Week 2 Preview: Top 25 Players To Watch

Week 2 of the New Mexico High School football season gets underway Thursday night with three games: Volcano Vista-Manzano (Wilson), Rio Grande-Atrisco Heritage (Community) and West Las Vegas-Santa Rosa. The loaded schedule continues Friday night with dozens of games throughout the state. Here are our 25 players to watch in Week 2: <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26227" first="Zach" last="Vigil"], Rio Rancho</strong>: We finally get a chance to watch the state’s #1 running back in action as the Rams pen their season Friday night against La Cueva at Wilson Stadium. Vigil vs. the La Cueva defensive front seven is one of the best matchups of the weekend. <strong>Dominick Priddy, Rio Rancho</strong>: Priddy was considered the favorite to win the starting QB job for the Rams, and that’s what happened. Priddy gets his first career start against the tough la Cueva defense. <strong>Hunter Haemker, La Cueva</strong>: The senor LB showed why he has been offered by New Mexico in last Saturday’s win over Cibola. He had an interception and led the stellar defensive effort that effectively silenced the Cougars’ offense over the final three quarters. Now Haemker set their sights on Vigil and the Rio Rancho offense. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="135101" first="Tyler" last="Martinez"], Volcano Vista</strong>: Martinez was Volcano Vista’s top defensive player in Week 1’s loss to Las Cruces at the Field of Dreams with 10 tackles, seven unassisted. He’ll be counted on again when the Hawks face Manzano Thursday night. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="135097" first="Kaden" last="Valdez"], Volcano Vista</strong>: Valdez was the undisputed leader of Volcano Vista’s ‘Special K’ WR unit in the spring with 22 receptions in just three games. Along with the two Kierans – Cordova and Gonzales – Valdez is the headliner in the Hawks’ aerial show. <strong>Zakye Hawkins, Las Cruces</strong>: Along with La Cueva’s Exodus Ayers, Hawkins was one of the top breakout wide receivers in Week 1. He’s only a sophomore, but his dynamic skills were on full display against Volcano Vista last weekend. His leaping TD catch in the final seconds of the first half was magical. Hawkins is quickly becoming one of the ‘must-see’ players in NM high school football. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="134986" first="Maverick" last="Gracio"] , Cibola</strong>: After a frustrating Week 1, the Cougars have a daunting task ahead of them Friday night in trying to contain the Las Cruces offense and keep QB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26253" first="Dallas" last="Boyd"]</strong> in the pocket. The Cibola defense must bring its ‘A’ game to the party. Gracio had 60 tackles as a sophomore in 2019 and enjoyed a solid spring. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="138204" first="Josh" last="Perry"], Cleveland</strong>: Perry, a junior, totaled 73 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns on 17 carries against Centennial last week. Franklin is considered one of the top prep programs in El Paso, so the Storm must run the football to have a chance to beat them. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="138050" first="Kenyon" last="Singleton"], Hobbs</strong>: The junior LB keyed Hobbs’ shutout win over Clovis by collecting 14 tackles. Singleton and [player_tooltip player_id="135118" first="Aldo" last="Argott"] are one of the top LB duos in the state. The Artesia offense scored only 6 points in the Eddy County War loss to Carlsbad. Big opportunity for the Hobbs defense to make some noise again. <strong>Joshua Sanchez, Alamogordo</strong>: The Tigers face Los Lunas and impressive 2023 QB [player_tooltip player_id="137885" first="Paul" last="Cieremans"] on Friday. Los Lunas will score points, as they proved last week at Piedra Vista.  Alamogordo is coming off a lopsided 45-6 win over Valencia, and must find a way to keep up with Los Lunas. That’s where Sanchez comes in. He rushed for 136 yards on just 10 carries in Week 1. The Los Lunas defense should provide a stiffer test. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="138088" first="Javyn" last="Morales"], Goddard</strong>: Just as Vigil makes his debut for Rio Rancho this weekend, so does Morales, arguably the state’s fastest player and reigning 100 meters champion in Class 4A. The Rockets are ranked No. 3 by MaxPreps and Morales is probably a major factor in that lofty ranking. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="137916" first="Dane" last="Naylor"], Carlsbad</strong>: Can the Cavemen go to the Wool Bowl and beat Goddard? We’ll see Friday night. Naylor, though, must be in top form as he was in last Friday’s Eddy County War win over Artesia. Naylor dominated the game in the second half and led Cavemen to a satisfying win. <strong>LB Sal Ronquillo, Organ Mountain</strong>: Ronquillo is the leader of Organ Mountain’s improved defense, one featuring a deep front seven and an athletic secondary. Last week they held Albuquerque to 14 points in a three-TD win on the road. Now the Knights must contain Deming RB [player_tooltip player_id="134903" first="Joey" last="Reza"]. The last few years have been challenging for Organ Mountain, but Week 1 showed they might be able to compete for a Class 6A playoff berth. We’ll know more after this week. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="134970" first="Jose" last="Montoya"], Mayfield</strong>: One-half of Mayfield’s talented backfield duo along with [player_tooltip player_id="26260" first="Calvin" last="Cox"], Montoya sparked the Week 1 road win at Manzano with 176 yards rushing. Now Montoya, Cox and the entire Trojans offense runs into an Eldorado defense that stonewalled West Mesa last Saturday. It will be an intriguing battle. <strong>Ashton Aranda, Lovington</strong>: The Wildcats’ offense struggled in the 14-6 road win at Santa Teresa last weekend. The main culprit was an ineffective ground game that gained just 26 yards on 18 carries. In short, Lovington was one-dimensional on offense. That can’t be the case this week against Roswell. <strong>Diego Snell-Martinez, Bloomfield</strong>: Snell-Martinez was a major reason Bloomfield was able to sneak past St. Pius X, 29-26, in Week 1. He collected 87 rushing yards on 11 carries, an average of nearly 8.0 yards per carry. Bloomfield faces another formidable opponent on the road this week – Hope Christian. <strong>C.J. Perea, West Las Vegas</strong>: Perea emerged in Week 1 as one of the most exciting freshman players in the state, passing for 165 yards (11-17) and rushing for 73 in the Dons’ 34-8 win over Highland. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="137892" first="Myles" last="Lane"], Atrisco Heritage</strong>: The Jaguars got a forfeit victory over Del Norte in Week 1, so Lane hasn’t stepped onto a field yet. He showed in the spring as a sophomore that he has dynamic dual threat capabilities. AHS faces Rio Grande Thursday night. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="135110" first="Cayden" last="Dunn"], Moriarty</strong>: Covid denied the Pintos its season opener last week. Now they face Santa Fe and talented RB/DB [player_tooltip player_id="26265" first="Martell" last="Mora"]. Dunn is one of the most underrated running backs in the state. In 15 career games for Moriarty, he’s rushed for 1,046 yards and 9 touchdowns on 165 carries, an impressive average of 6.34 yards per attempt. If Moriarty wants to pull the upset, Dunn must have a big night. <strong>Jakob Green, Los Alamos</strong>: The Hilltoppers unveiled a new offensive scheme in their 2021 season opener against Espanola Valley, and Los Alamos put 57 points on the scoreboard. Green completed 21-of-29 passes for 238 yards and 2 touchdowns. The Taos defense won’t be caught by surprise as perhaps Espanola Valley was. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="135325" first="Ollie" last="Fell"], Espanola Valley</strong>: After watching the game film from the Los Alamos-Espanola valley game, the Bernalillo coaches likely told their players that the No. 1 priority in Friday night’s game against EV is containing Fell, who stands 6-foot-6 and is an outstanding hoops player. Fell scored five of the Sundevils’ six touchdowns in the second half of last week’s high-scoring loss to Los Alamos, four receiving and one on a kick return. <strong>Julian Cobos, Santa Teresa</strong>: Defense wasn’t the problem for Santa Teresa in last week’s season-opening 14-6 home loss to Lovington. Now, as they get set to face Fabens, Texas, the Desert Warriors must be more productive on offense. That’s where Cobos comes in. As Santa Teresa’s dual threat QB, he had 47 yards passing and 100 yards rushing against Lovington. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="134967" first="Juan" last="Fuentes"], Dexter</strong>: The Demons’ Week 2 opponent, Texico, gave up more than 500 rushing yards to Jal in Week 1. Fuentes keyed Dexter’s 45-12 win over Santa Rosa with 116 yards rushing on just 8 carries. Overall, Dexter rushed for 327 yards. This game between Class 2A heavyweights could be a track meet. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="138053" first="Cayden" last="Walton"], Raton</strong>: After blanking Eunice on the road last weekend, Raton must only travel to Tucumcari to face Jal this week. Jal put up staggering offensive numbers in their wild win over Texico, so Walton and the Raton offense must keep pace. Walton is arguably the top running back in Class 3A and has the skills to play at the next level. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="134997" first="Lucas" last="Coriz"], St. Michael’s</strong>: Yes, Coriz is a pretty good quarterback for the Horsemen, but he also plays defensive end and it’s that latter position where he might have the greatest impact against local rival Capital on Saturday afternoon. The Jaguars put up 55 points in the Week 1 win at Grants, so Coriz and the St. Michael’s defense must bring it. https://twitter.com/vvhsfootball/status/1430877007018029056 https://twitter.com/chs_wildcats/status/1430941912022851589 https://twitter.com/kierangonzaless/status/1429827156943806469 https://twitter.com/Roger_52_/status/1431010917454520321