October 17, 2012

Kyle Henderson
NMPreps.com Publisher

Welcome to week Eight of the New Mexico High School Football Season. Leading up to each Friday of the Season, we'll preview over 40 games by region starting on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The four New Mexico Regions are Northern, Metro Area, Southeast, and Southwest. Friday Night we need your help collecting game scores. Please text us to 505.577.5953 and if you tweet high school football scores, please type in a score then use the hastag #nmpreps.?

More: Week 7 Scores | Week 7 Top Performers | Play-Off Predictions | Midseason All-State

Sandia 5-1 @ Clovis?2-5
Sandia, if you want some real respect beat Clovis in Clovis this weekend. Sandia's only loss this year comes against 6-0 Los Lunas. Last weekend Sandia beat Cleveland 28-7 in an impressive defensive performance allowing the Storm to rush for less than 100-yards in the second half. This week their defense will need to rise to the occasion as they face one of the premier running backs in the State in Junior Prospect Kamal Cass who ran for 388-yards against Artesia in week seven. Sandia is scoring 28.83 points per game and has the No. 1 overall defense in 5A allowing just 9.5 points per game. The Wildcats have played one top tier team after another this year and lost their fifth in a row against Artesia last weekend losing 55-48. The Wildcats are still scoring 37.85 despite being three games under .500. It's clear that Clovis is going to run the rock this weekend, question is: Can Sandia stop what is coming?

Cleveland 3-3 @ Hobbs 2-5
The Storm suffered their third loss of the season last weekend losing to Sandia 28-7. Their offense has been up and down this season, but scoring just seven points last week was a season low. While they are the big favorite to beat the Eagles this weekend the road trip is tough and their is high stakes on this game if they lose. Cleveland still has enough talent to make a run at the District, but they need a momentum win this weekend. They need to roll in Hobbs. The Eagles are coming off a 16-14 win against Lovington for just their second win of the season. On the year, Quarterback Brayden Price has thrown for 1,600-yards, but is not getting protection up front which is causing weekly setbacks. The Eagles are scoring 24.28 points per game, but allowing 39.43 on defense. If they can't score 35 this weekend they'll have a shot to knock off Cleveland.

Goddard 6-0 @ Lovington?2-3
The Rockets survived a scare from Carlsbad last weekend having to come back from 17-0 to eventually win 20-17 to keep their unbeaten streak alive. This weekend they take on Lovington in what appears to be a no contest match up on paper. The Rockets have what we feel is the the top offensive line in Class 4A which makes wide open running lines for Dean McCalister, Cody French, Josh Quiroz, and Anthony Ornelas. The Rockets are scoring an outstanding 39.3 points per game, 54 being the highest mark they hit against Hobbs in a 54-0 victory back in week five. Hobbs just beat Lovington 16-14, so if we compare scores, the outcome looks more than dark for the Lovington Wildcats. The Wildcats are scoring just 12.4 points per game and their two wins come against Robertson and Eunice.

Tornillo TX @ Dexter 2-4
The Dexter Demons are 2-4 this year and are coming off a 47-6 loss two weeks ago against Santa Rosa. Dexter is still in the play-off hunt, they just need to get their offense which is scoring 11.5 points per game in motion before it's too late.

Jal 2-4 @ Hagerman 6-1
The Hagerman Bobcats at 6-1 are really one of the surprises of the 2012 season. They have been winning by large margin and look to be the big favorite this weekend against Jal. Hagerman is a team to beat in Southern New Mexico Class 1A Football.

Capitan 3-2 @ Cloudcroft?2-5
The Tigers have been smashing the competition as of late and could be the sleeper in Class 1A as we move down the stretch.