Week 3 of the New Mexico High School football season is in the books, and it was filled with some close, hard fought, exciting games. What did we learn from what we saw on the field? Well, we learned 5 Things:
1. It’s a down year for high school football in Las Cruces: When is the last time all four major schools located in Las Cruces lost on the same weekend? Probably been a long time. Las Cruces lost to Cleveland, 28-21, in stunning fashion, allowing a 75-yard run in the last minute before the Storm scored the winning TD. Onate was blistered by Sandia, 59-35, Centennial was trounced by La Cueva, 42-14 and Mayfield lost to Eldorado, 47-35. Las Cruces remains one of the best teams in the state and is still a contender for the state 6A title (QB Payton Ball must get healthy, though), but the other three schools are a combined 1-8. Biggest culprit? Defense. In seven of those eight losses, the Las Cruces school has allowed 42 or more points. You can’t win that way. Simply, they’re struggling to stop opposing offenses. Most likely, things won’t get better in the short term as Onate hosts Rio Rancho and Centennial travels to Cleveland this weekend while Mayfield hosts Volcano Vista.
