See the Journal's All-Metro football teams for 2024

James Yodice James Yodice James Yodice Journal Staff Writer

Published December 22, 2024 - 4:59 a.m. Modified December 22, 2024 - 4:59 a.m.

The last bit of business for the 2024 prep football season arrives in the form of the Journal’s All-Metro teams.

As always, our list of athletes comes from a pool of all the classifications, and narrowed to one first team, one second team, no third team, no ties.

And the annual challenges of whittling our list down to the final 52 and the extreme difficulty of selecting who is in and who is not.

Of the 52 players represented, more than a third — 20 — hail from the state’s two best teams, Cleveland and La Cueva. The Storm have 11 players on the list, the Bears nine.

It was a big year for the metro area’s 4A programs, who combined to put 11 players (St. Pius leading with four) on our first and second teams. There are, by contrast, only three 5A players. A total of 17 schools are represented today with at least one player.

OFFENSE: The person quarterbacking this offense is the dynamic Cam Dyer, the La Cueva senior who combined for 3,800 passing/rushing yards and 51 combined passing (31) and rushing (20) touchdowns. It was hugely unfortunate for us all that we didn’t get a healthy Dyer for the Class 6A final, but the future Arizona State Sun Devil was sensational for the Bears all the way up until that late injury.

Cleveland junior Jordan Hatch is our second-team QB, and was outstanding with 29 TD passes versus just two interceptions for the 6A state champions.

Running back was a dicey proposition. There were five extremely worthy candidates, but only four slots available. All five are on our list, just not all at running back.

Highland’s Amiri Mumba (2,003 rush yards, 19 TDs and he was frequently not 100% physically) and Cleveland’s Juan Muñoz (1,107 rush yards, 373 pass yards and 21 combined TDs) make up an all-senior backfield behind Dyer on the first team.

St. Pius sophomore Hershul Olloway Jr. and Valencia junior Michael Storms III both were tremendous for their teams and were on our second team; La Cueva’s Cheeto Lumbrera III is our second-team athlete.

Receiver offered up a plethora of terrific candidates.

My choices for our first team are Rio Rancho’s Jace Pitt (82 catches, 1,199 yards, 16 TDs), La Cueva’s Jayden Parsons (45/872/12) and Cleveland’s Jacob Maldonado (50/918/11).

Los Lunas junior QB Kaiden Reese is the first-team athlete, as he combined for more than 2,000 rush/pass yards and was the crucial offensive piece for the Tigers.

We have two tackles about as big and talented as any we’ve ever chosen, with La Cueva senior Mark Handy and Cleveland junior Moses Sparks. The Storm’s Gabe Marquez and Valencia’s Diego Baeza are at guard, Cleveland’s Robert Sabado at center.

Eldorado sophomore Jahari Morehead was hugely influential for the Eagles on special teams, bringing back five kicks for touchdowns, and he is the first-team returner.

Albuquerque High junior Gabriel Fernandez gets the nod at placekicker.

DEFENSE: The center of our first-team universe is La Cueva senior linebacker Mason Posa. He had 74 solo tackles, five sacks, three forced fumbles, three interceptions and 19 tackles for loss. (His contributions on special teams, and even offense, were also noteworthy.)

But Posa is not the only Bear linebacker on our first team. Senior Nick Mertz was one of the most underrated great defenders in the metro area, and is completely deserving of his first-team nod.

Volcano Vista’s Thomas Pettus and Cleveland’s Brendan Cochrane round out the quartet of first-team linebackers.

The defensive backfield consists of senior cornerback Sajon Thompson of West Mesa, St. Pius sophomore CB Curtis Flakes III and Cleveland senior safety AJ Manning.

Mustangs coach Landrick Brody shared this: Teams only threw at Thompson 16 times total in 10 games, and he intercepted four of those attempts.

Flakes is the only other sophomore besides Eldorado’s Morehead on the Journal’s 2024 first team, and Flakes is one of four Sartans (the 4A state runner-up) represented among the 52. He had three picks, two caused fumbles and surrendered less than 100 receiving yards all season.

The size on this defense is up front with four wide-body forces: Cleveland senior Psalmon Kegler, La Cueva senior Carlos Barela, Volcano Vista junior Alvin Gomez and Valley senior Juan Vigil.

Vigil is the only other 5A player on the first team besides Highland’s Mumba.

Bernalillo’s Uriel Castro and his 40-yard-plus average made him our first-team punter; Castro was also a superb quarterback for the Spartans who just had their best season in program history.