La Cueva takes down Volcano Vista in quarters
Buie rushes for 200 in Bears’ win
In a game of punch-counterpunch, it was La Cueva who landed the final blows.
Quarterback Aidan Armenta threw a pair of fourth-quarter touchdown passes to Exodus Ayers, running back Gabriel Buie was outstanding as he rushed for 200 yards and a score, the La Cueva defense was stellar in the second half and the third-seeded Bears beat No. 6 Volcano Vista 35-21 on Friday night at Wilson Stadium in the Class 6A quarterfinals.
La Cueva (10-1) visits No. 2 Rio Rancho (8-1) in next week’s semifinals on Friday night. The Rams beat the Bears 50-0 in Week 2, the worst loss in La Cueva’s history.
On Friday, La Cueva had leads of 7-0, 14-7 and 21-14, with the Hawks (7-5) coming back three times.
But in the fourth quarter, Buie’s excellent and determiend running helped the Bears move down the field. Armenta finished off two drives with TD passes of 33 yards and 30 yards to Ayers.
“When we caught (Exodus) in one-on-one situations, we gave him the ball,” La Cueva coach Brandon Back said. “And he does what he does. He’s just different.”
Ayers caught eight passes for 170 yards, and four touchdowns.
Buie had an early thirdquarter scoring run, covering 30 yards, for a 21-14 lead. And he added several big runs to set up the final two touchdowns.
Buie rushed 16 times for 149 yards in the second half alone.
“Our plan was to run the ball more. We wanted to be more physical with them and it would also open up the pass game to get some big plays,” Buie said.
And that’s precisely what happened.
For Armenta, the second half was especially gratifying, as he threw three first-half interceptions that led to 14 Volcano Vista points. He had thrown only three picks all season until Friday.
“We all know he’s great, and great players put it behind them,” Ayers said.
“That’s my boy,” Buie said. “He had a rough first half, but I knew he’d get it together.”
Volcano Vista’s Kaden Valdez had an outstanding game for the Hawks, scoring all of their touchdowns.
LA CUEVA 35, VOLCANO VISTA 21 Volcano Vista 7 7 7 0 — 21 La Cueva 7 7 7 14 — 35 Scoring: LC, Exodus Ayers 68 pass from
Aidan Armenta (Dylan Chavez kick); VV, Kaden Valdez 16 pass from Josh Gerardo (Diego Garcia kick); LC, Ayers 3 pass from Armenta (Chavez kick); VV, Valdez 70 interception return (Garcia kick); LC, Gabriel Buie 30 run (Chavez kick); VV, Valdez 40 pass from Gerardo (Garcia kick); LC, Ayers 33 pass from Armenta (Chavez kick); LC, Ayers 30 pass from Armenta (Chavez kick). Records: LC 10-1; VV 7-4.
First downs: VV 12; LC 19. Rushes-yards: VV 25-26; LC 38-264. Passing: VV 17-311—201; LC 12-23-3—196. Total offense: VV 227; LC 460. Punts-avg.: VV 5-29.6; LC 3-33.0. Fumbles-lost: VV 3-1; LC 2-0. Penalties-yards: VV 3-25; LC 8-60.
No. 2 RIO RANCHO 44, No. 7 CIBOLA 20: At Rio Rancho, future Lobo Zach Vigil scored four 1-yard rushing touchdowns in the first half, and five total, as the Rams (8-1) beat the Cougars (6-6).
Vigil’s first touchdown was answered by a Cibola score.
Rio Rancho added three TDs in the second quarter from Vigil as the Rams led 30-7 at halftime.
.— Gary Herron
RIO RANCHO 44, CIBOLA 20 Cibola 7 0 7 6 — 20
Rio Rancho 7 23 14 0 — 44 Scoring: RR, Zach Vigil 1 run (Bailey Siverts kick); C, Brayden Mummert 2 run (Evan Ferguson kick); RR, Vigil 1 run (Siverts kick); RR, Vigil 1 run (Mikey Wood pass from Vigil); Vigil 1 run (Vigil pass from Priddy); RR, Traiven Williams 67 kickoff return (Siverts kick); Vigil 31 run (Siverts kick); C, Marcus Wilson 8 pass from Aden Chavez (Ferguson kick); C, Wilson 23 pass from Chavez (kick failed). Records: RR 8-1; C 6-6.
First downs: C 16; RR 19. Rushes-yards: C 9-71; RR 31-230. Passing: C 18-31-2—220; RR 17-28-0—164. Total offense: C, 291, RR 394. Punts-avg.: C 3-40.5; RR 1-39.0. Fumbles-lost: C 0-0; RR 3-1. Penalties-yards: C 7-54; RR 11-124.
MORIARTY 20, ALBUQUERQUE ACADEMY 14: at Moriarty, Cayden Dunn rushed for a pair of touchdowns as the fourth-seeded Pintos (7-2) beat the fifth-seeded Chargers (8-3) to advance to the Class 4A semifinals.
.ALSO FRIDAY: Las Cruces had a 21-point first quarter and beat No. 4 Centennial 35-21 in the 6A quarterfinals. … In 4A, No. 2 seed Bloomfield eliminated No. 7 Valencia with a 48-13 victory. … At the Wool Bowl, No. 6 Goddard beat No. 3 Roswell 14-3 in 5A.