La Cueva, Belen win to remain undefeated

Bears roll West Mesa, but Eagles struggle

Late-night finishes are nothing new to the La Cueva Bears.

For the second time this season, one of the Bears’ football games went well past 10 p.m. This time it was out of their control.

On Thursday night, and after two lightning delays, Class 6A’s second-ranked team had remained unbeaten by breezing past West Mesa 49-9 at Nusenda Community Stadium.

La Cueva quarterback Dylan Summer threw three first-quarter touchdown passes — one to Reece Wilkinson, one to Grant Giesler and a screen pass to Tristan Roswold — as the Bears (4-0) went up 21-0 in the first quarter.

West Mesa (2-2) nearly got on the board in the second quarter after intercepting a pass, but missed a field goal try. The Mustangs did finally score near the end of the first half when a a high snap cost the Bears a safety.

La Cueva running back D’Andre Williams added a couple of touchdown runs for the Bears, who have reached the soft part of their schedule, which also includes games the next two weeks against Highland and Albuquerque High.

La Cueva’s season opener against Cibola didn’t end until nearly 11:30 p.m. on a Friday night after kicking off at 8:30. BELEN 31, RIO GRANDE 13: At Milne Stadium, lightning interfered with this game, too, which started over an hour late, had a second delay in the first half, and didn’t end until about 11 p.m.

Less than three minutes into the game, Eagles quarterback Zach Halterman scored on an 11-yard run for the Eagles (4-0). A fourthdown score a few minutes later doubled the lead to 14-0.

Just before halftime, Halterman threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Dominic Garcia for a 21-0 lead.

The Ravens scored at the end of the third quarter, and Aaron Pavia added a 10-yard run in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 24-13 with 8:07 left in the game. With just under two minutes remaining, running back Diego Casillas supplied the clincher for Belen, a 65-yard touchdown run.

Rio Grande’s losing streak was extended to 30 games.

Belen faces one of its strongest tests next week, when the Eagles play host to Roswell.

Soccer

There were two elite prep matchups Thursday night at the APS Complex. Not only did they not finish, but neither the La Cueva-Cibola girls game nor the St. Pius-La Cueva boys contest even reached halftime.

The Cougars and Bears, meeting for the first time since the 2016 state championship game, were scoreless with about 12 minutes left in the first half. On the adjacent field, the Sartans and Bears were tied 1-1 and were only seconds away from halftime.

Both games were postponed because of lightning. Both games started, then were delayed by lightning. All the teams came back out and resumed play, but another round of lightning moved into the area a few minutes later and the games were called off for the night.

The coaches of the teams involved will have to reschedule with APS.