5A and 4A football semifinals preview: A mix of blue bloods and first-timers

The high school football teams remaining in the Class 4A and 5A brackets are a mix of storied programs and hungry newcomers.

All four semifinal games are Saturday afternoon.

CLASS 5A: Gadsden is the relative newcomer to this territory, joining three programs with rich football history -- and state championship hardware -- in Roswell, Artesia and Mayfield.

The Panthers (8-3) are at Wool Bowl to play the Coyotes (9-1), and the Trojans are at Bulldog Bowl in the 1 p.m. semifinals on Saturday.

Gadsden lost 48-7 at Roswell during district play.

“The team that showed up when we went to Roswell the first time was one I didn’t recognize,” Gadsden coach Dino Facio said. “Maybe we needed a little bit of a butt kicking at that point.”

Senior running back Alfredo Andrade has rushed for more than 1,500 yards and 20 scores this season, and it is Gadsden that will try to move the chains against a Roswell defensive front which is that unit’s strength.

“They’ve got playmakers all over the place,” Facio said.

Mayfield (6-6) had lots of ground game success against Artesia (8-3) when the two met on the final day of the regular season, on Nov. 2 in Las Cruces. The game was tied 28-all in the fourth quarter, but Bulldogs QB Izac Cazares rushed for two scores late for a 42-28 victory.

“We know we have to stop the run,” Artesia coach Jeremy Maupin said. “They’re really good at what they do.”

The Trojans, Maupin said, completed only one pass in the first meeting.

CLASS 4A: The top two seeds, Bloomfield and St. Pius, have been around the proverbial playoff block, while fourth-seeded Bernalillo and sixth-seeded Española Valley have never been this far.

The Spartans (9-2) lost a 20-7 decision in Bloomfield last month (it was 13-7 well into the fourth quarter), and now they head back to the Four Corners to face the 10-0 Bobcats.

“We’re excited. We knew that as soon as we got into the playoffs, at some time or another, we’d have to play Bloomfield,” Bernalillo coach John Cobos said.

Quarterback Uriel Castro has thrown 34 touchdowns (and also 18 interceptions) for Bernalillo. Jose Duran caught a dozen of those TD passes, although Bloomfield largely did a fine job defending Duran last month. Ivan Ruiz and Ulisses Castro, the QB’s brother, also are heavily featured in the pass game.

What doomed Bernalillo last month was failing to convert multiple scoring chances deep in Bloomfield territory.

“We need to start fast,” Cobos said. “They’re not used to playing from behind.”

Indeed, Bloomfield’s defense has been tremendous, almost impenetrable. It has seven shutouts, and has yielded only 47 points in 10 games — and 34 of those came in the official season opener to Piedra Vista.

Bernalillo is one of only three teams to have scored on the Bobcats.

The Spartans have a formidable defense of their own, and did a superb job slowing down Bloomfield senior quarterback Blake Spencer in the previous meeting. Spencer has tossed for almost 2,400 yards and 38 touchdowns. Junior running back Peyton Duncan was the key player last month for the Bobcats, going well over 200 yards. He gained about 20% of his yards this season in that one game alone.

The other semifinal is 1 p.m. Saturday at Nusenda Community Stadium, as the Sundevils (9-3) take on a young but extremely athletic team in St. Pius (9-2).

Española Valley beat the Sartans in last year’s first round, although the Sartans started their fourth-string quarterback that day due to injuries. The first-stringer, then-freshman Isaiah Carpenter, was injured. But the strong-armed sophomore (nearly 2,600 yards passing and 29 TDs this season) is healthy and leading an offense that has multiple weapons, especially sophomore running back Hershul Olloway Jr., plus receiver Cayl Cox-Liggins. Olloway has rushed for 1,600 yards and 20 touchdowns. Cox-Liggins and Bryan Thomas have combined for 20 touchdown receptions.

“I think we match up pretty well, but they’ve got more athletes than we’ve got, to be honest with you,” Sundevils coach Tylon Wilder said.

Española Valley has a fine defense, it shut out Taos 28-0 last week. The Sundevils have held opponents to fewer than 10 points in seven of their nine victories.

Offensively, Española Valley will run the ball the large majority of the time. So much so that the Sundevils have attempted only 13 passes all season.

“You gonna stop us, you gotta stop the O-Line and you’ve got to stop the running backs,” Wilder said.

St. Pius coach Curtis Flakes Jr. said his team was taking a business approach to Saturday, same as any other week.

“They just see it as another game,” he said. “They rarely get rattled.”