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Prep football: State championship scores and summaries (Nov. 7-8)
Highland sophomore William Anchondo, left, heads down the field while Mayfield junior Brody Wilke, right, runs toward him during Friday's playoff game at Milne Stadium.
This story will be updated throughout the weekend.
Friday (Nov. 7)
---> 6A: Volcano Vista 14, Cibola 10
There was not much more the Cibola Cougars could have done Friday night to punch their ticket to the Class 6A prep football quarterfinals.
In the end, special teams failed Cibola, and extended Volcano Vista’s season.
The seventh-seeded Hawks, trailing by a field goal four minutes into the fourth quarter, blocked a Cibola punt, earned a first-and-goal, and senior Justus Foutz’s 2-yard touchdown run two plays later, with 7:07 to go, was the difference for Volcano Vista in a gritty 14-10 win over their District 1-6A rivals in the first round of the playoffs at Nusenda Community Stadium.
“That blocked punt won us the game,” said Foutz, who scored both Volcano Vista touchdowns, including a 4-yarder on the game’s first drive, just 3½ minutes after kickoff.
Volcano Vista (8-3) visits No. 2 Cleveland in next week’s 6A quarterfinals.
But the Hawks were on upset watch the entire 48 minutes.
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---> 6A: Los Lunas 28, Piedra Vista 24
In Los Lunas, the Tigers and Panthers went back and forth before Los Lunas (8-3) secured the win with a grinding running attack on their last possession in this Class 6A first-round playoff game.
Tigers junior quarterback Luke Cieremans ran in a 1-yard touchdown and threw a 34-yard touchdown strike to fellow junior Tayson Gaxiola. Senior running back Martin Cordova and junior Jagger Casillas both ran for scores to lead Los Lunas.
“Our backfield is explosive,” Cieremans said after the win. “We’re hard to stop. The O-line and D played great all night. We just never let up.”
---> 6A: La Cueva 41, Eldorado 7
At Wilson Stadium, Chris Lopez caught a pair of touchdown passes as 6A’s fifth-seeded Bears (9-2) won their ninth straight game and set up a highly anticipated quarterfinal showdown next Saturday at the Field of Dreams in Las Cruces against No. 4 seed Centennial.
---> 5A: Highland 36, Mayfield 22
William Anchondo provided the lightning and Jose Tapia brought the thunder — in that order.
The Highland running back duo combined for 355 yards and five touchdowns as the No. 8 Hornets took a 36-22 victory over ninth-seeded Mayfield (2-9) in a Class 5A first-round matchup at Milne Stadium on Friday night. It’s Highland’s second consecutive first-round playoff victory after besting Miyamura as a ninth seed in 2024.
“Man, thinking about where we started nine years ago when I took over the program to now, it's kind of surreal,” said Highland coach Philip Lovato. “Especially out of our 11 starters, (we have) five sophomores, three juniors, and a couple of seniors. We're dealing with a lot of young guys that are just balling. They're playing hard for each other and it means a lot.”
---> 5A: Belen 50, Valley 23
In Belen, Logan Gonzalez scored four touchdowns Friday as 5A’s seventh-ranked Eagles (7-4) handled the 10th-seeded Vikings in the first round of the playoffs.
“Our offensive line was just opening the holes. They couldn’t stop us,” said Gonzalez, who also added an interception.
Three of Gonzalez’s touchdowns came on the ground in the second quarter as the Eagles built a 24-7 halftime lead. Valley scored on a Jonah Marez pass to Josh Sanchez.
---> 5A: Gadsden 50, Capital 0
In the 5A playoffs, No. 6 Gadsden hammered No. 11 Capital 50-0 as the Panthers advanced to play at No. 3 Los Alamos in the quarterfinals.
---> 4A: Bernalillo 31, Manzano 28
This is a movie the Bernalillo Spartans had seen before.
Going back to the first three weeks of the 2025 prep football season, Bernalillo trailed in the opener against Valley, but came back to win.
Bernalillo scored a near-miracle touchdown late in the fourth quarter to force overtime against Highland in Week 2, then prevailed in OT.
In Week 3, the Spartans scored a fourth-quarter touchdown to get to overtime against Portales, and won that game in OT as well.
So as visiting Manzano took a 14-0 lead Friday night in their Class 4A first-round playoff matchup, there was no need for Bernalillo to panic.
---> 4A: ABQ Academy 42, Valencia 0
At the Academy, quarterback William Braun threw four touchdown passes, two to Gage Conway, and 4A’s fifth-seeded Chargers (7-4) blanked the 12th-seeded Jaguars (4-7) for the second consecutive week. Academy won 34-0 last week to close the regular season.
Ryan Williams rushed for a score for Academy, Finn Thompson and Logan Hague caught TD passes, and the Academy defense also scored with Theo Gutierrez returning an interception for a touchdown.
---> 4A: Moriarty 49, Portales 13
In Moriarty, Mario Romero hit a 77-yard run on the first offensive play for the Pintos (6-4), and sixth-seeded Moriarty cruised past the 11th-seeded Rams (2-9) in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs.
Romero added a 64-yard TD run on Moriarty’s second possession. He finished with 220 yards.
Mateo Griego Manley added 127 yards and a score for the Pintos; quarterback Devin Ortiz rushed for three scores.
Moriarty visits No. 3 Chaparral on Friday night at 7 in the quarterfinals.
3A: Hot Springs 24, Thoreau 14
3A: Ruidoso 22, West Las Vegas 13
2A: Navajo Prep 22, Jal 13
2A: Santa Rosa 50, Tucumcari 0
2A: Loving 44, Estancia 40
8-Man: Fort Sumner/House 50, Menaul 0
8-Man: Tatum 36, Gateway Christian 34 (OT)
6-Man: Grady 59, Elida 0
6-Man: Logan 40, Magdalena 12
Saturday (Nov. 8)
---> 6A: Carlsbad 35, Rio Rancho 13
One week, you are playing for a district title, the next week, your season comes to a close.
For Rio Rancho football, it’s the cold, hard truth.
In the biggest upset of the Class 6A playoffs so far, 11th-seeded Carlsbad (6-5) took down No. 6 Rio Rancho (6-5) 35-13 on Saturday afternoon.
What started as an underdog upset quickly turned into road domination. The runaway victory shocked many, but in the Cavemen’s eyes, they didn’t see it that way.
“For us, it was not much of an upset, even though it looks like it on paper because of the ranking,” Carlsbad senior Robert Castaneda said. “We were happy to get matched up against Rio Rancho, our mentality going in there was to play physical and fast.”
5A: Goddard 35, Deming 14
4A: Grants 14, Silver 7
3A: Robertson 29, Hatch Valley 8
3A: NMMI 48, Wingate 7
2A: Raton 53, Tularosa 12
8-Man: Mesilla Valley 42, Escalante 8
8-Man: Melrose 66, Lordsburg 14
Cibola vs. Volcano Vista football: Photos
