Week 7 in Review: Top Performers

Week 7 of the New Mexico High School football season was filled with plenty of exceptional performances. Here are some of the top performers (in alphabetical order): <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26256" first="Adam" last="Aguilera"], Lovington</strong>: Aguilera had just three receptions in Lovington’s 52-0 trouncing of Gadsden, but he registered the hat trick as all three catches totaling 139 yards went for touchdowns. <strong>Ashton Aranda, Lovington</strong>: The Wildcats romped past Gadsden, 52-0, Friday night as Aranda, a junior, threw for 324 yards and 7 touchdowns on just 12 completions, an average of 27.0 yards per reception. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="137862" first="Aidan" last="Armenta"], La Cueva</strong>: Armenta showed again why he’s one of the top 2023 QB sin the state by throwing for 3 TDs against rival Eldorado last Thursday night – 29 yards to <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="208744" first="Exodus" last="Ayers"]</strong>, 80 yards to <strong>Jackson Hix</strong> and 12 yards to <strong>Ian Sanchez – </strong>and finished 14-of-22 passing for 312 yards. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26253" first="Dallas" last="Boyd"], Las Cruces</strong>: Boyd has shown he’s one of the more dynamic dual threat quarterbacks in the state, and he brought his ‘A’ game to Las Cruces’ 42-13 win over Carlsbad. Boyd threw for 2 touchdowns, including a 46-yarder to [player_tooltip player_id="134987" first="Richard" last="Madrid"] -  and ran for another as the Bulldawgs opened district play with an impressive performance. <strong>Gabriel Buie, La Cueva</strong>: The junior RB for the Bears opened the scoring in La Cueva’s 41-0 win over Eldorado with a 19-yard TD run midway through the first quarter and then soon raced 46 yards through the Eldorado defense for his second TD of the night. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="198052" first="Kieran" last="Cordova"], Volcano Vista</strong>: Cordova and the Hawks’ ‘Special K’ unit at wide receiver enjoyed a big night against West Mesa in a 42-10 win. Cordova caught a team-high 9 passes for 109 yards. After 6 games, he leads Volcano Vista with 39 receptions for 725 yards and 4 touchdowns. <strong>Deven Dyer, La Cueva</strong>: One of the Bears’ top defenders keyed last Thursday’s dominating shutout victory over rival Eldorado with 10 tackles, 0.5 sack, 3 tackles for loss, 1 fumble recovery and 2 QB Pressures. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="135309" first="Nico" last="Fulgenzi"], Albuq. Academy</strong>: Fulgenzi, who transferred to the Academy from Robertson (Las Vegas school district opted out of the spring season), blocked a Bernalillo punt and recovered a fumble that led to the gam-winning TD in the Chargers’ historic 14-7 victory over the Spartans in the first night game in school history. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="210966" first="Logan" last="Fuller"], Hope Christian</strong>: The best placekicker in the state is wearing a Huskies uniform. Fuller booted field goals of 53 and 41 yards in Hope Christian’s 42-22 win at Pojoaque Valley. But he also caught 2 TD passes on offense and lined up at defensive tackle. That’s the definition of an all-around player. <strong>Isaiah Garcia, Manzano</strong>: Monarchs head coach Stephen Johnston picked up his first win at Manzano as Garcia sparked the offense with a long TD run and a punt return for a TD in the 42-6 win over Del Norte. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26247" first="Josh" last="Gerardo"], Volcano Vista</strong>: The Hawks’ QB continued to show he’s Player of the Year material by completing 25-of-36 passes for 337 yards and 2 touchdowns in Volcano Vista’s 42-10 win over West Mesa. <strong>Jesse James Gonzales, Robertson</strong>: Best name in New Mexico high school football? We think so. Rodriguez is just a freshman but he’s the Cardinal featured back. In Robertson’s 53-0 win over Santa Fe Indian School, Gonzales rushed for 126 yards and 3 TDs on 12 carries, averaging 10.5 yards per attempt. <strong>Julian Gomez, Farmington</strong>: Scored a pair of touchdowns in the first half of Farmington’s mercy-rule win over Los Alamos, including a 25-yard gallop through the Hilltoppers’ defense. <strong>Trel Griego, Farmington</strong>: The Scorpions’ backup QB replaced the injured [player_tooltip player_id="26232" first="Brandon" last="Furbee"] late in the first half of Farmington’s 54-0 win over Los Alamos and threw a 10-yard TD pass in the third quarter. When your backup QB can come into the game and exhibit little drop off from the starter, that’s a powerful weapon. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="208691" first="Mikah" last="Gutierrez"], Centennial</strong>: The Hawks turned to their top RB in the second half of their 52-14 win over Organ Mountain and he responded with 87yards and 2 TDs over the final 24 mins. He finished with 161 yards rushing. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26270" first="James" last="Jenkins"], Hope Christian</strong>: Jenkins is the engine that makes the Hope Christian offense roar and Saturday afternoon he rushed for two TDs (28 and 14 yards) and threw for two more as the Huskies posted a 42-22 road win at Pojoaque Valley. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26267" first="Ian" last="Lopez"], Centennial</strong>: Before Gutierrez took over, the Hawks’ QB threw 3 TD passes – two to <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="137930" first="Isaiah" last="Abeyta"]</strong> - in the first half of the win over Organ Mountain. Lopez led Centennial to 452 total yards and 300 rushing yards. He had four TD passes overall. <strong>Zane Markel, Aztec</strong>: The Tigers pounded Shiprock, 48-0, with Markel having a prominent role. He returned the opening kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown and later scored on a 30-yard run. <strong>Javier Martinez, Capital</strong>: Martinez scored 4 touchdowns and had 83 receiving yards, all in the first half, for the Jaguars as they walloped Rio Grande, 50-0, at Community Stadium. <strong>Zach Mora-Dotson, Piedra Vista</strong>: After a slow start for the Piedra Vista offense, Mora-Dotson sparked the Panthers’ offense in the second half with a pair of TD runs. <strong>Dalen Moyer, Sandia</strong>: The Matadors QB connected on 10 of his first 13 passes and finished 14-of-21 for 239 yards and three touchdowns as Sandia rolled up 483 total offensive yards in a huge 55-28 victory over Santa Fe. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="138039" first="Robert" last="Nora"], Clovis</strong>: The Wildcats’ junior WR scored a dramatic 90-yard catch-and-run TD with just over a minute remaining to lift Clovis to its first win of the year, a stunning 25-24 win over Albuquerque at Leon Williams Stadium. Nora  has 13 receptions for 324 yards this season. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="134990" first="Elijah" last="Ogas"], Las Cruces</strong>: Ogas recovered a Carlsbad fumble early in the game and then rushed for two touchdowns to help lift the Bulldawgs to a 42-13 district win over the Cavemen at the Field of Dreams. <strong>C.J. Perea, West Las Vegas</strong>: The Dons’ stocky freshman QB didn’t have his best game against Raton (8-13, 100 yards passing), but he showed again and again that he’s fearless when it comes to taking on would-be tacklers. Perea showed he’ll lower his shoulder and deliver a blow to the defender before being tackled. <strong>Nathan Taylor, Artesia</strong>: Taylor threw a pair of TD passes in the first quarter as the Bulldogs stormed out to a 43-0 lead after 12 minutes and cruised past Ruidoso at the Bulldog Bowl. <strong>Jake Barrera</strong> added two TD runs in the first quarter. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="137923" first="Malachi" last="Thymes"], Sandia</strong>: Thymes rushed for 141 yards and two TDs in Sandia’s big district win over Santa Fe. The Matadors totaled 244 rushing yards with Thymes gaining over half of that. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="135097" first="Kaden" last="Valdez"], Volcano Vista</strong>: Valdez continued his great season with 8 receptions for 136 yards and 2 touchdowns in the Hawks’ win over West Mesa. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26227" first="Zach" last="Vigil"], Rio Rancho</strong>: The Rams trailed Cibola in the second quarter Friday night before their high-powered offense shifted into high gear. And that means the workhorse Vigil, out Player of the Week, got the ball a lot. He finished with 339 rushing yards and 4 TDs on 30 attempts as Rio Rancho dominated the second half in a 65-35 win. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="138053" first="Cayden" last="Walton"], Raton</strong>: When ‘Go Time’ arrived for the Raton offense early in the fourth quarter of last Friday’s 14-7 win at West Las Vegas, the Tigers turned to Walton, the state’s No. 1 RB in the 2023 class. Walton willed the offense down the field on a clock-draining 8-minute drive for the go-ahead TD. He finished with 216 rushing yards on 35 carries. https://twitter.com/lvtwildcatsfb/status/1444531864014708747 https://twitter.com/zacharyvigil21/status/1444347711327703046 https://twitter.com/Deven38716576/status/1444656965855023108 https://twitter.com/LoganFuller34/status/1444718394683494405 https://twitter.com/jeffmatthews22/status/1443848444347514883 https://twitter.com/stephenwag22/status/1439061258544816128 https://twitter.com/VVHS_DrJohnson/status/1444126888155394050