3A and 2A football semifinals preview: Top seeds St. Michael's and Texico on the road

Three of the four state football semifinal games in Classes 3A and 2A will see the higher seed on the road this weekend.

A preview:

CLASS 3A: The top two seeds, St. Michael’s and Dexter, are on the road for the semifinals.

First up is the top-seeded Horsemen (11-0), who are in Roswell to face No. 5 New Mexico Military Institute (9-3) at 7 p.m. Friday.

For the Colts, they’ve got a two-pronged challenge — they’ve got to deal with a physical St. Mike’s offense that runs the ball with efficiency, and second, they’ve got to solve a Horsemen defense that has given up only 59 points in 11 games. NMMI’s run offense, which averages over 280 yards a game, will have to find success on the ground against that stout St. Mike’s defense.

Unbeaten Dexter (11-0) visits No. 3 Robertson (10-1) at 1 p.m. Saturday.

The Demons are very much like St. Mike’s in that they feature a high-scoring offense and a terrific scoring defense (surrendering barely six points a game).

CJ Granados, a sophomore, threw for 17 TDs versus one interception for Dexter. The Demons also rush for more than 260 yards a game, and Dexter has multiple options in the backfield.

“They’ve got some weapons,” Robertson coach Leroy Gonzales said. The Demons’ team speed will be a challenge for the Cardinals defense, he said.

But Robertson has one of the most dangerous and effective dual-threat quarterbacks in any class, senior Jesse James Gonzalez. He’s thrown for nearly 1,800 yards with 26 scores — the Cardinals gain about 20 yards on every one of his completions — and has rushed for over 1,100 yards.

“We have a lot of speed also, so that’s gonna help,” Gonzales said.

CLASS 2A: A scintillating matchup awaits on Saturday afternoon in Eunice as No. 1 seed Texico (10-0) visits the fifth-seeded Cardinals (9-3). These are the teams ranked 1 and 2 in the MaxPreps.com computer rankings.

This is not only a rematch of last year’s state final, won by Texico, but these two also were involved in one of the most memorable games of the 2024 regular season. The Cardinals raced out to a 21-0 lead in Texico, but the Wolverines rallied for a 36-28 victory.

“I think that was always kind of in our mind,” Eunice coach Greg Jackson said. “If they could get another shot at Texico, they wanted it. I felt like we were the two best teams in 2A and we’d see each other again.”

Alex Fuentes’ touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter broke a 28-28 tie in the first meeting last month.

“We just didn’t finish,” Jackson said.

The Cardinals are coming off an impressive 27-6 road win against No. 4 Tularosa last week. Quarterback, Elijah Melancon threw for two scores and ran for two in the victory for Eunice.

“I think they’re gonna try to pre-snap confuse him,” Jackson said. But, the coach added, Melancon is a three-year starter and knows how to adapt.

The bigger issue for Eunice, Jackson said, is dealing with a Texico offensive line that is “as big as any 6A O-Line. You have to be able to withstand the consistent punishment they give out in their run game.”

Melancon, a junior, has thrown for almost 3,000 yards and 39 touchdowns, and there are three receivers on this offense who caught double-digit touchdown passes. Senior running back Eljan Woods rushed for 160 yards last week, but had only 26 rush yards against Texico in October.

“They’re very well coached, they have some tremendous athletes on the perimeter,” Texico coach Bob Gilbreath said.

For the Wolverines, Fuentes figures to have the ball in his hands quite a bit on Saturday, running behind those big linemen.

“He’s the straw that stirs our drink,” Gilbreath said.

As for Eunice’s eagerness to see Texico again, Gilbreath acknowledged it could be a factor.

“From their standpoint, I’m sure there’s some redemption (in their minds),” he said. “That’s how we felt last year.”

The other semifinal is Friday night in Santa Rosa, as the second-seeded Lions (8-3) play host to No. 6 Loving (6-4). The Falcons are in their first semifinal since 2003.

Santa Rosa had a 14-12 win over Raton last week, Loving ousted Legacy Academy 42-20.

Tristen Onsurez is over 1,000 rush yards with 15 touchdowns for Loving, and the junior is also the Falcons’ QB. Junior Josh Cordova is Santa Rosa’s featured offensive player; the running back is over 1,300 yards and 20 touchdowns this season for the run-heavy Lions.

8-MAN: No. 1 seed Melrose (12-0), which has averaged 53 points this season, is hosting the 8-Man championship game, at 1 p.m. Saturday against No. 3 Mesilla Valley (10-1).

The Buffaloes routed the SonBlazers 56-12 in late September. The Melrose defense has yielded just 12 total points in the last five games.