Week 4 Whiparound: Top Performances, Best Games and Fun Stuff

Week 4 of the New Mexico High School football season is complete. Here are some of the best performances, best games, fascinating numbers and other fun stuff from the third weekend of the 2021 season. Team of the Week: Valencia. Don’t look now but Valencia is 3-1 after going to Portales and pulling out an impressive 32-22 victory. The Albuquerque Journal described it as the Jaguars biggest win since an OT victory at Bloomfield in 2018. Valencia, often overshadowed by county rivals Los Lunas and Belen, went 2-7 in 2019 and 0-3 in the spring. However, participation numbers are way up (from 20 players in the spring to 55 players now) and Valencia is now experiencing some success. Honorable Mention: Santa Teresa; St. Pius X; Centennial; Cibola; Goddard. Player of the Week: [player_tooltip player_id="26257" first="Marco" last="Ybarra"], St. Pius X. Arguably the top running back in Class 4A, Ybarra torched the Taos defense on a brutally hot Saturday afternoon at Community Stadium for 327 yards and 5 touchdowns on 17 carries in the Sartans’ 40-28 victory. Ybarra had three long TD runs of 76, 72 and 94 yards. Putting him on track for more than 1,400 yards rushing during the regular season. Honorable Mention: [player_tooltip player_id="26265" first="Martell" last="Mora"], Santa Fe (261 yards); [player_tooltip player_id="134963" first="Nathan" last="Lopez"], Cibola (4 TDs); [player_tooltip player_id="137861" first="Aden" last="Chavez"], Cibola (400+ passing yards); Mikah Gutierrez, Centennial (150+ rushing yards); [player_tooltip player_id="138204" first="Josh" last="Perry"], Cleveland (4 rushing TDs). Best Team Offensive Performance: Cleveland. The Storm were the best team in New Mexico in 2019, the best team in the spring and they’re showing they’re one of the best teams again this fall. Cleveland possesses so many weapons offensively, it’s scary. They have a dynamic dual threat QB ([player_tooltip player_id="139521" first="Evan" last="Wysong"]), a promising young pocket passer (Elijah Brody), an elite running back ([player_tooltip player_id="138204" first="Josh" last="Perry"]) , a fleet of sure-handed receivers and an offensive line that’s essentially five blocks of granite. Friday night, Cleveland overwhelmed Las Cruces, scoring three touchdowns in the first quarter and two more in the second for a 35-0 halftime lead. When Las Cruces finally scored on a QB keeper by Dallas Boyd, the Storm shrugged their shoulders and quickly stormed (pun intended) down the field for a TD that restored the running clock. Honorable Mention: Centennial; Cibola. Best Team Defensive Performance: La Cueva. The Bears score THREE defensive touchdowns in their convincing 38-16 victory over Volcano Vista Friday night at Community Stadium. LB Mason Posa (65-yard INT return), DB [player_tooltip player_id="145396" first="Colt" last="Mangino"] (Pick-6 on 40-yard INT return) and DE Deven Dyer (26-yard fumble return) all scored for La Cueva. Dyer totaled 6 tackles, 2 TFL, 2 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries, 5 QB pressures and 1 TD. Impressive night’s work. Honorable Mention: Hobbs; Piedra Vista. Best Game: Artesia 42, Deming 35. The Bulldogs, which won its third straight game under first-year head coach Jeremy Maupin, led 32-27 entering the fourth quarter. Deming took a 35-32 lead on a 32-yard TD run by Fabian Reyna with 10:44 left in the fourth quarter. After the teams exchanged punts, Deming intercepted Artesia in the red zone and took over at its 5-yard line with 3:32 left. After a big play by the Artesia defense on third down, Deming conceded the safety, cutting its lead to 35-34 with 1:44 left. After Deming kicked off, Artesia drove down the field and scored on [player_tooltip player_id="26264" first="Jacob" last="Barrera"]’s 3-yard run with 44 seconds left for the game-winning TD. Deming’s pass was intercepted, preserving the win for Artesia. Best Finish: Santa Teresa 30, Alamogordo 29. For the second straight week, Alamogordo suffered a gut-wrenching, one-point loss in the late stages of a game. This time, Santa Teresa QB [player_tooltip player_id="135610" first="Ivan" last="Reyes"] fired a 41-yard TD pass to [player_tooltip player_id="198070" first="Julian" last="Cobos"] for the go-ahead TD with 2:44 left, capping the Desert Warriors’ furious comeback from a 13-point deficit with less than 8 minutes left. Cobos scored on a 2-yard run with 7:52 left to bring Santa Teresa to within 29-22. Alamogordo falls to 1-3 with the last two losses being by a total of two points. Santa Teresa improved to 3-1. Bernalillo Keeps Shutout Streak Intact: Bernalillo, ranked No. 5 in Class 4A in last week’s MaxPreps poll, still hasn’t been scored upon this season after Friday’s mercy rule victory over Shiprock. The Spartans have opened the 2021 season with shutout wins over Gallup, Espanola Valley, Los Alamos and Shiprock. Bernalillo could be 6-0 when they face Albuquerque Academy and St. Pius X on consecutive weekends in October. Centennial Makes A Statement: Four weeks into the 2021 season, Cleveland and Rio Rancho have established themselves as the top two teams in Class 6A. We could be headed for a repeat of the instant classic 2019 state championship game when Cleveland outlasted the Rams. However, Centennial has emerged as possibly the No. 3 team in Class 6A and the Hawks cemented those credentials with an emphatic 56-23 victory over Mayfield Thursday night at the Field of Dreams. Mikah Gutierrez, who has emerged as one of the top 2023 running backs in the state, scored 4 touchdowns for Centennial. The Hawks also scored a TD on special teams when a blocked punt was recovered in the end zone for a TD. The battle for the No. 3 team in Class 6A is between Centennial, Cibola, La Cueva, Hobbs, Carlsbad, Eldorado and Santa Fe. Plenty of football left with district play set to begin within the next couple of weeks. Who’s the Best Team In Class 4A?: Lovington and Bloomfield occupied the top two spots in last week’s MaxPreps Class 4A poll. However, Lovington’s offense was stymied by Class 6A Hobbs in a 46-0 Friday night. Thus, Bloomfield could be the new No. 1 Class 4A team when the latest MaxPreps poll is released in a couple of day. Bloomfield defeated Albuquerque Academy, 35-21, in a showdown between two of the top five teams in 4A Friday night. Bobcats QB Ryan Sharpe threw 3 TD passes and Jeremiah Sandoval had a huge Pick-6 with about 4 minutes left when Bloomfield was clinging to a 22-21 lead. Stuff You Need To Know: Santa Fe won its first city championship in 13 years on Friday night when the Demons trounced Capital, 48-28, behind 309 rushing yards and 430+ yard in total offense. Santa Fe is 4-0 for the first time since 1985. . .After losing starting QB [player_tooltip player_id="134997" first="Lucas" last="Coriz"] in the first quarter of last week’s loss to Santa Fe, St. Michael’s used four different quarterbacks in Friday’s 21-6 win at Los Alamos. Sophomore [player_tooltip player_id="137922" first="Jacob" last="Katko"] started, but Horsemen head coach Joey Fernandez also used senior [player_tooltip player_id="135319" first="Devin" last="Flores"] in the Wildcat, Isaac Ruiz and Marcus Leyba. Flores and Leyba took most of the snaps. St. Michael’s (3-1) has a bye in Week 5 before hosting Socorro in Week 6. . .Farmington (4-0) posted its second straight mercy rule win with a 54-0 win over Aztec. The Scorpions scored six rushing touchdowns. Yep, Bad Boys Running Wild. Look it up on YouTube. Good song. Right now, is there a better team in Class 5A than Farmington?. . .Piedra Vista limited Kirtland Central to one TD in a 34-7 victory in Farmington. [player_tooltip player_id="26251" first="Zakk" last="Thomas"] had a 50-yard TD run midway through the third quarter to slice Piedra Vista’s lead to 14-6 but the Panthers dominated the rest of the way. . .West Mesa, Highland, Del Norte and Belen all earned their first victories of the season in Week 4. . .All three of Valencia County’s teams won on the road Friday. Valencia won at Portales, Los Lunas beat Roswell at the Wool Bowl (35-20) and Belen won 23-7 at Miyamura. Week 5 Lookahead (Sept. 16-18): Cibola at Los Lunas Cleveland at Artesia Hobbs at Goddard Las Cruces at Mayfield (Field of Dreams) Centennial at Atrisco Heritage Rio Rancho at Organ Mountain Roswell at Carlsbad Valencia at Santa Teresa (Thur.) Lovington at Denver City (TX) Santa Fe at Eldorado (Sat.) Durango (Co.) at Farmington Alamogordo at Gadsden Valley at Deming Sandia at La Cueva Piedra Vista at Belen St. Pius X at Portales Bloomfield at Miyamura https://twitter.com/turkeyboyphoto/status/1436881295489921026 https://twitter.com/paytonDeans12/status/1436948930437148678 https://twitter.com/SportsPrimo/status/1436545919374086146 https://twitter.com/BrandonFurbee2/status/1437216453355130882