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Still alive; Eagles, Tigers advance in football playoffs
Los Lunas and Belen protected their home fields last week in the first round of the state playoffs, both advancing to the quarterfinals. For Valencia, the season came to an end on the road at Albuquerque Academy.
Wool Bowl awaits Eagles
It’s off to Roswell and a showdown Friday in the Wool Bowl for the Belen Eagles, who earned a spot in the 5A quarterfinals with a solid 50-23 victory last week at home against Valley behind four Logan Gonzalez touchdowns.
No. 7 BHS (7-4) takes on perennial New Mexico power and second-seeded Roswell (7-3) with the kickoff at 7 p.m.
“It’s going to be tough,” said Kevin Peña, BHS coach, while shivering after getting a dousing of cold water from his players during the victory celebration. “Our kids haven’t quit all year. I don’t expect them to quit (Friday) no matter what happens.”
The key for the Eagles to pull the upset against the Coyotes could be running the ball like they did against Valley.
“Our offensive line was just opening the holes. They couldn’t stop us,” said Logan Gonzalez, who added an interception to go with his four touchdowns.
If it wasn’t Gonzalez slicing through the defense, it was Elijah Schaffino-Vallejo barreling over the Vikings with punishing runs.
“It was just the line doing their job, giving me enough time to read their blocks. I pressed the gas,” Schaffino-Vallejo said.
The game was put away on a touchdown pass from Chalito Cano to Gonzalez, with a fumble return for a score by Nehemiah Sanchez putting the finishing touches on the victory.
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After a week of practice, the Eagles get set to climb on the bus for the trip east.
“We’re going to keep our heads down and focus and get ready,” said Gonzalez. Schaffino-Vallejo pointed to the hard work. “It’s all paid off. It’s led us to this moment right here. I don’t want to brag, but we’ve got some heart.”
Tigers nip Panthers to advance
At Los Lunas High School, the visiting Panthers gave the host Tigers all they could handle Friday night, as Los Lunas held on late for a 28-24 victory in the first round of the Class 6A State Playoffs.
Los Lunas (8-3) took a 28-10 lead early in the third quarter, but plucky PV rallied with 14 unanswered points. The Tigers secured the win with a time-consuming, grinding final drive featuring running backs Martin Cordova and Jagger Casillas.
“Our backfield is explosive,” said junior Luke Cieremans, who scored two touchdowns in the win over the Panthers. “We’re hard to stop. The O line and D played great all night. We just never let up.”
LLHS head coach Greg Henington said LLHS was not surprised by the Panther’s pluck Friday night.
“We expected a fight,” he said, pointing to the Panthers’ difficult schedule. “We knew it was going to be a battle.”
The Panthers showed that right away, throwing Los Lunas a curve on the opening kickoff, recovering an onside kick. PV took advantage of the short field and got the first score to lead 7-0 early in the first quarter.
Two drives later, the Tigers answered with an 11-play drive punctuated by a one-yard TD plunge by senior Cordova to tie the game 7-7.
Going into quarter two tied, the Tigers got the game’s first break, recovering their own muffed punt and taking a 14-7 lead six plays later with a QB keeper by Cieremans. LLHS led 14-10 at halftime.
The third quarter started with Los Lunas recovering a Panthers fumble on the first play of the second half. The Tigers scored on the next play when Casillas broke loose for a 34-yard touchdown run. On the next Los Lunas possession, Cieremans found fellow junior Tayson Gaxiola with a 3-yard touchdown strike and the Tigers led 28-10.
PV got seven points back immediately, scoring on an 80-yard run by senior Amasi Griego. The Piedra Vista D kept them in the game on the ensuing drive, causing a fumble at their own one-yard line. Later in the fourth, the Panthers intercepted an LLHS pass deep in Tiger territory and scored to cut the lead to 28-24. But the Tigers kept the ball on the ground on their final drive and time expired with PV’s offense stuck on the sideline.
The Tigers now face top-seeded and undefeated Las Cruces (10-0) at Field of Dreams in Las Cruces at 7 p.m. Friday.
“Going into next week, we know it’s not going to be just another high school game,” said Cieremans. “We just need to work hard (this week), and fight for the next victory. (Tonight) gave us a taste of what to expect going forward.”
Academy shuts down Valencia
Eight days after dominating Valencia (4-7) in the regular season finale, fifth-seeded Albuquerque Academy (7-4) did it again Friday afternoon in the first round of the 4A playoffs.
On their home turf, the Chargers defense shutout VHS for the second straight game, posting a 42-0 win over the No. 12 Jaguars.
While acknowledging that Academy is a “good team,” Valencia coach LeDarrius Cage left the field frustrated.
“We had a lot of opportunities to make some plays, but we came up short on those plays,” Cage said.
It was not a good sign for the Jaguars when all-state running back Michael Storms III was not in the starting lineup, bothered by illness.
“It sucked not playing the first half of my last football game,” was the blunt assessment by Storms, who did get action on a limited basis in the second half. “He had a couple of good runs. I was proud of him for that,” noted Cage.
Filling in holes because of injury and other reasons was a consistent issue for the Jaguars, who lost five of their last six games.
“We had a lot of guys in there who weren’t familiar with a lot of reps, so it kind of hurt us a little bit,” Cage said of his offensive line.
Cage is well aware that he will need to replace an outstanding senior class, including Gauge Hollaway, Jordan Henry, Joseph Palacio, Eric Rodriguez, Diego Baeza and Storms.
“You have to figure out how to reload, get better, and make a run the following year,” the coach said.
The season didn’t go as Storms expected, but he has enjoyed the football experience at VHS.
“I love this sport. It brings me joy, brings me happiness,” Storms shared. “I had five carries (Friday), still it was a blast. Super fun.”
