Week 3 Preview: Top 25 Players To Watch, Super Stats Edition

Week 3 of the New Mexico High School football season gets underway Thursday night with several games and continues Friday night with dozens of games throughout the state. With heavy reliance upon the numbers posted at MaxPreps, here’s our ‘Super Stats’ edition of the 25 Players to Watch in Week 3: <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="138053" first="Cayden" last="Walton"], Raton</strong>: Walton has helped lead Raton to a 2-0 start to the season by rushing for 316 yards and three touchdowns. The Tigers face cross-border rival Trinidad (Co.) in the Coal Bucket game. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26265" first="Martell" last="Mora"], Santa Fe</strong>: Mora will play arguably the biggest game of his career Friday night when Santa Fe faces cross-town rival St. Michael’s at Ivan Head Stadium. Mora has 330 yards rushing and 7 TDs in 2 games so far this season. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="137885" first="Paul" last="Cieremans"], Los Lunas</strong>: Is Cieremans the best running QB in the state? Possibly. In two games, Cieremans has rushed for 305 yards and 5 touchdowns to lead the Tigers to a pair of lopsided wins. Los Lunas faces West Mesa Friday. <strong>Aidan St. John, Eldorado</strong>: St. John keyed Eldorado’s Week 1 win over West Mesa and helped the Eagles pull out the thrilling OT win at Mayfield last week. He has 275 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns in the first two games. Eldorado has a huge test this week at Rio Rancho. <strong>Devin Gonzalez, Hot Springs</strong>: Gonzalez scorched the Thoreau defense last week by rushing for 251 yards and four TDs in Hot Springs’ 52-14 win. This week they face Lordsburg, which features gunslinging QB <strong>Maverick Contreras</strong>, who ranks 2^nd in the state (per MaxPreps) with 574 passing yards in 2 games. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26269" first="Damien" last="Gallegos"], West Las Vegas</strong>: WLV didn’t play for nearly two years but the Dons are 2-0 thanks in large part to Gallegos, who has rushed for 269 yards on 37 carries and scored 8 touchdowns, second highest in the state behind Dominic Esquibel of Pojoaque Valley (10 TDs). WLV has an intriguing matchup at Portales Friday. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="138076" first="Tomas" last="Herrera"], Gadsden</strong>: We thought Herrera would be Gadsden’s ‘go-to’ player in their ‘Year of Independence’ and that’s exactly how things have turned out. Herrera has rushed for 232 yards and thrown for 288 in two games, accounting for 520 total yards. Herrera squares off with Santa Teresa QB Julian Cobos Friday night. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="134999" first="Milo" last="Acosta"], Clovis</strong>: Acosta and the Clovis offense struggled to get anything going gin the season opening loss to Hobbs, but they bounced back last weekend against Ysleta (TX) as Acosta completed 19-of-37 passes for 347 yards and 3 TDs in a 34-33 loss. Friday, Clovis travels across the border into the Lone Star State to take on Frenship, TX. <strong>Wyatt Gomez, Lovington</strong>: Gomez is tasked with directing Lovington’s prolific passing offense, and he takes full advantage of the fleet of receivers at his disposal. He’s thrown for 409 yards and 2 TDs in the first 2 games. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="137884" first="A.J." last="Rivera"], Albuquerque Academy</strong>: The Chargers have routed their first two opponents, but Hope Christian promises to be no pushover Saturday morning for Rivera and the AA offense. Rivera has 385 passing yards and 6 TDs on the season so far. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26234" first="Dylan" last="Quartieri"], Raton</strong>: One of the top quarterbacks in northern New Mexico, Quartieri has led the Tigers to a 2-0 start, including last week’s 35-7 win over Jal. He has thrown for 372 yards and 7 TDs going into Friday’s local rivalry game against Trinidad (Co.). <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26256" first="Adam" last="Aguilera"], Lovington</strong>: Aguilera is rarely the biggest receiver on the field, but he’s usually the fastest and the senior has made good use of his speed in the first two games with 11 receptions for 250 yards, an average of 22.7 yards per catch. This week, the Alamogordo  secondary gets their opportunity to contain him. <strong>Roman Murilo, Lordsburg</strong>: Who has the second highest number of receptions in the state behind Volcano Vista’s [player_tooltip player_id="135095" first="Kieran" last="Cordova"]? Murilo with 13. The Hots Spring secondary must deal with him Friday night. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="138039" first="Robert" last="Nora"], Clovis</strong>: Nora’s 8 receptions isn’t what grabs your attention. It’s his average of 23.4 yards per catch. Few receivers have done a better job stretching the field than Nora. Now he’ll ply his trade against a Texas high school on Friday. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="135136" first="Tristen" last="Ludi-Herrera"], Bernalillo</strong>: The Spartans have a fascinating matchup with unbeaten Los Alamos Friday night in Bernalillo. In addition to 531 all-purpose yards in the first two games, Ludi-Herrera has scored 8 touchdowns He scored three different ways in the win over Espanola Valley last week. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26270" first="James" last="Jenkins"], Hope Christian</strong>:  Jenkins is ‘Mr. Everything; for Hope Christian and he must have a big game against Albuquerque Academy Saturday to give the Huskies a chance to win. He has 184 rushing yards and 5 TDs in the first two games. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="137923" first="Malachi" last="Thymes"], Sandia</strong>: The Matadors had a bye in Week 2, so Thymes’ superhuman effort against Valley in the season opener has largely been forgotten. But Thymes had 239 yards rushing, 1 reception for 32 yards and 292 all-purpose yards in the 47-13 win over Valley. Can Thymes duplicate that performance against Centennial Friday night at Wilson Stadium? <strong>Ryan Sharpe, Bloomfield</strong>: Sharpe had a huge impact on the Bobcats in their hard-fought Week 2 win at Hope Christian last Saturday. His best play came in the fourth quarter when he bravely faked a punt and completed a pass from Bloomfield’s own 15-yard line to pick up the crucial first down and keep the ball away from the Hope Christian offense. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="138050" first="Kenyon" last="Singleton"], Hobbs</strong>: After blanking Clovis in the season opener, the Hobbs defense took a step back in Week 2 by allowing 27 points to an Artesia offense that managed just 6 points in the Eddy County War a week earlier. Singleton has the second highest number of tackles in the state (26) behind Lovington’s [player_tooltip player_id="134985" first="Tayten" last="Hilliard"] (30). <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="135610" first="Ivan" last="Reyes"], Santa Teresa</strong>: If Santa Teresa is going to slow down Herrera, Reyes must play an integral role in that effort. He has 22 tackles in the first two games. <strong>Manuel Bustillos, Clovis</strong>: If the Wildcats are to post their first victory of the season, the defense must show up. They got little help from the offense in the opener against Hobbs before the ‘Cats scored 33 points in Week 2. The problem? The defense gave up 34 points. Bustillos has 21 tackles in 2 games. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="135313" first="Matthew" last="Quartieri"], Raton</strong>: The senior is one of the top two-way players in the state, and will likely play at the next level. Offensively, he’s caught 12 passes for 185 yards and scored 4 touchdowns. Defensively, he has 20 tackles in two games. <strong>Jaydin Vigil, West Las Vegas</strong>: Vigil will be a key figure in WLV’s road test at Portales. He had 101 yards in total offense in last week’s 46-28 win at Santa Rosa and added 5 tackles and 2 passes defended. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="135090" first="Daniel" last="Wright"], Santa Fe</strong>: Another solid two-way player. He is one of Santa Fe’s backup RBs behind [player_tooltip player_id="26265" first="Martell" last="Mora"] and has 3 receptions for 47 yards. In addition, he is the Demons’ leading tackler with 16. He will be counted on to contain St. Michael’s QB [player_tooltip player_id="134997" first="Lucas" last="Coriz"] and the prolific Horsemen offense Friday night at Ivan Head Stadium. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="135137" first="Kavin" last="Chavez"], Bernalillo</strong>: The Spartans’ leading tackler with 16, and more than half of those are behind the line of scrimmage (9.0 tackles for loss), evidence he has the quickness to get after ball carrier. He’ll be counted to help limit the Los Alamos offense Friday night. https://twitter.com/Brandega/status/1433244406555942914 https://twitter.com/PrepRedzoneNM/status/1433244412168052736 https://twitter.com/PrepRedzoneNM/status/1433079442205642756