Bulldawgs roar into 6A football finale

A week after the top-seeded Las Cruces High football team leaned on the passing game to win a wild high-scoring Class 6A state quarterfinal over No. 8 Los Lunas, the Bulldawgs turned to the ground game while dominating fifth-seeded La Cueva 44-7 in the semifinal round. Paced by a 234-yard rushing performance from Daniel Amaro, Las Cruces hit its stride in the second quarter and never looked back.

The victory earns Las Cruces (12-0) a spot in the much-anticipated state championship battle with No. 2 seed Cleveland (11-1), a 67-16 winner over No. 3 seed Hobbs in the second semifinal. The Nusenda Credit Union New Mexico State Football Championships conclude Saturday, Nov. 29 when Cleveland hosts the Bulldawgs in a 1 p.m. contest. The game will be a rematch of an early-season battle, won by Las Cruces 38-34.

The Bulldawgs started a little slowly Friday night, giving up an early score to La Cueva after a turnover gave the Bears a short field. The ensuing 30-yard drive yielded a TD that tied the contest at 7-7. That La Cueva scored answered a Las Cruces defensive touchdown on a Josiah Gutierrez pick-6 that opened the scoring.

From that point on, it was all Bulldawgs, as they turned up the defensive intensity and followed great stops with scoring. It started with a TD toss to Jacob Misquez in the second stanza.

Las Cruces came with a huge sense of urgency to close out the half, as Guardiola connected for 41 yards to Isaiah Barunda to set up a two-yard Amaro touchdown run with 2:27 left before halftime. A defensive stop got the Dawgs another possession with 1:10 on the clock and they did not waste the chance.

After Amaro busted a 24-yard run to midfield, Guardiola hooked up twice with Francisco Winnikoff to move the ball to the 7-yard-line. A holding penalty ended hopes of another six, but Hunter Parmeter drilled a 34-yard field goal as the clock hit zeroes to make the halftime advantage 23-7.

Las Cruces turned to the ground game in the second half, turning Amaro loose. The senior began the half with a 30-yard run to send the message that more of the same was coming and scored two more TDs in the second half as the Bulldawgs built a 37-7 advantage. Aldo Gonzalez added a rushing touchdown for Las Cruces.

Las Cruces head coach Mark Lopez liked the consistency he got, particularly from his offensive line this week as opposed to the more uneven performance against Los Lunas the week before.

“We got a little bit outside of our process last week,” Lopez said. “We found a way to get it done, but we just played overall a lot better on the offensive line this week. Defensively, we kind of took away their strengths, took away a lot of their explosiveness, and created more and more opportunities for our offense. Playing the way we were, we wore them down and started getting more and more explosive plays as the game went. I think overall it's just a really good all-around team win.”

Amaro amassed his 234 yards and three touchdowns on 19 carries, and Guardiola was extremely efficient in the passing game, connecting on 11-of-14 for 189 yards. Winnikoff had six grabs for 101 yards.

Senior Carloa Gamboa paced the defensive effort with 16 tackles, while juniors

Denton Walker (12 tackles) and Hunter Parmeter (11) also led the way for the Las Cruces defense.

The championship showdown with Cleveland promises to be a heavyweight battle after the back-and-forth battle the state’s two top teams staged in week four.

“They've definitely gotten better and we're hoping we've gotten better as well,” Lopez said. “We knew after we played them that, if both teams stayed on the same trajectory there was going to be a good chance that we'd be meeting them again, you know, and that was one of our messages early in the season—how much can we improve compared to how much they're going to improve, so if we do meet them again, that's what it's going to come down to.”

The Storm capitalized on a host of Hobbs turnovers in winning their semifinal by that overwhelming 67-16 margin and avoiding that kind of sloppy play will be critical for Las Cruces this week.

“They're such an explosive team from a talent standpoint,” Lopez said. “They're always really big up front and they've got a lot of explosive athletes, and they do a great job on the defensive side. It just seems like they've taken everything that they were doing earlier in the year and just gotten better at it. They’re more efficient on offense and defensively, they had something like eight takeaways Saturday or something crazy like that. It’s always a challenge to play these guys.”

Jordan Hatch threw for six touchdowns for Cleveland in the semifinal game, and the Storm also ran it for 172 yards in advancing to the title tilt in impressive fashion. But it’s ball security that will be a big deal this weekend.

“The last time we played them, both teams made our fair share of mistakes,” Lopez said. “We’ve got to sustain drives. I think that's huge because they do a really good job at creating long yardage situations for you. So, you’ve got to take the yards that you can.”

The coach also knows his team has to be at its best defensively, especially in keeping Cleveland out of big plays.

“I think defensively, a real huge key is limiting their explosives,” Lopez said. “They've got such great speed and playmaking ability that they can go down and score in a hurry. You’ve got to make them earn it a little bit more than. We’ve got to mix up our looks and do a great job on that.”