No. 2 Las Cruces takes down No. 1 Cleveland in thriller

RIO RANCHO — No. 1 vs. No. 2 delivered in every single possible way.

Oh what a night.

The days of hype leading into Friday night’s matchup between the state’s two best prep football teams, Cleveland and Las Cruces, were, as it turns out, more than justified.

The second-ranked Bulldawgs trailed by 10 in the second half, but they scored points on all four of their full drives after halftime, including the go-ahead score by quarterback Gunnar Guardiola, a 2-yard run with 1:29 remaining, and Las Cruces knocked off the top-ranked Storm 38-34 in a scintillating thriller.

“Our guys are exhausted,” Las Cruces coach Mark Lopez said. “I’m so proud of the grit they showed tonight.”

Cleveland (3-1) was up 14 points in the first half and 10 in the second half.

The Storm and Bulldawgs (4-0) traded punches throughout a tremendously entertaining second half, a half that began with Cleveland nursing a 21-14 lead. And that was only because Las Cruces scored on a short touchdown pass to tight end Diego Lopez with 4.7 seconds left in the first half.

Las Cruces pulled to within 21-17 on an early field goal in the third quarter, but Cleveland responded with perhaps its most effective drive of the night, and Evan Nañez’s 13-yard run (but a missed PAT) had the Storm leading 27-17 with five minutes to go in the third.

The following drive was extremely important. Cleveland thought it had recovered a Las Cruces fumble early on the drive, but the officiating crew went the other way. Storm coach Robert Garza was incensed, and drew a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

There were three, 15-yard penalties on Cleveland on that drive, and Guardiola capped it with a 4-yard score with 4.7 seconds left in the quarter, and the Bulldawgs trailed 27-24 after three.

Moments later, an ill-advised throw by Storm quarterback Jordan Hatch into coverage led to a Las Cruces interception, killing a drive. Las Cruces went 85 yards the other way in five plays to take the lead for the first time.

Danny Amaro, who had a 64-yard touchdown scamper in the first quarter but who had been fairly well contained in the middle two quarters, hit Cleveland for a 48-yard touchdown run down the far sideline, and Las Cruces grabbed a 31-27 lead.

“It was good to see space. They were dominating our box all night,” said Amaro, who rushed unofficially for 188 yards. “I knew I had to go score for my team.”

That was the first of three lead changes in a marvelous final quarter.

Cleveland’s Nañez added an 11-yard scoring run with 6:07 to go, and the Storm were back in front at 34-31.

Las Cruces took over and traveled 67 yards for the game-winning points. That included a clutch 13-yard completion to Jacob Misquez on a fourth-and-11 from its own 47.

Misquez caught a 37-yard ball two plays later, setting Las Cruces up at the Cleveland 2. The Storm had no more timeouts.

Asked if he considered not trying to score so quickly so they could use up the rest of the clock, Lopez said: “Not at all. We did that last year against Rio Rancho, and we had the same scenario almost. I told Danny (that night), hey, take a knee so we can burn this clock. And we almost didn’t get it. So, it’s like, score when you can.”

But the Storm still had almost 90 seconds to try and win the game; they had to score a touchdown largely because of an earlier missed PAT.

And Cleveland quickly reached the Las Cruces 20 in the final minute.

But there was a Storm holding penalty, and then an offensive pass interference call, that pushed Cleveland back to the 45, and Hatch was intercepted by Josiah Gutierrez on the next play, a pick that sealed things for the Bulldawgs.

It was also Cleveland’s homecoming game Friday

“That felt great,” Guardiola said, “Every single win carries a little weight, obviously, this one being a little more important. That was a great win for us, but now we have to move on to a great Hobbs team next week (in a District 3-6A opener).”

Lopez kept an even tone as he reflected on a win that almost certainly will move the Bull-dawgs in front of the Storm in the next 6A coaches’ polls, both the coaches and MaxPreps.

“Just stay the course,” he said. “These guys have done a great job of that. They’ve dealt with adversity. I’m super proud of those dudes.”

The loss ended Cleveland’s 15-game winning streak. Ironically, the last game they lost was also at home, and also to a school from Las Cruces: Centennial in the 2024 season opener.

{p class=”tncms-inline-link”}Las Cruces football defeats Cleveland: Photos