Here's a look at the 2025 prep football schedule

Prep football fans in the metro area will have several menu items to choose from on opening night of 2025 season.

While there are a few minor additions and tweaks still to be made, the general blueprint of the upcoming season for Albuquerque Public Schools is finished.

And it’ll be a busy opening night in the metro area. Thursday night, Aug. 21, will feature APS games at each of the district’s three venues, and highlighted with a matchup at Wilson Stadium between La Cueva and Volcano Vista.

Manzano will be playing Highland (Milne), and Bernalillo is set to face Valley (Nusenda Community Stadium), also on opening night.

On Friday night, Aztec is to play Rio Grande at Milne, Organ Mountain is at Eldorado at Wilson, and new Cibola coach David Howes will send his Cougars against Albuquerque High at Nusenda Community Stadium. Sandia opens on the road at Piedra Vista, as Tylon Wilder begins his tenure as the Matadors new coach.

Hope Christian-Del Norte (Milne) and West Mesa-St. Pius (Community) round out the schedule on Saturday; the Sartans are coming off a loss in last season’s Class 4A state final to Bloomfield and looking to mount another serious charge.

Defending Class 6A state champion Cleveland will be on the road the first two weeks. The Storm will be at the Field of Dreams to face a semifinalist from last season, Centennial, on the opening Saturday, on Aug. 23. Those two shared a field last Thanksgiving weekend.

It will be a short week for the Storm, as Cleveland will be in Los Lunas to face the Tigers in Week 2. Cleveland’s home opener is Friday, Sept. 5, against Clovis.

The Storm also have a very high profile home game the following week against Las Cruces, which reached the 6A semifinals last November before falling to La Cueva.

Cleveland has two tough District 1-6A matchups to close the regular season, at Volcano Vista and at Rio Rancho.

One of the interesting twists in the APS schedule can be found in Week 2. La Cueva and Pinnacle High from the Phoenix area were to meet two straight years in Flagstaff, and in fact they did face one another in northern Arizona last August with the Bears winning a double overtime thriller.

But Pinnacle is going to make the trip to Albuquerque to face La Cueva this season. The teams are set to square off on Friday, Aug. 29, at Wilson Stadium. It was Pinnacle’s choice to make the trip, Bears coach Brandon Back said. It is not immediately known the last time a top program from the Phoenix metro area played a regular season home game in Albuquerque.

Rio Rancho’s schedule is not yet finished, although the Rams will be opening against Atrisco Heritage and new Jaguars coach Dominic Casaus. Rio Rancho will be hosting this year as they met at Community Stadium a year ago.

If you’re looking to catch any of the Las Cruces teams in the metro area, you’ll have chances.

Besides the Las Cruces visit to Cleveland, Mayfield will be at West Mesa in Week 2, and the Trojans were a 5A semifinal team last fall. Organ Mountain roughed up St. Pius in Las Cruces last season; the Knights, who also are in Albuquerque in Week 1 to take on Eldorado, will be at Milne to play the Sartans on Thursday, Sept. 11.

Centennial has one road trip north, at Rio Rancho for a key nondistrict showdown in Week 4. The Rams are also slated to play host to Clovis.

Several APS teams will be on the field on the final day of the regular season, which is Saturday, Nov. 1. La Cueva is facing Albuquerque High at Milne, Los Lunas plays Sandia at Wilson, and Manzano meets St. Pius at Community.

The big-school playoff brackets are scheduled to be released on Sunday, Nov. 2. The month-long postseason tournament culminates with championship games on Saturday, Nov. 29.