Week 5 Whiparound: Top Performances, Best Games and Fun Stuff
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Week 5 of the New Mexico High School football season is complete. Here is the fifth of our Weekly Whiparound, which takes a deep dive into everything that happened on the field: Team of the Week: Espanola Valley. The…
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Continue ReadingWeek 5 of the New Mexico High School football season is complete. Here is the fifth of our Weekly Whiparound, which takes a deep dive into everything that happened on the field:
Team of the Week: Espanola Valley. The Sundevils are quickly becoming one of the best ‘feel good’ stories of the 2022 season. After years (or decades) of struggling in football, Espanola Valley won its third straight game, a 38-6 win over Gallup. Quarterback Nate Chacon threw for 149 yards and 2 TD and RB Alex Chavez ruled for 144 yards on 11 carries. The Sundevils rushed for 389 yards on 47 carries. First year head coach Tylon Wilder is working his magic. EV will be looking to extend its winning streak to 4 games at Santa Fe Indian in Week 6.
Honorable mention: Piedra Vista, Santa Fe, Capital, Socorro, Moriarty, Shiprock.
Player of the Week: Cayden Walton Cayden Walton 5'9" | 180 lbs | RB Raton | 2023 State NM , Raton. History was made Friday night as Walton rushed for 279 yards and 5 TD on 24 carries to lift unbeaten Raton to a 37-6 victory over Escalante. In doing so, Walton became the fourth RB in state history to amass 6,000+ career rushing yards. With five regular season games left + playoffs, Walton now has 6,199 career rushing yards in five seasons (he started playing varsity football in 8th grade), including 1,351 yards in just 5 games in 2022.
Honorable Mention: Aidan Armenta Aidan Armenta 6'3" | 190 lbs | QB La Cueva | 2023 State NM (La Cueva); Elijah Brody Elijah Brody 6'3" | 185 lbs | QB West Mesa | 2024 State NM (West Mesa); Evan Wysong Evan Wysong 5'10" | 165 lbs | QB Cleveland | 2023 State NM (Cleveland).
Best Team Offensive Performance: Cleveland. Coming into the season, we all knew the Storm had one of the state’s most explosive offenses with QB Evan Wysong Evan Wysong 5'10" | 165 lbs | QB Cleveland | 2023 State NM , RB Josh Perry Josh Perry 5'10" | 185 lbs | RB Cleveland | 2023 State NM , WR Nic Trujillo Nic Trujillo 6'1" | 160 lbs | WR Cleveland | 2023 State NM and more. Friday night at Thunderbolt Stadium, all that offensive talent combined for 685 offensive yards in a 61-33 victory over Artesia, which had 442 yards themselves. Wysong threw for 303 yards and 4 TD, 3 to Trujillo. Perry rushed for 257 yards and 3 TD. The two teams combined for 1,127 yards.
Best Team Defensive Performance: Capital. Motivated by what the Jaguar players claimed was a lack of respect, Capital held Albuquerque Academy to 107 total yards of offense and pressured Chargers QB A.J. Rivera A.J. Rivera 6'2" | 195 lbs | QB Albuquerque Academy | 2023 State NM all night long, sacking him 6 times. Albuquerque Academy again played without RB Cole Conway Cole Conway 6'3" | 230 lbs | RB Albuquerque Academy | 2023 State NM ., and his absence appeared to affect the Chargers, which finished with minus-2 yards rushing. DE Kristen Trujillo had three sacks for Capital, which improved to 3-2 with the 17-0 victory.
Best Game: Atrisco Heritage 59, West Mesa 54. Definitely a strong Game of the year candidate. The offensive talent for both teams was on full display as they combined for 1,214 yards. West Mesa rallied from a 27-point deficit to take a brief lead late. Atrisco’s Manny Sedillo (4 receptions, 152 yards) ran 18 yards for a TD with 1:12 remaining for the fourth and final lead change of the fourth quarter. West Mesa QB Elijah Brody Elijah Brody 6'3" | 185 lbs | QB West Mesa | 2024 State NM threw for 313 yards, rushed for 172 yards and accounted for 5 TD. Brody led West Mesa on a do-or-die drive into the red zone in the final minute but his pass into the end zone on the final play fell incomplete. Atrisco QB Dean Marquez Dean Marquez 5'11" | 175 lbs | QB Atrisco Heritage | 2024 State NM threw for 304 yards and 5 TD. Elijah Espinoza rushed for 143 yards for West Mesa. Chris Jinzo caught 5 passes for 140 yards for West Mesa.
Honorable Mention: Moriarty 19, Bernalillo 13 (OT)(Pintos scored on their first play of OT after Bernalillo fumbled on their OT possession); Eldorado 28, Clovis 27; Laguna Acoma 32, Wingate 30.
Best Rivalry Win: Las Cruces 35, Mayfield 7. The Bulldawgs evened the all-time series, 29-29-1, with its seventh straight victory over the Class 5A Trojans, the longest winning streak by either team in the series. Even though both teams have struggled this season, a large crowd gathered at the Field of Dreams, showing just how important this rivalry is to the folks in Las Cruces. The Bulldawgs led, 14-7, at halftime before pulling away in the second half on a 21-yard TD pass from Matt Lashley to Jacob Maes Jacob Maes WR Las Cruces | 2023 State NM , 12-yard run by David Barela and 2-yard run by Lashley. Bulldawgs coach Mark Lopez, who took over as head coach in 2016, remains unbeaten against Mayfield.
Who’s the Leading Passer in the State?: La Cueva QB Aidan Armenta Aidan Armenta 6'3" | 190 lbs | QB La Cueva | 2023 State NM threw for 300+ yards and six TD in the Bears’ 49-17 win over Los Lunas. TE Cruz Markham Cruz Markham 6'3" | 200 lbs | TE La Cueva | 2024 State NM caught 2 TD passes to help deal the Tigers their 3rd straight defeat. Armenta has thrown for 1,520 yards through 5 games, putting him squarely on pace for a 3,000 yard passing season.
Who’s Still Unbeaten?: Hobbs (5-0), Piedra Vista (5-0), Silver (5-0) and Portales (5-0) all stayed undefeated with victories in Week 5. Hobbs bested injury-depleted Rio Rancho, 30-20, at Watson Stadium as they try to crack the top three of Centennial, Cleveland and La Cueva in Class 6A. . .Piedra Vista should stay No. 1 in the both 5A polls after beating Goddard, 47-29, at home. Zach Mora-Dotson excelled on both sides of the ball with 179 rushing yards and 3 TD on offense and 1 interception and 2 TFL on defense. The Panthers offensive trio of QB Logan Howell, Mora-Dotson and RB Jacob Ramsted Jacob Ramsted 6'1" | RB Piedra Vista | 2023 State NM is emerging as a formidable unit in the offensive backfield. Piedra Vista plays at Valley, another pleasant 5A surprise, next Saturday afternoon (9/24) in Albuquerque before a possible No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown at Roswell on Sept. 30. . .Silver doubled up Aztec, 28-14, in Silver City as Aidan Granado Aidan Granado 5'9" | 170 lbs | RB Silver | 2023 State NM rushed for 67 yards and caught 2 passes for 55 yards to spark the Fighting Colts offense. He added an interception on defense. . .Portales traveled to Albuquerque and blanked St. Pius X, 32-0. The Rams led, 19-0, at halftime before securing the win with a pair of TDs, including a 90-yard fumble return by Miguel Gomez.
Things You Need To Know: Sadly and tragically, Organ Mountain player Abe Romero passed away late Saturday at Children’s Hospital in El Paso. He had been in a medically induced coma for three weeks after collapsing during a game at Deming in Week 2. . .Volcano Vista’s defense locked down the potentially explosive Sandia offense in a 30-7 victory. Hawks dual threat QB Eliot Pasket-Bell rushed for 109 yards. Volcano Vista is 4-1 and faces Eldorado in Week 6 before the 3-game gauntlet against Cleveland, Cibola and Rio Rancho begins. . .In a battle of winless teams, Santa Fe posted a 38-6 win over Manzano Saturday in Albuquerque, a rare win in the Duke City for the Demons. RB Alex Mora returned from an injury suffered Aug. 26 and rushed for 141 yards and 3 TD on 17 carries. Santa Fe amassed 404 total offensive yards. . .Farmington scored three TDs in rapid fashion in the third quarter to pull away from Albuquerque for a 41-18 victory Saturday afternoon at Milne Stadium. Scorpions QB Trel Griego Trel Griego 6'3" | 225 lbs | QB Farmington | 2024 State NM threw 4 TD passes for Farmington. . .Roswell made a claim for the No. 1 spot in the 5A polls with a convincing 47-6 win over Carlsbad. The Coyotes jumped out to a 22-0 lead after the first quarter and cruised to the win. QB Manny Fuentes completed 8-of-9 passes for 226 yards and 3 TD. Roswell, which blocked three kicks, travels to winless Clovis Friday night for a Week 6 matchup. If the Coyotes avoid the upset, they’ll host Piedra Vista (see above) Sept. 30 in a possible Class 5A showdown at the Wool Bowl. . .A missed PAT in the fourth quarter was the difference as Eldorado edged Clovis, 28-27, at Leon Williams in a battle of winless teams. Brandon Olivas Brandon Olivas 5'10" | 160 lbs | QB Eldorado | 2024 State NM threw for 235 yards and 1 TD for the Eagles, while John Paul Ludi John Paul Ludi 5'10" | 160 lbs | RB Eldorado | 2024 State NM had 94 yards rushing. Kash Roberts Kash Roberts 6'0" | 190 lbs | RB Clovis | 2024 State NM rushed for 114 yards for Clovis. Eldorado won at Clovis for the first time since 1979. . . Andres Madrid Andres Madrid 5'11" | 175 lbs | RB Santa Rosa | 2023 State NM rushed for 136 yards and 2 TD to carry Santa Rosa past Tucumcari, 54-0, in a mercy-rule win. . .Los Alamos snapped a 3-game losing streak with a 42-0 victory over Pojoaque Valley. . .Deming also snapped a 3-game losing streak with a 51-20 win at Belen. Three TD in the 2nd quarter gave the Wildcats a 30-7 halftime lead. . .Highland improved to 2-1 with a 48-0 win over Del Norte as Alejandro Lopez ran for 3 TD, threw 1 TD and sparked the Hornets’ D from his safety spot. . .Hope Christian improved to 2-2-1 with a 35-7 victory at Grants. Cade Johnston and Brent Miller Brent Miller DB Hope Christian | 2023 State NM each rushed for 2 TD.
Key Week 6 Games (Sept. 22-24):
Taos at Bernalillo
Organ Mountain at Centennial
Artesia at Lovington
Socorro at Raton
Eldorado at Volcano Vista
Sandia at Manzano
Deming at Silver
Rio Rancho at Farmington
Gadsden at Goddard
Belen at Mayfield (Thur.)
Hope Christian at Highland (Thur.)
Capital at Atrisco Heritage (Thur.)
Cleveland at Frenship (TX)
Roswell at Clovis
Espanola Valley at Santa Fe Indian
Pojoaque Valley at Portales
Rio Grande at Del Norte
Hatch Valley at Estancia
Valencia at Bloomfield
Moriarty at Miyamura
Tularosa at Ruidoso
Crownpoint at Tohatchi