The high school football playoffs were already underway, but they explode this weekend as New Mexico’s five, 11-man classifications jump on board.
On Friday and Saturday, 23 games will be played across the state’s seven divisions, including six in the metropolitan area on Friday afternoon and evening.
The top four in classes 3A-6A have bye tickets to the quarterfinals next week.
CLASS 6A (brackets here): The number 10 seeded Sandia pulls a difficult task in the first round when the Matadors meet the number 7 of the Cibola on Friday.
Matadors coach Chad Adcox said his offense with featured running back Malachi Thymes – who won nearly 1,200 yards and scored 16 touchdowns in the regular season – needs to limit touches from Cibola’s potent offensive sparked by junior quarterback Aden Chavez .
“We can’t fight for points with them,” said Adcox. “We have to run the ball and eat the clock.”
Sandia has her own firepower, with the 6-foot-5 receiver Sean Johnson, the multipurpose Dalton Speis, and Thymes having big-play abilities.
The 6-foot-5 Chavez is big but elusive, and he has some excellent reception targets with Nathan Lopez and Marcus Wilson.
Sandia arrives after winning four straight wins.
“They played better in the second half and they really got it going,” said Cibola coach Rod Williams. “They click and they are tough.”
Cibola’s 5-5 record reflects by far the most demanding schedule in the state. But it has thickened the cougars’ collective skin.
“It’s one thing we feel safe about because we’ve seen everything the state can throw at us,” said Williams. “Now it’s just time to go.”
Eldorado, the 9 seed, travels to Hobbs on Saturday. Hobbs quarterback Colton Graham is one of the better dual-threat QBs at 6A with over 2,300 combined pass and rushing yards. Together with receiver Kaden Trevino, he will be a central point in the defense of Eldorado coach Charlie Dotson.
“It’s pretty smooth. We rarely saw him touched, ”said Dotson of Graham. “He gets the ball out of his hands immediately, like (Aidan Armenta from La Cueva). It’s hard to touch him. “
Eldorado is hoping their floor play is going well as Aidan St. John has reached over 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns at 6 foot 1.
“We have our hands full,” said Dotson.
Carlsbad and Volcano Vista will finally meet on Friday night, two months after their game was canceled in early September due to a COVID issue at Volcano Vista.
Quarterback Josh Gerardo returned to the Hawks lineup last week, helping Volcano Vista over Cibola after missing a few games.
Clovis with 3-6 was the last team in the 6A field, and the Wildcats seeded 12th, who got off to a terrible start with an inexperienced group, visit Las Cruces on Saturday No. 5.
CLASS 5A (brackets here): Belen’s regular season gave the seventh-seeded Eagles a home game in the first round against No. 10 Deming on Friday. Belen’s three losses came to three of the top four seeds in the bracket: Farmington, Los Lunas and Artesia.
A young Deming team will only attract 21 players to this game, coach Greg Simmons said, and is led by senior running back Joey Reza.
“We don’t have depth, but the kids go both ways and they go hard,” Simmons said. “It could be different, but it isn’t.”
Two of Deming’s district rivals, Mayfield and Santa Teresa, are hosting first-round matches. The Trojans house No. 12 Los Alamos while the Desert Warriors house No. 9 of Piedra Vista.
Valley finished third in his district behind Los Lunas and Belen, and the Vikings are facing a difficult task at Goddard in 6th place.
CLASS 4A (brackets here): Albuquerque Academy narrowly missed a bye in the first round; the Chargers, a 5 seed, get district rival Bernalillo Friday at 3pm in the first game of the first round of the weekend. This was a defensive exchange of blows a month ago when Academy won 14-7.
A potentially competitive game looms large on Friday when No. 10 Taos goes to No. 7 Valencia. The Tigers won five of six games that went into the playoffs after 0-4, while the Jaguars are in the postseason for the first time in three years. Taos needs to rejuvenate its running game after being held at 34 yards at Moriarty last week. But Valencia’s offensive also struggled as they only scored 20 points together in the last three games of the regular season.
Silver and Kirtland Central met at the Four Corners in Week 1, and now the Broncos – senior tailback Zakk Thomas are returning for 1,453 yards and 17 TDs despite the Colts holding him under 100 yards in the opener.
Aztecs, like Kirtland Central, are facing a long road trip as the Tigers visit Ruidoso on Saturday. Warriors walking back to Bracxton Hall average over 120 yards per game.
CLASS 3A (bracket here): Hope Christian, the youngest (2019) national champion, is at home as No. 8 at Wilson Stadium on Friday and faces the ninth-seeded Navajo Prep, who averages around 35 points per game.
“I think we’re really ready,” said Hope coach Fernando Salinas. “We’ve been tested all year round and these kids have had the best gaming experiences.”
Cuba’s Rams make a rare home appearance as a number 7 versus a dangerous 10 in Dexter.
Number 6 West Las Vegas, which skipped a short season in the spring, returned with an upturn in the fall, welcoming Cobre.
The other matchup in the first round is Thoreau traveling to Roswell to face the New Mexico Military Institute.
CLASS 2A (brackets here): Two of the four quarter-finals on Friday look familiar.
No. 3 Eunice and No. 6 Hagerman played an overtime game on October 15, winning 34-28 from the Cardinals, who rushed nearly 300 yards. On the same day, No. 2 seed Tularosa hidden Lordsburg 27-0; The district rivals meet again in Tularosa. Four of the Wildcats’ six wins are through shutouts, and they have only scored 20 points overall in those six games.
No. 1 settled and emerging Jal houses No. 8 Estancia, and in this upper half of the bracket there are No. 4 Texico and No. 5 Capitan.
8-MAN (brackets here) / 6-MAN (brackets here): All three games this weekend are repeat pairs from the regular season, including the unbeaten Gateway Christian against Ramah with a loss in the 6-man state finals, as the Mustangs look like to avenge a loss of two touchdowns five weeks ago. This is the first blue trophy awarded in football in almost two years.
In the eight-man semifinals, Tatum beat Logan three weeks ago in the Longhorns’ game with the lowest score (34-8) of the regular season. In the other semifinals, long-time rivals Melrose and Fort Sumner / House meet; the buffalo won 58-50 in September.
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