NMOTSC EXCLUSIVE. By Matthew Aguilar S

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1 NMOTSC EXCLUSIVE By Matthew Aguilar S eptember 29, Halftime, intermission, break time whatever you want to call it, the halfway mark of the New Mexico football season has officially arrived. The pundits are figuring out who is still contending and who could be watching the playoffs this year. What we know is that all the defending state champs will have something to say about it. Escalante, Estancia, Hatch Valley, Artesia and Cleveland all have the chance to reclaim their crowns come playoff time. Though for all of them the road is not an easy one as they will face quality challengers along the way that who s goal is taking their crown from them. The main contender in class 2A is Fort Sumner who fell short of the blue trophy in Escalante in last year s match up which was a classic battle going down to the end with the Lobos winning it If you would ask me who would win between the two on a neutral site say Las Cruces, I would take Fort Sumner by 7. For class 3A, the two competing for the chance to be named champs and dethrone Estancia are Capitan and Dexter. Capitan has been impressive this winning four of their first five games this year losing only to the Bears two weeks ago. Dexter meanwhile is undefeated after beating a quality 4A team in the Portales Rams in Portales. They will know soon where they stand with the defending champs as their much anticipated match-up will be Friday night under the lights of Estancia. Class 4A Robertson looks like the clear cut favorite to avenge their 2016 loss in the championship at Hatch and are paving the way to win the state title with the way they have been playing thus far this year. There are other challengers with new member Moriarty, Portales and Hatch looking for a chance to show that they deserve to be named champions of class 4A. Artesia is looking for a 3-peat, but will have to go through a plethora of teams like; St. Pius, Los Lunas, Goddard, Roswell, Belen, Alamogordo and Miyamura all of which have shown they can compete with anyone in their class and can win in any environment. The two teams with the best chance to win it in my opinion are St. Pius and Alamogordo with the way the can score and having both faced Artesia in the past year. In class 6A, can anyone stand up to Rio Rancho? Well there are some who believe they are contenders Cleveland, Centennial, Clovis, Eldorado, Las Cruces, Piedra Vista and Mayfield all having a shot to beat Rio Rancho. All of these teams have faced a tough

2 schedule and have star athletes to match up with the perennial power Rams. Rio Rancho 64, Manzano 27- If this was Rocky vs Mr. T, Mr. T won rounds 1-4 with the way Manzano punched the Rams at the beginning of the game. After that Rocky(Rams) dominated the rest of the way. After being tied through the second quarter the offense of Rio Rancho exploded 44 points the rest of the game and only gave up 7 the rest of the way. Josh Foley ran for over 200 yards on the ground and scored a total of 4 touchdowns to help keep the Rams undefeated at 5-0. Manzano falls to 2-2 even with the performance of Jordan Byrd the fastest man in New Mexico accounting for over 150 total all-purpose yards, but finally had a breakout performance he was looking for. Cleveland 42, Artesia 28- It happened someone went to the Bulldog Bowl and beat the Dogs at home. Cleveland snaps Artesia s 16 game home winning streak with a 6 touchdown performance from Niko Papadopoulos. Cleveland keeps it record clean moving to 5-0 while Artesia suffers its first lost in over a year moving to 4-1. Atresia though did compete with Cleveland all the way till the end and will remain the favorites to win it all in Class 5A. Expect the Bulldogs to show everyone in Class 5A that they will not give up their title without a fight. Roswell 26, Belen 7- The Belen Eagles lose for the first time this year and saw what they need to improve on to be a contender the rest of the way. The Roswell Coyotes bounced back in a big way with their offense moving the ball better than the previous week and the defense nearly pitching a shutout. Roswell moves to 4-1 on the year letting everyone know that they are not out of the race for class 5A. Mayfield 35, Carlsbad 6- Return of the Vance. Isaac Vance played an entire game for the first time this year scoring 3 touchdowns and rushing for 132 yards as older brother Mike beats

3 younger brother Gary in a battle of brother vs brother. Carlsbad could not sustain any offensive drives and had no answers on how to stop their offense. Mayfield now 3-2 wins its district opener with Carlsbad moving to 2-3 and falling a game behind in district. With these games being recapped let s see what the games of the week look like. Los Lunas travels to the Bulldog Bowl to do something that has not happened in a while, beat Artesia at home in back to back weeks. O maury Samuels leads the Tigers into battle looking to claim the number 1 ranking in class 5A in a battle of 1vs 2. Artesia never loses two in a row at home and I expect them to bounce back with a big performance by quarterback Taylor Null winning this is one St. Pius travels to Gallup to take on the Miyamura Patriots. This will be a chance for the Patriots to make a statement and show that they belong in the conversation of elites in class 5A. I say that they will make a statement, but will not with the game as I see Drew Ortiz having a big performance to lead the Sartans in this one. Final Is Pidera Vista a true contender in class 6A? we will have a chance to find out as they come down to ABQ and take on the Manzano Monarchs. Manzano tries to not fall behind the race already having two loses this year to some impressive teams in Rio Rancho and Centennial. Both teams are very well even, but the Panthers have a bit more bite than the Monarchs. Panthers win this one in a tight one Our final game of the week is Goddard vs Alamogordo. The Rockets cannot afford to lose this one as they need to stay in the race in class 5A. Alamogordo can show that they are ready to take on Artesia next as both Artesia and Goddard are in the same district. Both are very good, but with Alamogordo at home the Tigers win this one on a last second drive

4 Weekly Guest Writer James Barron, Santa Fe New Mexican Sports Editor Well, let's start with probably the biggest game in the state this week. We'll get to see if the Los Lunas Tigers are for real when they head to the Bulldog Bowl against Artesia, which is coming off a tough loss to Rio Rancho Cleveland. The Tigers are the No. 1 team in Class 5A, but this will be their toughest contest yet. This one will be a nip-andtuck affair - and probably one that might be a prelude to a state championship rematch. Gotta go with the Bulldogs, but not by much. Say, 35-31? Up north, the big question this week is: Can Santa Fe High stop its losing streak? It stands at 18 in a row as the Demons head into their homecoming game against a big, powerful Los Alamos team. The Hilltoppers steamrolled them last year 49-13, and I suspect Los Alamos will dominate on the ground again. It won't be as bad as last year, but the Hilltoppers should win In this newly configured District 2/5-4A, it means the district season started much earlier. So, the first day of October offers intrigue as Las Vegas Robertson takes on Taos in a Saturday night battle. The Cardinals are on a roll and appear on their way toward a deep run in the Class 4A playoffs. Taos is a year away from being good, but that doesn't mean the Tigers can give the Cardinals a scare. They'll keep it close for a half, but Robertson will pull away for a win. James Barron

5 NMOTSC HS Football Weekly Predictions High School Football Picks Weekly Challenge: Mathew Aguilar, Richard Tipp, Manuel Lucero and a Guest Mathew Aguilar Richard Tripp Manny Lucero Guest James Barron (SF New Mexican) St. Pius 42 Highland 12 Piedra Vista 28 Artesia 35 Miyamura 28 Volcano Vista 21 Manzano 21 Los Lunas 31 Piedra Vista 28 Texico 21 Valencia 35 Los Alamos 31 Manzano 21 Capitan 28 Bloomfield 24 Santa Fe High 13 Alamogordo 31 Del Norte 21 St. Pius 34 Robertson 40 Goddard 28 Rio Grande 7 Miyamura 21 Taos 14 Records: Matthew 4-2 Richard 4-2 Manny 6-0 Guest 6-0 Last week Guest Proview s Sebastian Noel went 3-0