It's another Storm front in 6A football as Cleveland defends its title

RIO RANCHO — It’s only been 14 years since Cleveland High School won its first state football championship.

Of late, they are coming in bunches.

With senior running back Samuel Bustillos authoring the greatest performance of his Storm career, second-seeded Cleveland won its second straight Class 6A state title, and fourth in five years, with a 35-28 victory over previously undefeated No. 1 seed Las Cruces on Saturday afternoon.

“Special group of guys,” Storm coach Robert Garza said. “They love football, they love to play football, they are a group of kids who grew up together playing the game.”

Cleveland (12-1) has seven blue trophies going back to 2011. They have gone back-to-back in 2021 and 2022, and now last year and this year.

Bustillos was the unexpected star in what proved to be an improbable scenario that played out over 48 minutes on a breezy day in Rio Rancho.

While the Bulldawgs (12-1) rolled into town with 6A’s best running back in Danny Amaro, on this day and on this field, he was a distant second-best back.

The 5-foot-10 Bustillos, who hadn’t rushed for more than 153 yards in any game prior to Saturday, and only surpassed 100 yards twice, rushed 27 times for 202 yards and two touchdowns.

“Gotta give it to my O-Line,” Bustillos said. “Greatest O-Line in the state.”

A meniscus injury had limited his touches and games. He was averaging only about 78 yards a game before Saturday’s brilliant showing.

“It’s always been in him,” sophomore receiver Evan Nañez said. “He just put it out there today, best game of his life.”

Bustillos scored on runs of 28 yards in the first quarter and eight yards in the third quarter, the latter proving to be a key swing moment for both teams. And his day-long run of 53 also led to a Cleveland touchdown in the second quarter.

“Seeing him play his best game at the end of the year is unbelievable,” Garza said.

So much of Saturday could be pinned to each team’s ground attack.

Amaro was, as Garza hoped would be the case, limited for the most part. He finished with 93 yards, but just 18 after halftime as Las Cruces had to abandon the run to make up deficits that varied between seven and 14 points in the second half.

Bustillos’ 28-yard run opened the scoring with 4:37 to go in the first quarter.

Amaro’s 3-yard scoring run three plays into the second quarter tied the game.

The Storm scored just four plays later. The 53-yard burst by Bustillos put Cleveland first-and-goal. On third down, utilizing some trickery, receiver Jacob Maldonado threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to quarterback Jordan Hatch.

The back-and-forth continued as the Bulldawgs moved quickly the other way in five plays, with Amaro finishing the drive off with a 13-yard run.

Cleveland added a touchdown in the final 10 seconds of the first half. The Storm marched 65 yards in 11 plays. On the score, Hatch rolled right and fired to an open Nañez, who was standing in the end zone.

The Storm led 21-14 at halftime, which was exactly the score when these teams met on this field in mid-September, a game that Las Cruces eventually won 38-34.

Las Cruces on the first drive of the third quarter Saturday advanced as far as the Storm 17, but a holding penalty and later a fourth-down sack ended the threat.

Cleveland quickly doubled its lead, with Bustillos capping a 62-yard drive with the 8-yard scoring run.

The Bulldawgs’ inability to finish their drive, and Cleveland’s ensuing scoring drive, “that’s the difference in the game,” Las Cruces coach Mark Lopez said. “At the end of the day, they got a couple of stops and we got one.”

While Amaro scored on a 16-yard run in the final minute of the third quarter for a 28-21 game, the Cleveland drive that followed defined the afternoon.

Rio Rancho went 80 yards in 15 plays, and ate up 10½ minutes of clock, with Troy Logan’s 1-yard scoring run with 2:31 remaining being the dagger.

“Their O-Line, they do such a really good job of rolling downhill, staying on track. It’s hard to penetrate them and hard to create anything negative,” Lopez said. “Their run game hurt us.”

Cleveland rushed for 262 yards, Las Cruces just 90 — and just seven after halftime, as Bustillos shined bright.

“He decided he was gonna take that game on his shoulders and grind out those tough yards,” Garza said. “We put it on (him) and this O-Line really got it done today.”

That Storm line was celebrating large.

“We came into this game knowing it was gonna be on our backs,” said Cleveland’s huge Division I offensive tackle, senior Moses Sparks. “We had to be the hogs, be those guys that opened those holes for Samuel.”

Las Cruces was in the championship game for the first time since 2016 and chasing the program’s first title in 12 years. The Bulldawgs didn’t have much to hang their heads over; they didn’t turn it over, punted only once, and were only penalized once for 10 yards.

But Cleveland was similarly clean. No turnovers, one punt, and just two penalties for 25 yards.

Thrilling moments from the 6A championship game: Photos