Football season wrapping up; postseason next

The final week of the regular season in high school football has arrived, with Belen and Valencia playing Thursday (tonight) while Los Lunas has a Saturday morning kickoff in Albuquerque.

Nailing down a postseason berth and improving playoff positioning are at stake. The New Mexico Activities Association will release the tournament brackets at about 10 p.m., Saturday.

Eagles soaring; HOF Game next

The regular season finale Thursday (tonight) has a little more pizazz than usual for the Belen Eagles (5-4, 4-2) when Santa Fe Capital (3-6, 3-3) pays a visit.

Not only will the Eagles honor their senior class, but the inaugural inductees into the Belen High School Athletic Hall of Fame will be revealed at halftime.

Going into the contest, Belen has considerable momentum. The Eagles have a winning record for the first time in recent memory this late in the season. Plus, they are coming off a, mostly, impressive 50-12 victory last Thursday over winless Rio Grande (0-9, 0-6) at Milne Stadium in Albuquerque.

“We came out strong, we came out firing,” said Kevin Peña, BHS head coach, as the Eagles built a 44-0 halftime lead. “You’ve got to be happy with that.”

Quarterback Chalito Cano had two touchdown passes, including one to Logan Gonzalez and a swing pass to Logan Chavez to start the scoring.

“My blockers made their blocks and I just walked right in,” was how Chavez described the touchdown.”

Cano and Gonzalez each added two touchdowns rushing, while Elijah Schaffino-Vallejo added another.

The Belen defense dominated, with Ethan Haldeman registering a safety and Chavez grabbing an interception.

With reserves getting more playing time, Rio Grande outscored BHS in the second half.

“We were playing four ninth-graders on that one series,” to open the half, said Peña. “You expect things to happen but you can’t lose focus.”

With Senior Night and the Hall of Fame contest next, there will be plenty of distractions as the Eagles take on Capital.

“We have really got to focus,” Peña believes. “It’s a short week again. We need to come in and play hard.”

Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

Sartans stymie Jaguars

There is little doubt St. Pius (6-1, 3-1) has some of the finest athletes in all of New Mexico high school football regardless of classification.

The Sartans showed that Friday at Valencia (4-4, 2-2), rolling to a 62-12 District 2-4A victory, ending in the fourth quarter on the mercy-rule. The loss puts the pressure on the Jaguars to win Thursday (tonight) against Albuquerque Academy.

“Turnovers were the name of the game for us tonight,” said VHS head coach LeDarrius Cage.

The Jaguars gave the ball away five times, including fumbles on the first two possessions of the game.

Despite the miscues, it was competitive for most of the first half.

Santino Mares hit Gauge Hollaway on a 20-yard scoring strike, but the missed extra-point try left St. Pius in front 7-6.

Valencia had a chance to take the lead after a touchdown run by Mares, but the two-point conversion was stopped, and VHS trailed 13-12.

After that, St. Pius started to run away, taking a 33-12 halftime lead. Cage lamented those early turnovers.

“Maybe we would have had a little more momentum,” and changed the direction of the game.

On the first possession of the second half, a Mares pass went through a receivers’ hands and was returned for a pick-six, pretty much ending any comeback.

“It was really deflating,” said Cage of the interception.

The Sartans later converted on scoring plays of 71 and 60 yards, plus a punt return to end the scoring and the game.

Albuquerque Academy (5-4, 3-2) visits Valencia Thursday (tonight) in a critical game for the Jaguars in terms of securing a berth in the 4A playoffs.

“We’ve got to have a good game plan. We’re going to need this one pretty bad,” Cage said of the showdown against the Chargers.

Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

Tigers ease past AHA

It was an inauspicious start for Los Lunas (6-3, 5-1) at home Friday against Atrisco Heritage Academy (1-7, 0-5), despite the eventual 55-14 victory.

After four holding penalties in the first quarter, LLHS got on the board when Luke Cieremans, filling in for a banged up Kaiden Reese at quarterback, snuck into the end zone on a fourth-down play.

“It needs to stop,” said Greg Henington, LLHS head coach, about unnecessary penalties. “We talked to the kids about it 100 times.”

On the last play of the first quarter, Cieremans lofted a pass to Tayson Gaxiola who made a difficult catch, kept his balance and found his way into the end zone.

“I was very proud of Luke Cieremans. He stepped in and had an outstanding game,” said Henington.

Cieremans finished with four touchdown passes, 280 yards through the air and another 80 on the ground.

After the score by Gaxiola, who had two TD receptions, the Tigers recovered a pooch kick. That would lead to a touchdown run by Martin Cordova, who rushed for more than 100 yards, to put Los Lunas in front 21-0.

The rout was on at that point, with Teegan Gallegos, Anthony Castillo and Jagger Casillas adding touchdowns and Nathan Martinez a 41-yard field goal.

Los Lunas can nail down second place in the district and, perhaps, home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs, if they beat Sandia (4-5, 4-2) Saturday morning at Wilson Stadium in Albuquerque.

“Sandia is a very tough team. You can’t let their overall record fool you,” said Henington, pointing to the Matadors athleticism, receivers and defense. “It’s going to be at 11 a.m., so we’ve got to be ready to roll.”