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Week 1: New Mexico high school football scores and summaries
La Cueva Cheeto Lumbrera III (22) gets down on one knee before Friday's game against Volcano Vista at Nusenda Community Stadium.
This story will be updated throughout the weekend.
THURSDAY
Rio Rancho 54, Atrisco Heritage 15
Slow start? OK. Maybe. But almost all of the rest of the opening night of New Mexico’s 2024 prep football season was owned by the Rio Rancho Rams.
The Rams watched Atrisco Heritage score the first touchdown of the game five minutes in, but Rio Rancho scored the next eight TDs in what was eventually a 54-15 victory over the Jaguars on Thursday night at Nusenda Community Stadium.
Senior quarterback J.J. Arellano threw for 273 yards and connected with four different receivers on his four touchdown passes. Arellano also ran for a fifth score.
Piedra Vista 28, Sandia 7
Hot Springs 20, Tularosa 18
FRIDAY
Several metro-area teams were severely impacted by weather on Friday night.
Rio Grande traveled to Aztec, but that game never began and the game was cancelled.
In Valencia County, there were major issues at all three venues.
Valencia defeated Kirtland Central 20-7, but that game was called a minute into the third quarter because of lightning.
At Los Lunas High, the Tigers and Roswell only played a few minutes of the first quarter. The game never resumed (it was 7-7 at the time of postponement), and thus it goes down as a no decision.
In Belen, Bloomfield had a 6-0 first-quarter lead when that contest was stopped. It also never resumed.
In Farmington, a game between the Scorpions and Clovis was delayed until Saturday morning. MORE
La Cueva 21, Volcano Vista 0
The La Cueva Bears barely got any live snaps in during their scrimmage last week.
Opening night of the regular season didn’t provide the Bears a whole lot of work, either.
But the defending Class 6A state football champions still left Nusenda Community Stadium with a lightning-shortened 21-0 victory over Volcano Vista in front of a huge crowd Friday night on the West Side.
Centennial 35, Cleveland 28
Centennial landed the first major punch of the Class 6A prep football season.
The Hawks opened their 2024 season in style, winning 35-28 at Cleveland at Lightning Bolt Stadium on Friday night. Rudy Rios caught a short touchdown pass to break a 28-all tie with about 4 minutes left in the game for Centennial.
It was a tough night in the rain for the Storm who came out of the gates swinging with an immediate touchdown from junior quarterback Jordan Hatch to receiver Angel Gallegos, a connection he would maintain all night.
Centennial’s senior QB, Zaiden Davis, a New Mexico State commit, helped Centennial respond, and the game was 14-all at halftime.
In the second half, Cleveland aired the ball out, letting Hatch’s arm advance the Storm down the field. On the other side, Centennial sophomore running back Dailen Ramirez pounded the Storm defense.
When heavy rain began in the fourth quarter, Ramirez’s ground game proved better suited to the weather than Cleveland’s high-flying offense.
A match-up between two preseason behemoths — according to the preseason 6A MaxPreps computer rankings, Cleveland started the year No. 2, Centennial No. 4 — the game came down to a few key plays, including a controversial pass interference no-call that got the Cleveland sideline hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
— Taylor Hood, Rio Rancho Observer
Cibola 20, Albuquerque High 17 (OT)
At Milne Stadium, Danny Triplett caught a 10-yard touchdown pass on the Cougars’ first possession in overtime, and they outlasted the Bulldogs to end a 15-game losing streak.
Cibola last won a game in September of the 2022 season. It lost the last five of that season, and went 0-10 last year.
Bernalillo 46, Valley 6
At Bernalillo, Ivan Ruiz caught a touchdown pass and also intercepted two passes, one of them for a pick-6 in the second half, as the 4A Spartans pulled away from the 5A Vikings in the second half.
Uriel Castro threw two other touchdown passes, including one to his brother Ulisses. Nate Encinias rushed for a pair of scores for the Spartans.
Highland 55, Manzano 28
At Wilson Stadium, senior running back Amiri Mumba opened his senior season with a humongous night.
Mumba, coming off a monster junior season, scored five touchdowns for the Hornets, three in the first half, and two more in the third quarter.
He did not play in the fourth quarter.
Highland pulled away in the second half after leading 23-14 at halftime.
Artesia 44, Carlsbad 7
At the Bulldog Bowl, the Eddy County War was one-sided, as Artesia begin its defense of its Class 5A state title with a rout of the Cavemen.
Ethan Conn caught a pair of touchdown passes for Artesia in the victory.
Frankie Galindo added a long TD run, and new starting quarterback Izac Cazares threw for four touchdowns and added a fifth on the ground.
Lovington 31, Hobbs 22
In Lovington, coach Josh Bailey’s debut with the Wildcats was a success.
The defending Class 4A state champions got three TD passes from new QB Mathew Prudencio, and Jayden Gutierrez had three interceptions, plus a touchdown reception, for Lovington, which was playing its first game in the 5A division.
The Eagles trailed 17-2 at halftime, climbed to 17-15, but Lovington put the game away in the second half.
Legacy Academy 48, Laguna-Acoma 0
Legacy Academy’s debut as a 2A program was an outstanding one, as the Silverbacks shut out Laguna-Acoma on the road. Lorenzo Urban-Sedillo accounted for seven touchdowns for Legacy in its victory, and Adam Chavez caught three TD passes.
Moriarty 28, Albuquerque Academy 27
Moriarty stopped visiting Albuquerque Academy on a 2-point conversion with about a minute to go.
Valencia 20, Kirtland Central 7
Las Cruces 50, Mayfield 7
Deming 35, Alamogordo 21
Portales 22, Goddard 16
Santa Fe 21, Capital 0
Grants 34, Miyamura 20
Santa Teresa 15, Silver 14
West Las Vegas 14, Hatch Valley 12
Robertson 56, Socorro 20
Pojoaque 53, Crownpoint 0
Eunice 51, Ruidoso 6
Melrose 44, Haxtun (Colo.) 36
Roy/Mosquero 70, Hondo Valley 0
Tatum 46, Escalante 30
Texico 50, Santa Rosa 0
Santa Fe Indian 20, Cuba 18
Hagerman 20, Dulce 12
Gateway Christian 57, Cloudcroft 0
Mesilla Valley 68, Menaul 14
Gadsden 33, Chaparral 0
Dexter 58, Jal 7
Loving 49, Estancia 20
Fort Sumner 64, Ramah 0
Montezuma-Cortez (Colo.) 53, Gallup 0
Española Valley 21, Los Alamos 18
Logan 41, Magdalena 0
Grady 53, Mountainair 26
Raton 41, Tohatchi 0
Thoreau 38, Tucumcari 8
Hozho Academy 36, Zuni 6
Elida 56, Carrizozo 6
Duncan, Ariz., at Lordsburg, no report
Rio Grande at Aztec, cancelled
Roswell at Los Lunas, cancelled
Bloomfield at Belen, cancelled
Shiprock at Navajo Prep, cancelled
SATURDAY
West Mesa 48, St. Pius 29
It really was just Coaching 101 for Landrick Brody.
If you stopped to think about the West Mesa High School head football coach’s dilemma on Saturday at Nusenda Community Stadium, which will be outlined directly, there wasn’t much need for Brody to overthink things.
With the quarterback position in distress, Brody at halftime of the Mustangs’ game against St. Pius simply turned to his big men, his offensive line, and put the game on them.
“I told them at halftime, just because of that predicament we had at quarterback, it was up to them to take over the football game, and they did that,” Brody said. “I’m so proud of those guys.”
Hope Christian 25, Del Norte 14
At Milne Stadium, freshman Kash Ewen had a huge defensive outing for Hope Christian, with five sacks, plus a scoop and score touchdown on a fumble recovery. Teammate Krew Ward ran for two touchdowns and he also caused the fumble that led to Ewen's touchdown.
Eldorado 21, Organ Mountain 12
At the Field of Dreams in Las Cruces, the Eldorado got touchdowns from Jahari Morehead, Emiliano Morrison and freshman Nolan Romero-Williams.
Farmington 47, Clovis 8
Newcomb 42, Wingate 18
St. Michael’s 42, Taos 0
Cobre 30, McCurdy 26
Questa 54, Navajo Pine 0
Mescalero Apache 57, Alamo Navajo 6
La Cueva football beats Volcano Vista in weather-shortened game
Rio Rancho football stymies Atrisco Heritage
+10 West Mesa rises above St. Pius in second half
