5A has rematches from thrillers
A late 2-point conversion by one school, and a missed 2-pointer in overtime by another. Both of them part of 1-point decisions.
The Class 5A football semifinals are replays from regular-season thrillers, with No. 4 Artesia visiting No. 1 Roswell and second-seeded Goddard at No. 3 Los Lunas.
The first round went to the Bulldogs (3635) and the Rockets (28-27 in OT).
Los Lunas (8-2) coach Jeremy Maupin rolled the dice in overtime at the Wool Bowl on Sept. 28; that was the first start for Kade Benavidez as Tigers’ quarterback.
And while Benavidez and his excellent
crop of receivers (big Cody Vocu is the most dangerous of the bunch) are a part of the storyline, the alpha QB in this game is Goddard senior Dalton Bowles, who has rushed for over 1,800 yards this season.
“He’s a pretty good passer,” Maupin said, “but his ability to run behind a wall of blockers is what separates him.”
Goddard (9-1-1) surprised some people this season en route to a No. 2 seed. The Rockets have only nine seniors.
“Starting out,” Goddard coach Chris White said, “the only people who thought we could do what we have done were the kids and the coaches.” The first meeting between Roswell (9-2) and Artesia (7-4) was at Bulldog Bowl. The rivals shift 40 miles north to the Wool Bowl for the rematch.
Playmakers abound on both sidelines. QB Trent Taylor threw for 348 yards and three touchdowns for Artesia in the first meeting on Oct. 19. The Bulldogs have eight players with at least 10 catches this season — none more than J.R. Bustamante’s 66 grabs and 10 TDs.
Roswell QB Ethan Valenzuela (18 TD passes) and tailback Justin Carrasco (1,305 yards, 11 scores) have been the featured athletes in the Coyotes’ offense this year.
“It’s a chess match,” Roswell coach David Lynn said. “Comes down to who limits their penalties and takes care of the ball.”
St. Pius (8-3) and Hope Christian (11-0) have No. 1 seeds, but both are expected to face sturdy challenges in the semifinals.
The Sartans play host to No. 5 Bloomfield (8-4) in the 4A semis at 1 p.m. Saturday at Nusenda Community Stadium. The question for St. Pius is who will start at QB after the season-ending broken leg suffered by Derek Rivera last week in the quarterfinals.
It puts both head coaches, David Montoya of St. Pius and Bob Allcorn of Bloomfield, in somewhat of a bind.
“It puts us at a disadvantage, scheme wise,” said Allcorn, whose team blanked Kirtland Central 21-0 last week. The Bobcats are trying to reach their first final since 1990. “We have to keep that level of calm about us. We know what we’re capable of.”
For St. Pius, its outstanding defense may have to carry the day — if the offense struggles. Rivera was a primary focus of the Sartans’ run game, too.
“One thing I like about our group of seniors is that they’re very resilient,” Montoya said. “Obviously, I’m worried about how we will get our offense going, but I’m not worried about how our kids are going to respond.”
No. 2 Portales (8-3) is home to No. 3 Taos (10-1) on Saturday at 1 p.m., as the Tigers try to reach the school’s first-ever state final. These were the top two scoring defenses in 4A this season.
If Robertson and West Las Vegas hope ■ to make it an all-Las Vegas Class 3A final, the Cardinals and Dons will have to get past the top two seeds. No. 1 Hope is home tonight at 7 at Milne Stadium to No. 5 Robertson (10-2), while No. 6 seed West Las Vegas (8-4), the lowest remaining seed in any class, travels to No. 2 Dexter (9-2) at 1 p.m. Saturday. The Dons haven’t been to a football championship game in 49 years.
Robertson, which came from behind to upset St. Michael’s in last week’s quarterfinals, has been in the 4A championship game three years in a row, going 0-3. The Cardinals have to find a way to penetrate a Hope defense that has only given up 40 points all season.
“We play hard the whole game,” Huskies junior linebacker Van Collins said. “We don’t stop.”
The Huskies offense is sparked by quarterack Nick Henry (21-2 touchdown to interception ratio), and receivers Vince Quezada and Jake Cosper, who have 18 TD receptions between them. Hope, in its 11th season of football, has yet to reach a state final.
This is the first-ever meeting between Robertson and Hope Christian.
As West Las Vegas hits the road to face the Demons, it is led by QB John Balizan (2,486 passing yards, 24 scores) and running back Antonio Bustamante (932 yards, 11 TDs), although it was Bustamante’s backfield teammate, Darion Williams, who ran for 118 yards and three scores in a come-from-behind quarterfinal victory at Socorro.