzano responded with Price's 52-yard TD run out of the Wildcat to make it 26-12 with 5:18 left in the third quarter. But Academy controlled the rest of the way, scoring a pair of touchdowns (one of them was Braun's 5<sup>th</sup> TD pass of the game) to put the game out of reach. </p>   <p><strong>Video 1: First Quarter (Albuquerque Academy INT + 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/guC9IA3e8oY?si=k8K0CiQvH1bvc08A </div></figure>   <p><strong>Video 2: Late First Quarter (Albuquerque Academy 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/k4jFPCl3mpU?si=JhOrPpE-k38lwkJd </div></figure>   <p><strong>Video 3: Second Quarter (Manzano 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/JpVw85TPrH0?si=LXHnsDZ-vv4icude </div></figure>   <p><strong>Video 4: Third Quarter (Albuquerque Academy TD Drive)</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/4myKBLafgzA?si=GpIrfohGOf4ydKeI </div></figure>   <p><strong>Video 5: Late Third Quarter</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/k6SoJ2JJK90?si=TQN0wPXXjYXLF_M4 </div></figure>   <p><strong>Video 6: Fourth Quarter (Albuquerque Academy 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/oebfiIrMAZs?si=I6qWS4yus1a_7tR- </div></figure>   <p><strong>Video 7: Fourth Quarter (Albuquerque Academy 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/en2xyz6UkjY?si=WGsyJerJHWxazYmQ </div></figure>   <p><strong>Additional Highlights (Courtesy of NMAA)</strong></p>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/_NMAA/status/2090810555997311482 </div></figure>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/_NMAA/status/2091002902919987335 </div></figure>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/_NMAA/status/2091016475167605071 </div></figure>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/_NMAA/status/2091020935201783965 </div></figure>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/_NMAA/status/2091022186870178088 </div></figure>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/_NMAA/status/2091245370085081495 </div></figure>

Week 1 of the 2026 New Mexico High School Football season is in the book, As always, Prep Redzone New Mexico was there to capture the sights and sounds of the nonstop action: