McMath has West Mesa back in the playoffs
Ron McMath thought his West Mesa Mustangs could have scratched this itch before.
Two or three times in his tenure as the Mustangs’ head football coach, which began in 2012, he spoke about having a team he believed was capable of playing its way into the postseason.
“We finally got a group of players and coaches that bought into my vision of how this team should work,” McMath said.
On Saturday, after several frustrating years, West Mesa finally will have its first playoff game under McMath.
“I’m happy for the kids,” McMath said. “We finally see this hard work come to fruition. They’re getting ready to do something that hasn’t been done in a long time.”
The Mustangs (7-3), seeded 10th in the Class 6A playoffs, face No. 7 Eldorado (6-4) at 1 p.m. Saturday at Wilson Stadium. West Mesa’s last playoff appearance was 2010.
“We’ve come a long ways since the beginning of the summer,” said junior running back Mark Garcia, who has scored 15 touchdowns on the ground for West Mesa this year.
The Mustangs are underdogs this week, to be sure, particularly because the Eagles return so many players who already have playoff experience.
But West Mesa isn’t shying from the challenge.
“We’re preparing for this game like it’s nothing new,” said junior strong safety/wide receiver Carlos Ruiz. “I think we can make a statement here, and Eldorado knows it, too. We’re not the same old West Mesa team.”
But to accomplish that, the Mustangs will have to deal with a highpowered Eldorado offense quarterbacked by dual-threat junior Gabe Smith.
“We’ll have to win the turnover battle and not give up big plays,” McMath said of the Eagles.
Said Ruiz, “This is a little bit more skilled QB (than we’re used to seeing), but we have it covered.”
NOTE: A win over Eldorado would get the Mustangs into the quarterfinals next week against La Cueva. Far more significantly, it would be the first playoff victory for West Mesa since 1971.
Or would it be the first playoff victory in the program’s history? Both are correct.
Turns out, West Mesa’s program actually holds an unusual place in the record books, and it needs a bit of explaining.
The Mustangs played Mayfield in the 1971 championship game — this, after tying Farmington 8-8 in the semifinals. It was registered as a “tievictory” for West Mesa.
West Mesa advanced because, according to the Journal’s story from that night, it had more penetrations — today, we refer to it as the red zone — than did the Scorpions, by a 3-1 margin.
Officially, however, the game went down as a tie. It is the last non-championship playoff game to be officially recorded that way.
Class 6A
The first round begins tonight with No. 9 Clovis (5-5) at No. 8 Atrisco Heritage (7-3) at Nusenda Community Stadium, and No. 12 Centennial (5-5) visiting No. 5 Rio Rancho (8-2).
There are a pair of 1,000-yard rushers in the Clovis-Atrisco matchup, which will be about as run-dominant a playoff game as you are likely to see.
Angel Ramirez of the Jaguars rushed for 1,878 yards in the regular season, Demerious Milton of the Wildcats 1,046 yards (with 16 TDs). One of the major differences between the two is that Atrisco has four players who rushed for at least 575 yards this year in the Jags’ option attack.
“Offensively,” Clovis coach Cal Fullerton said, “those guys are really good at what they do. What makes it even harder is you don’t see (that offense) week in and week out.”
Atrisco is seeking its first postseason win in school history.
Centennial remains without its top two quarterbacks (Lance Frost and Noah Bartlett, both injured), while the Rams get injured receiver Austin Hise back for this matchup. Rams QB Logan Bruere threw for 2,538 yards and 29 scores.
The final first-rounder is Saturday, with No. 11 Piedra Vista (5-5) traveling to face No. 6 Hobbs (8-2).
Class 5A
Defending state champion St. Pius (6-4) opens the playoffs as a No. 8 seed at home on Saturday afternoon against ninth-seeded Lovington (5-5) at Community Stadium.
The teams met in September in Lovington. In heavy winds that had an impact on both offenses, the Sartans prevailed 14-7.
This game features two stellar sophomore quarterbacks — Diego Pavia for St. Pius (1,936 passing yards and 24 TDs, plus 998 rushing yards and 12 scores) and Casey Perez (2,379 yards/21 TDs) for the Wildcats.
“If we want to get to the next round, we’ll have to protect our quarterback, and we’ll have to be able to run the ball at times when they bring pressure,” said Dave Montoya, in his first season as St. Pius’ head coach. “And we definitely have to slow their passing game down. They throw the ball a lot. That’s how they make their hay.”
Los Lunas (7-3), seeded No. 5, is home tonight and heavily favored against No. 12 Capital (6-4).
Class 4A
Moriarty (7-3) and Hope Christian (4-6) both play tonight in the first round. The fifth-seeded Pintos are home to Socorro (4-6), while the 10thseeded Huskies travel to Taos (7-3).
Taos beat Hope 27-14 at Milne Stadium in Week 2.
“Normally, 4-6 teams don’t get a shot (to make the playoffs), but the teams we lost to, the biggest point differential was 17 points the whole season,” Hope coach Gary Beck said.
Two things to note with Hope: It recently changed starting quarterbacks, with Nick Henry’s move to QB freeing Vince Quezada, probably the team’s best athlete, to stretch the field at receiver. Has it panned out? Well, Henry threw for over 500 yards two weeks ago in a win over New Mexico Military Institute.
Second, No. 1 receiver Trey Arthur has recently returned to the lineup, and he and Quezada give Hope versatility and depth when going vertical.
Moriarty is a team everyone seeded above them must be wary of. The run-heavy Pintos, led by Marvin Encinias and QB Dylan Tapia, blasted the top seed, St. Michael’s, early in the year, and also suffered close setbacks to No. 2 Portales and No. 4 Ruidoso.
Elsewhere
The biggest playoff game in the lower divisions is Saturday’s Class 2A championship tilt between No. 1 Fort Sumner/House (10-0) and No. 2 Escalante (10-1). The two met in Tierra Amarilla on Oct. 27, with FS/ House rolling 35-8.