BEARING DOWN
La Cueva football hammers Cleveland, 30-7; West Mesa goes to 2-0
West Mesa High School on Thursday night became the first Class 6A school to win its first two games this season.
With junior Mark Garcia rushing for 127 yards and three touchdowns, the Mustangs defeated St. Pius 27-14 at Nusenda Community Stadium. Garcia carried the ball 32 times in the victory.
Diego Pavia threw for a touchdown and ran for another for the Sartans (1-1).
At Wilson Stadium on Thursday night, La Cueva belted Cleveland 30-7.
The Storm didn’t score until 1:32 was left in the game, on Colten Madison’s 4-yard run.
Cleveland (1-1) didn’t have positive offensive yards in this contest until the third quarter after the Bears (2-0) stifled the Storm in the opening two quarters. Cleveland’s longest run was a 34-yarder by Isaac Torres late in the third quarter.
Late Friday, Rio Rancho was at El Paso Americas, Volcano Vista met Eldorado, Valley took on Sandia and Bernalillo faced Navajo Prep. This afternoon at 1 at Community Stadium, Cibola plays host to Las Cruces High.
For stories and highlights of Friday’s games, see today’s main Journal sports section.
WEEK 1 HIGHLIGHTS: Rio Rancho quarterback Logan Bruere threw for 331 yards and six touchdowns for the Rams in their 42-21 victory over Mayfield. Austin Hise caught half of those six scoring passes, and Derrick Reyes had two of the other three. The Rio Rancho defense kept the Trojans off the scoreboard until the fourth quarter.
Volcano Vista running back Moses Young collected 216 yards and three TDs for the Hawks in their 48-20 win against Valley last Saturday afternoon. Back-to-back scoring runs in the third quarter blew the game open for Volcano Vista.
Diego Pavia threw four touchdown passes for St. Pius in his first game as the Sartans’ starting QB in a 41-8 rout of Highland. It was a winning debut for new St. Pius coach David Montoya.
At Cleveland, the Storm scored 42 first-half points in a 52-22 victory over Oñate. Angelo Trujillo threw for 235 yards and a pair of scoring passes for Cleveland. Dion Hunter returned a blocked punt for a score, and Isaac Torres ran for three touchdowns in the victory. Dominic Thompson blocked a punt for Cleveland, also recovered a fumble and had a sack. WEEK 3 MATCHUPS: West Mesa and Volcano Vista get the week started, Thursday night at Community Stadium.
On Friday, Manzano is at Cibola at Community, Clovis visits Rio Rancho and Albuquerque Academy goes to Bernalillo.
A week from today, Hope Christian takes on St. Pius, Cleveland goes to Las Cruces and Valley plays host to Alamogordo at Milne.
Bernalillo lost on the road, 33-0 to Gallup, and Cibola was beaten 42-8 by La Cueva.
Soccer
The girls from Volcano Vista and Cleveland met late Friday in the championship game of the Albuquerque Metro Championships. See today’s main Journal sports section for the story.
The Hawks, on Devyn Moya’s goal, beat La Cueva 1-0 in overtime on Wednesday night in the semifinals, while the Storm blitzed Sandia 6-1 in the other semi.
Valley’s boys also reached the metro semis, but fell 3-1 to Albuquerque Academy. The Vikings took on district rival Albuquerque High late Friday in the third-place game.
Highlights from Tuesday in the metros included: Cibola’s girls needing two OTs to defeat Eldorado 1-0 on Lexi Baca’s 97th-minute goal; Cibola’s boys winning their first game of the year, 3-1 over Sandia; Gabe Chavez’s goal midway through the first half stood up for Volcano Vista in a 1-0 victory over Cleveland.
From Thursday, Cibola’s boys defeated Manzano 4-3. Matt Berlint and Cody Gentry scored goals in regulation for the Cougars for the second straight game. Also, Cleveland’s boys tied 2-2 with Atrisco Heritage.
Cross Country
A large majority of the Rio West schools will have their boys and girls competing this morning at the University of New Mexico Invitational at UNM North Golf Course, which is the first major meet of the 2017 season.
Among those scheduled to compete are Volcano Vista, Cleveland, Cibola, Valley, Rio Rancho, St. Pius, West Mesa and Bosque Schoool.
The boys varsity race begins at 8:45 a.m., followed at 9:15 a.m. with the varsity girls. There is also a college race at 9:50 a.m.
Volleyball
The Albuquerque Metro Championships begin Wednesday at La Cueva, Sandia, Valley and Atrisco Heritage with pool play.
Rio Rancho, West Mesa, La Cueva and Highland are in a pool at La Cueva. In Pool B at Sandia, it’s the Matadors, Rio Grande, Del Norte and Cibola. Pool C at Valley includes the host Vikings, plus Albuquerque Academy, Volcano Vista and Eldorado. Pool D at Atrisco Heritage features the Jaguars, Albuquerque High, Cleveland and Manzano.
Bracket play begins the following day, Thursday, with the top two teams from each pool moving into the gold bracket. The championship match is 6:30 p.m. next Saturday at West Mesa.