Ad
Featured
Cleveland makes a case for the defense
Cleveland strong-safety Collin Joyner goes for the tackle against Volcano Vista.
RIO RANCHO — Something had to give.
It wasn’t Cleveland.
Volcano Vista rolled into Rio Rancho on Friday night with a defense that had surrendered only 35 total points in the last five games.
The Cleveland defense hadn’t given up a point to anyone from New Mexico since Sept. 12.
The Storm had the superior unit in this showdown.
No. 3-ranked Cleveland forced No. 4 Volcano Vista into four turnovers, and turned three of them into touchdowns as the Storm took command of District 1-6A with a convincing 38-3 victory over the visiting Hawks.
“Taking advantage, man,” a beaming Cleveland coach Robert Garza said of his defense. “We’re causing turnovers, putting pressure on people, making it hard on people, we’re playing really good right now.”
The Storm (8-1, 4-0 in 1-6A) won its eighth straight game. They still have rival Rio Rancho to beat to lock up the 1-6A title outright, although it’s worth noting that this same Volcano Vista team beat the Rams 33-0 last week.
Cleveland knows a thing or two about shutouts. The Storm blanked Farmington, then Cibola, then Piedra Vista in the three weeks leading into Friday.
And the Storm very nearly had a fourth consecutive shutout; the Hawks (7-2, 3-1) kicked a 40-yard field goal with 4½ minutes left to avoid being blanked.
Ad
Las Cruces was the last in-state opponent to get points on that Cleveland defense, at the Field of Dreams six weeks ago.
And it was opportunistic Friday.
“After we lost our first game (to Centennial), we decided to come together as a team,” senior safety AJ Manning said.
Three of those aforementioned four turnovers occurred in the final six minutes of the first half. The first one didn’t yield anything. The second was a 75-yard pick-6 by Micah Hoffman that gave Cleveland a 14-0 lead.
Running back Isaiah Yannis, gaining extra carries Friday due to an early injury to Juan Muñoz, who left in the first quarter and did not return, had the first score, a 7-yard TD 75 seconds into the second quarter.
But Volcano Vista was driving late in the half, with a chance to carve the deficit in half (it was third-and-goal from the Cleveland 5) when first the Storm defense — and then, moments later, its offense — took control.
Manning broke up a Hawks reverse, causing a fumble that a Cleveland teammate recovered. Cleveland took over at the 8. And the Storm went 92 yards in four plays for a commanding 21-0 halftime lead.
“That was great,” Manning said. “I heard at the last second, my corner said, ‘Reverse!’ I just tried to reach my hand out, and lucky my hand tipped the ball.”
“Going up 21-0 was huge,” Garza said.
On the play that put the Storm up three scores, Cleveland called a flea flicker from the Volcano 26 and it worked beautifully, with quarterback Jordan Hatch throwing to an open Jacob Maldonado in the end zone. It was the first of three TD catches Friday by Maldonado, and it seemed like a game-clincher even though there was still 1:13 on the clock in the half.
“We knew they were a great team. We knew everything in the playbook, we had to throw at them,” Maldonado said. And he said that score sealed the deal.
“That’s when we knew we had them,” he said. “We saw blood in the water and were able to take advantage of it.”
Maldonado caught his second TD pass late in the third quarter, and his third early in the fourth quarter.
“He’s our guy right now,” Garza said. “We’re looking for ways to get him the football. We know what he can do with the football in his hands.”
Volcano Vista closes next week against Cibola.
Photos: Friday night football action between Cleveland and Volcano Vista
