What to look for in Class 6A football playoff quarterfinals

Nov. 14—The top three high school football teams in New Mexico join the playoff party this weekend.

As the Class 6A postseason reaches the quarterfinal round, No. 1 seed La Cueva, plus No. 2 Centennial and No. 3 Cleveland, all emerge from their bye weeks as the quarters play out with three games Friday night and the fourth on Saturday.

It’s the fourth of those top four seeds, No. 4 Volcano Vista, that is involved in the weekend’s most anticipated game, probably in any classification.

The Hawks (8-2) are home Friday night at Nusenda Community Stadium to face No. 5 Las Cruces (8-3), a pairing that produced one of the best games of the regular season.

Way back in Week 2, Volcano Vista overcame a 21-7 deficit in the second half, and overcame the Bulldawgs 27-24. The final minute included a fourth-down, go-ahead touchdown for Volcano, and a game-tying field goal attempt for Las Cruces that clanked off the bottom of the right post as time expired.

“We have to play four quarters,” Las Cruces coach Mark Lopez said. “We played two pretty good quarters (the first game), but then they outplayed us in the second half. And I thought they did a really good job of establishing the run against us. We have to do a better job of stopping the run.”

For the Bulldawgs, tailback Danny Amaro rushed for four touchdowns in a first-round win over West Mesa, although the Hawks’ defense is a step up this week.

“Their defense has presented a problem for just about everybody,” Lopez said.

Volcano Vista has two backs it will use in senior Mason Gurule and sophomore D’Angelo Mitchell. That duo combined for 1,100 yards and 13 TDs.

La Cueva (10-0) officially begins its 6A title defense at 1 p.m. Saturday against No. 9 Hobbs (7-4), which was also at Wilson Stadium last week, a 35-14 victory over eighth-seeded Eldorado in the first round. Hobbs is the…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/look-class-6a-football-playoff-040100188.html

Author : Albuquerque Journal, N.M.

Publish date : 2024-11-15 04:01:00

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