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Playoffs, semifinals: New Mexico high school football scores and summaries
Española Valley’s Cru Wilder, left, dives over St. Pius’ Hershul Olloway Jr. for a first down during Saturday’s Class 4A semifinal game at Nusenda Community Stadium.
Class 6A semifinals
(3) Cleveland 56, (2) Centennial 20
Class 5A semifinals
Class 4A semifinals
Class 3A semifinals
Class 2A semifinals
8-Man final
The Cleveland Storm were in full flight on Friday night at the Field of Dreams in Las Cruces. They scored on all seven of their possessions, they manhandled undefeated Centennial on both sides of the ball, and the No. 3 seed bulldozed its way into the Class 6A state football final with an emphatic semifinal victory over the second-seeded Hawks.
“I felt like we played our best football game all year,” Cleveland coach Robert Garza said. “We put it together and the guys were motivated.”
The Storm (11-1) won their 11th straight following a 35-28 Week 1 loss at home to this same Hawks team that Cleveland shoved around Friday night.
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Cleveland imposed its will pretty much from the first play, when the Storm tackled Centennial’s dangerous running quarterback, Zaiden Davis, for a 3-yard loss.
When Cleveland got the ball moments later, the Storm went 76 yards on three running plays. Juan Muñoz, who finished with 255 yards on 23 carries — in just over 2½ quarters of work — went 59 yards up the middle for a touchdown 2 minutes and 17 seconds into the game. It was dominance pretty much all the way.
The total yardage — 408 for Cleveland, 363 for Centennial, and a good chunk of that for the Hawks came in a meaningless fourth quarter — hardly does justice to how one-sided this game truly was.
(1) La Cueva 47, (5) Las Cruces 19
La Cueva, the defending Class 6A football champions had to negotiate the anxiety of a major injury scare to their quarterback, but the No. 1 seed’s opportunistic defense caused four turnovers, three of which were turned into touchdowns, and La Cueva advanced to the state final with semifinal victory over No. 5 Las Cruces on Saturday afternoon at the Field of Dreams in Las Cruces.
La Cueva (12-0) will face No. 3 Cleveland (11-1) in the title game. Kickoff is 1 p.m. Saturday at Wilson Stadium. It will be the fourth championship game between these two since 2018, and the third consecutive year it has come down to this duo.
The most immediate, and urgent, question that is going to linger over this next chapter is, will La Cueva have a fully healthy Cam Dyer?
Last season’s Gatorade Player of the Year, an Arizona State commit, suffered a knee injury with about four minutes left before halftime, at the end of a 30-yard quarterback keeper which featured an awkward-looking tackle.
“I just got rolled up on,” Dyer said. “I think I hyperextended my knee a little bit, but I’m gonna be ready to go (next weekend). We’re gonna rehab intensely this weekend.”
(1) Roswell 49, (4) Gadsden 21
At Wool Bowl, quarterback Jacob Palomino rushed for a score and threw for three touchdowns, and Class 5A’s top-seeded Coyotes (10-1) pulled away in the second half against the fourth-seeded Panthers (8-4).
Roswell will play host to No. 2 Artesia at 1 p.m. next Saturday in the 5A final.
The Coyotes beat the Bulldogs 44-40 in the regular season. Artesia downed Roswell in last season’s state championship game.
Xai Carrasco had two interceptions for the Roswell defense, one of them was a pick-six. The Coyotes forced Gadsden into six turnovers Saturday.
Palomino had scoring passes of 6, 47 and 12 yards, and he ran for a 39-yard touchdown.
(2) Artesia 50, (6) Mayfield 14
At Bulldog Bowl, Frankie Galindo scored on a 75-yard run on the game’s first play, the second-seeded Bulldogs (9-3) led 29-0 at halftime, and Artesia routed No. 6 seed Mayfield (6-7) in the 5A semifinals.
In the decisive first half, quarterback Izac Cazares added an 89-yard scoring run for a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter, the start of a 22-point quarter.
Galindo added another TD run, and Cazares hit Ethan Conn for a touchdown pass, also before halftime.
Galindo rushed seven times for 123 yards and two scores. Cazares also had seven rushes, for 144 yards, and threw for another 160 yards and a pair of TDs. Eight of Cazares’ 11 completions went to Conn.
(2) St. Pius 31, (6) Española Valley 22
Facing an Española Valley team capable of bleeding the clock with time-consuming drives, St. Pius knew an early sense of urgency would be key.
The No. 2 Sartans (10-2) delivered in that regard, jumping out to leads of 17-0 and 31-7 before cruising to a triumph over the sixth-seeded Sundevils (9-4) in a semifinal at Nusenda Community Stadium.
St. Pius will head to No. 1 Bloomfield with a blue trophy at stake next Saturday at 1 p.m. It will be the Sartans’ first championship game appearance since 2016, when they bested Artesia under then-coach San Juan Mendoza to win the 5A crown.
The Sartans also avenged a 31-7 defeat at the hands of Española in the first round of the 2023 postseason.
“It means a lot,” said St. Pius coach Curtis Flakes II. “These kids are putting in a lot of work and it culminated into this moment. We’re proud of these kids, and the job’s not done.”
The Sundevils entered the game having attempted just 13 passes over the course of the season, so it was no secret as to what their approach would be. And while Española racked up 369 yards rushing on the day, it didn’t score its first offensive touchdown until 58 seconds remained in the third quarter.
The tone was set early, as the Sartans forced the Sundevils to punt on their opening possession and then completed a 60-yard drive with a 14-yard scoring pass from Isaiah Carpenter to Cayl Cox-Liggins. In the first half, Carpenter to Cox-Liggins accounted for seven completions and 125 yards.
(1) Bloomfield 65, (4) Bernalillo 14
In Bloomfield, the Bobcats’ overwhelming size and speed won the day as the Bobcats (11-0), Class 4A’s top seed, routed the fourth-seeded Spartans (9-3) in a one-sided semifinal Saturday.
“We knew Bloomfield was a good team, and we gave it our all, I promise you,” said Spartans head coach John Cobos.
Bernalillo on Saturday led early on Nathan Encinias’ long touchdown run, but the Bobcats evened the score on Blake Spencer’s 39-yard scoring pass to Deasyl Priddy. That was the first of five touchdown passes in the first half for Spencer, who struggled when these teams met last month in terrible weather conditions. One of those five was a 60-yard bomb to running back Peyton Duncan.
The Bobcats scored 31 straight points before the Spartans scored their second touchdown, on a long TD pass from quarterback Uriel Castro. The game ended two minutes into the fourth quarter on the 50-point mercy rule.
“We overcame our issues; we had some flags, but we shut our mouths and did what was asked,” said Bloomfield coach Mike Kovacs. “And that’s the proudest moment of a coach’s life, when the kids respond to what you’re coaching, and I’m pretty proud about that.”
This was the deepest Bernalillo had ever advanced in a state football bracket.
“I can promise you, we’ll be back,” Cobos said. “We were one week shy of our goal, but we know what we gotta do. We’ll get back to work and be back next year.”
(2) Dexter 27, (3) Robertson 24
In Las Vegas, Class 3A’s second-ranked Demons (12-0) walked it off against the third-seeded Cardinals (10-2), kicking a field goal on the final play of the game to advance to the state title game against No. 1 St. Michael’s (12-0).
The game will be Saturday in Santa Fe, at a location yet to be finalized.
In a close game from start to finish, Robertson had tied the game in the latter stages of the fourth quarter, on a 55-yard touchdown pass from Jesse James Gonzalez to George Smith.
Of Dexter’s 12 wins, this was the closest for the Demons all season. Only one of their other victories was by 10 or fewer points.
(1) St. Michael’s 46 (5) NMMI 7
(1) Texico 36, (5) Eunice 27
In Eunice, the defending 2A state champion Wolverines (11-0) scored the game’s final 16 points, including a crucial insurance touchdown very late in the fourth quarter, and the No. 1 seed eliminated the Cardinals (9-4) in a tough semifinal matchup.
Texico will face No. 2 Santa Rosa next week in the title contest.
(2) Santa Rosa 47, (6) Loving 13
(1) Melrose 62, (3) Mesilla Valley Christian 12
In Melrose, the No. 1 seed completed a 13-0 season on Saturday afternoon. The Buffaloes completed one of the most dominant 8-Man seasons on record, outscoring opponents 700-110 this season.
