Week 1 Game Balls
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Week 1 of the much-anticipated New Mexico spring football season concludes tonight with a par of games involving Four Corners teams on the docket: Kirtland Central at Gallup and Newcomb at Shiprock.
Friday and Saturday were filled with plenty of action around the state as 27 games were contested. Here we hand out our Week 1 Game Balls:
The Eddy County War: The annual backyard battle between Artesia and Carlsbad is one of the fiercest rivalries in the state and Friday night’s game at Hobbs (the two schools smartly moved the game there so fans could attend) delivered in every way. Everything boiled down to the final seconds when Artesia scored a touchdown to pull to within one point. To their credit, the Bulldogs elected to go for two, but Carlsbad made the tackle a yard short of the end zone. We’re just in Week 1 and we already have a solid Game of the Year candidate. Final: Carlsbad 35, Artesia 34.
Defensive Coordinators: No fewer than nine of the games played Friday and Saturday produced shutouts. In another game, the only points scored by the losing team came on a safety. Clearly, the defenses are ahead of the offenses in the early going. We’ll see if that trend continues in the coming weeks. The Week 1 domination by defenses around the state leads to. . .
Hobbs Defense: Somehow, Clovis held on for a 14-10 home victory over Hobbs Saturday night at Leon Williams Stadium despite managing just 82 yards of total offense and seven first downs against the stubborn Eagles defense. A few special teams bounces, one timely scoring drive to take the lead in the fourth quarter and a red zone stop in the final seconds preserved the win for the Wildcats. But don’t blame the Hobbs defense for the defeat. They played their hearts out and deserved a better fate.
Jeston Webskowski Jeston Webskowski 6'0" | 185 lbs | RB Clovis | 2021 State NM : The Clovis running back was bottled up most of the night by the tough Hobbs defense and finished with just 31 yards rushing. But he – and a Clovis offensive line that struggled most of the night to open up running lanes for their University of new Mexico bound running back – came up big at the right time as Webskowski carried three times for 17 yards and one first down on the game-winning drive.
Aaron Cisco: The Alamogordo senior made the play of the game in the Tigers’ hard-fought 16-14 neutral site victory over Bloomfield Saturday afternoon at Bernalillo High School. With Alamogordo trailing 14-9 in the third quarter, Cisco blocked a punt and the ball was recovered by Raynard McNeill for the go-ahead TD. Cisco also caught a TD pass.
Eunice’s Diversified Passing Attack: Eunice beat Hagerman, 38-20, on the strength of a productive passing game spearheaded by quarterback Hayden Dean, who completed 16-of-19 passes for 218 yards and two touchdowns. Conagher Pierce also saw action at QB and threw for 83 yards, giving Eunice 301 passing yards in the win. Six receivers caught two or more passes, so Dean and Pierce distributed the ball nicely.
Football in Albuquerque: Maybe it was just one game, but while the APS schools are just starting their preparations for a possible two-game season, private schools Albuquerque Academy and Hope Christian engaged in football fun Saturday afternoon at one of the most picturesque places to watch a game in the Duke City. The game turned into a defensive slugfest and was finally decided on an 84-yard TD strike from Hope Christian QB James Jenkins James Jenkins 6'0" | WR Hope Christian | 2022 State NM to WR Brent Miller. Hope held on for a 14-7 victory over the Chargers.
https://twitter.com/chs_wildcats/status/1368395676439244804
Some Bulldog Highlights from last nights game.https://t.co/HWLiX7l5Ab
— BulldogFootball 🏈🏆x32 (@artesiafootball) March 6, 2021
Truly one of the best places to watch high school football in New Mexico … so good to be back. pic.twitter.com/QbOv07QFlT
— James Yodice (@JamesDYodice) March 6, 2021
FINAL
Hope Christian 14
Albuquerque Academy 7James Jenkins connects with Brent Miller 84 yard TD
Highlights on @KOB4 @NMGameDay pic.twitter.com/ZIt9rcaFTj
— Brandon Ortega (@Brandega) March 6, 2021