Week in review
Close call for gridiron Rams; Cleveland boys soccer team captures tournament in shootout
Not once during Rio Rancho High School’s current 16-game football winning streak were the Rams in jeopardy of losing the way they were last Friday night.
Rio Rancho, for the first time in nearly two years, not only trailed a game at halftime, but also trailed in the fourth quarter.
Alexander MacPherson of the Rams kicked a late field goal in the fourth quarter to force overtime, and in the OT, Cailon Bailon, a stellar defender who rarely plays offense, scored on a 1-yard run to give Rio Rancho a thrilling 34-31 victory over visiting Clovis.
That proved to be one of two exciting finishes for Rio West schools in Week 3.
The other came last Saturday, when Cleveland’s Colten Madison scored on a short touchdown run with 24 seconds left to give the Storm a 28-21 victory over Las Cruces at the Field of Dreams.
Cleveland (2-1) led that game 14-0 and 20-7; the Bulldawgs rallied with two late touchdowns to claim a 21-20 lead with just over a minute remaining.
But a 74-yard run by Isaac Torres — part of a 224-yard afternoon — got Cleveland inside the Las Cruces 10-yard line in the final minute and set up the final score.
St. Pius sophomore quarterback Diego Pavia had his best game of the young season last Saturday, as the Sartans held off Hope Christian 49-36. He threw for 275 yards and three touchdowns, and ran for another 173 yards.
St. Pius (2-1) also had two defensive scores and one on special teams. In fact, those were the first three touchdowns of the game.
For Valley in a 41-14 victory over Alamogordo, receiver Jove Messenger caught a pair of TDs for the Vikings (1-2).
Last Friday, Manzano dominated Cibola 42-7, and Bernalillo fell short of Albuquerque Academy 21-14.
WEEK 4: West Mesa was the only area team in action Thursday night, and the Mustangs were hammered 49-9 by La Cueva at Nusenda Community Stadium.
Late Friday, Cibola was at Carlsbad, Cleveland played host to Centennial, Volcano Vista was at Mayfield and Bernalillo traveled to Bloomfield. For more prep football coverage (including Cleveland’s game story versus Centennial), see today’s Journal sports section, and also visit abqjournal.com.
Three other area teams are in action today. Rio Rancho is at Oñate at 7 p.m. at the Field of Dreams. The FOD also has a 1 p.m. game, between Las Cruces and Valley.
St. Pius welcomes Alamogordo at 1 p.m. at Community Stadium as the Sartans look to avenge their only loss during their 2016 championship season.
WEEK 5: Volcano Vista plays Atrisco Heritage (Community) and Cibola meets Sandia (Wilson Stadium) next Thursday night to get Week 5 started.
Soccer
Cleveland’s boys last Saturday captured the Albuquerque Academy Invitational in a penalty-kick shootout against the host Chargers. The teams tied 3-3 in regulation and through overtime.
Tuesday highlights included Bernalillo’s boys defeating Taos 2-1 as the Spartans improved to 5-3-1 this season. Also Tuesday, Cibola’s girls edged St. Pius 2-1 in a high-profile matchup. Lexi Baca’s PK in the 79th minute was the difference for the Cougars.
On Wednesday, Cleveland’s boys earned a 2-1 victory over Sandia Prep, and the Volcano Vista girls rolled over Sandia Prep 4-1 as Kayla Thompson, Cierra Ramirez, Victoria Mares and Natalia Bruciaga scored goals for the Hawks.
The Cleveland girls moved their record to 10-0 on Thursday, as the Storm downed Sandia 3-1. Cleveland scored all its goals in the second half.
Two matches — Cibola-La Cueva girls, a rematch of the 2016 state championship game, and St. Pius-La Cueva boys — were postponed because of lightning Thursday at the APS Complex, with neither have having reached halftime. They will be rescheduled and resumed at a later date.
NEWS: Volcano Vista junior Skylor Rose has taken his case to be eligible to district court, and he and the New Mexico Activities Association will be heard Monday afternoon in downtown Albuquerque.
Rose missed the season’s first six games after the NMAA ruled him ineligible. He got a temporary restraining order against the NMAA, which allowed him to play in two recent games against Sandia Prep and St. Pius.
The fate of the rest of his season could be decided with the court decision Monday.
Volleyball
Cleveland finished third at last weekend’s Albuquerque Metro Championships at West Mesa.
The Storm fell to Sandia in the semifinals, before coming back the next day to defeat Volcano Vista in the third-place match. The Hawks lost to La Cueva in the semis.
From Tuesday of this week, Cleveland was beaten in four sets by La Cueva. Also Tuesday, Bosque School outlasted Valley in five sets and Volcano Vista blanked Albuquerque High 3-0. The Hawks fell Thursday night in four sets to defending Class 4A state champion Sandia Prep, and Bosque School (5-0) defeated Socorro in three sets.
Cross Country
Cleveland is hosting its annual meet today. Among the other schools competing are Volcano Vista, Cibola and Valley, plus Eldorado and La Cueva.
West Mesa and St. Pius will run today at the Atrisco Heritage Academy meet.
Last weekend, Rio Rancho’s boys and girls were at the Liberty Bell (Colo.) Invitational. The boys finished ninth in the Division I race, the girls fourth.
The top four Ram boys finishers were Daniel Beam in 29th, Lucas Ortiz in 32nd, Chase Hawkins in 44th and Cody Smith in 49th.
Rio Rancho’s girls had four in the top 30, led by Andi Almodovar in 17th place. Sierra Delaware finished 22nd, Reina Paredes 25th and Celilia Quesada 29th.