Week 3 In Review: Top Players

Week 3 of this extraordinary – and abbreviated - New Mexico high school spring football season unfolded this past weekend across the state. Here are the standout performers and units for the weekend: <strong>Jaden Cowley, Atrisco Heritage</strong>: The secret is out. Cowley is a pretty good running back. He rushed for 166 yards on just 9 carries and multiple touchdowns in Atrisco’s 55-8 victory over Manzano last Thursday. <strong>Myles Lane, Atrisco Heritage</strong>: The sophomore quarterback completed 7-of-11 passes for 62 yards and two touchdowns in Atrisco’s big win. Another talented 20213 QB to watch. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26179" first="Chris" last="Rios"], Atrisco Heritage</strong>: Atrisco’s best defensive player recorded 12 tackles in just over two quarters due to AHS’ lopsided win. Rios has signed with Bethel University in Minnesota. <strong>Eunice’s Rushing Attack</strong>: The Cardinals registered 286 rushing yards on 27 carries (10.6 yards per carry) in their 42-6 win over Loving. Junior Conagher Pierce led the way with 130 yards on 10 carries. QB Hayden Dean added 88 yards on 11 carries. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26223" first="Cord" last="Cox"], Artesia</strong>: After struggling a week ago in a loss to Goddard, Cox bounced back with a solid performance in Artesia’s 43-28 victory over Roswell at the Bulldog Bowl, ending the Coyotes’ 19-game winning streak. Cox was 13-of-16 passing for 167 yards and 3 touchdowns. <strong>Jake Barrera, Artesia</strong>: We knew it was going to be Barrera’s night when he took a handoff on Artesia’s first offensive play of the night and raced 58 yards for a touchdown less than a minute into the game. He finished with 180 yards rushing on 22 workhorse carries. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26164" first="Braxton" last="McDonald"], Artesia</strong>: Arguably the state’s top wide receiver did it again with eight receptions for 111 yards and 3 touchdowns. For the season, he has 25 receptions for 307 yards and 5 TDs. <strong>Alonzo Acosta, Roswell</strong>: One of the Coyotes’ few bright spots in a 43-28 loss to Artesia. He had 11 catches for 246 yards and two TDs. <strong>Bernalillo Defense</strong>: The Spartans put the clamps on the Albuquerque Academy offense, limiting the Chargers to less than 100 yards in total offense in a 43-0 win. <strong>Uriel Mendoza, Carlsbad</strong>: He scored the game-winning TD on a 10-yard run with 11 seconds left to lift Carlsbad to a 27-21 win over Hobbs. <strong>Carlsbad Defense</strong>: The Cavemen forced six turnovers by the Hobbs offense, a key and sometimes overlooked factor in the Cavemen’s narrow 6-point win. <strong>Kaden Trevino, Hobbs</strong>: Four receptions for 146 yards and 1 TD in the loss to Carlsbad. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26252" first="Chance" last="Carrillo"], Farmington</strong>: He caught a 37-yard TD pass from his brother Caleb in the third quarter before helping spark Farmington’s 28-point fourth quarter in a 49-28 win over Bloomfield. His highlight reel 60-yard TD reception in which he broke three tackles was ‘Top 10 Plays of the Day’ worthy. It gave Farmington a 42-21 lead with 5 minutes left. <strong>Jaiden Shaw, Las Cruces</strong>: With the score tied 14-14 late in the in the third quarter, Bulldawgs QB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26160" first="Marcos" last="Lopez"]</strong> completed a deep pass to Shaw, who hauled in the throw for a 65-yard touchdown. The score ignited a 28-point run by Las Cruces in their 42-14 win over Onate. Later, Shaw laid out for a 31-yard TD reception from Lopez to make it 35-14. <strong>Terrell Hocker, Grants</strong>: He led the Pirates to a 51-0 victory over Gallup by rushing 81 yards and 5 yards for a pair of TDs and returning a fumble 55 yards for another TD. He also rushed for a 2-pt conversion. He accounted for 20 points. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26265" first="Martell" last="Mora"], Santa Fe</strong>: The Demons needed a victory against Los Alamos in the worst way possible after being trounced by Rio Rancho a week earlier in the season opener. Mora lifted Santa Fe to a 40-0 shutout win by rushing for 100 yards and scoring three touchdowns. <strong>Dominic Sais, St. Pius X</strong>: He scored a pair of rushing touchdowns and recovered a fumble in St. Pius X’s 21-6 win over Moriarty. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26169" first="Nathaniel" last="Stone"], Goddard</strong>: The Rockets spread the wealth in a surprisingly easy 50-0 victory over Lovington. Stone scored a TD on offense and intercepted a pass to key the Rockets’ defense. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26186" first="Luke" last="Padilla"], Capital</strong>: Padilla rushed for 5 touchdowns as capital crushed Pojoaque Valley in Santa Fe. <strong>Cayden Walton, Raton</strong>: The sophomore running back did it all in Raton’s 36-12 win over Estancia, gaining huge chunks of yardage running the football and catching passes. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26260" first="Calvin" last="Cox"], Mayfield</strong>: Cox led the way in Mayfield’s 28-7 win over Deming at the Field of Dreams by rushing for over 140 yards and two touchdowns, including a 49-yard scamper in the second quarter. Mayfield totaled 215 yards on the ground. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26251" first="Zakk" last="Thomas"], Kirtland Central</strong>:  The Broncos trailed 21-7 early in the fourth quarter when Thomas went to work. He first scored on a 5-yard TD run, then returned a punt 66 yards for a score to give Kirtland Central a lead they would never relinquish. Thomas capped off his fantastic fourth quarter with a 26-yard TD reception. <strong>Paul Cieremans, Los Lunas</strong>: Another talented quarterback in the 2023 class emerged Saturday as Cieremans threw for one touchdown and ran for two more scores in Los Lunas’ wire-to-wire 31-20 victory over La Cueva. Cieremans’ second TD run went for 85 yards. <strong>Gabe Dickerman, Texico</strong>: The Wolverines’ QB accounted for five touchdowns in Texico’s 43-21 victory over Santa Rosa, three passing and two running. He finished 18-of-26 passing for 253 yards while rushing for 166 yards. <strong>Baylor Diaz, Portales</strong>: The Rams’ QB threw a 60-yard TD pass and ran 15 yards for another score in Portales’ 45-10 win over Ruidoso. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26163" first="Trey" last="Ortega"], Cleveland</strong>: Ortega scored three touchdowns on a 48-yard reception and two rushes and intercepted a pas sin Cleveland’s 36-21 victory over centennial in Socorro. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26178" first="Tyler" last="Jensen"], Cleveland</strong>: Jensen rushed for 162 yards on 18 carries in Cleveland’s win over Centennial. This is what the Storm thought they were getting when Jensen transferred from La Cueva last summer. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26198" first="Joey" last="Cave"], Rio Rancho</strong>: After [player_tooltip player_id="26196" first="Tommy" last="Lujan"] provided Rio Rancho with its lone first half points on an 89-yard kickoff return, Cave led a second half Rams comeback in a 27-14 win over Clovis. Cave ran 32 yards for a TD and then connected with WQR Elijah Figueroa on a 58-yard TD pass. <strong>Johnny Herrera, Volcano Vista</strong>: The Hawks’ QB had himself quite a game in Volcano Vista’s 47-43 shootout win over Eldorado Saturday. Herrera threw for 381 yards and 6 TDs, two to <strong>Kaden Valdez</strong> and two to <strong>Kieran Cordova</strong>. The winning points came on Valdez’s stunning kickoff return in the closing seconds. https://twitter.com/johnny_ix/status/1373820687975026694 https://twitter.com/_NMAA/status/1373468159986999296 https://twitter.com/artesiafootball/status/1373856990947016705 https://twitter.com/rios552/status/1373733429720743939 https://twitter.com/VCNewsBulletin/status/1373422880298569735 https://twitter.com/CHSStormFB/status/1373403154050613249