'Senior Night Strike': Cleveland offense puts up 54 in home finale win

RIO RANCHO — In their final home game of the season, Cleveland’s seniors made sure to make the most of it.

In a 54-0 rout of Piedra Vista, five different Storm seniors scored touchdowns in an offensive explosion of a Senior Night. Cleveland now sits at 7-1 on the year and 3-0 in district.

“A big thing for us was just going out there and having fun,” senior quarterback Jordan Hatch said. “It’s business, but these are our brothers. We don’t have a lot of time left.”

Hatch and his band of brothers put up 34 first-half points, a bounce-back from last week's season low 27-point performance against Cibola.

“Cibola has a great defense. We turned the ball over in bad situations, had a bad first drive, but we caught our stride this week,” Hatch said. “So it's nice to put points up on that (score) board again.”

Senior receivers Jacob Maldonado, Karson Weddle and Noah Escudero all posted touchdowns, with senior running back Samuel Bustillos recording a rushing score and carrying the workload in the ground game. Hatch added a rushing touchdown to his big day in the air as well.

On the defensive side, senior linebacker Troy Logan blew the game open with a scoop and score, taking it 20-plus yards to the house for six. Along with Logan, fellow senior Riley Haussler and the rest of the Storm caused problems for the Panthers all night long by getting to quarterback Amasi Griego.

While it was all business on the field, Cleveland took time before the game to honor their graduating seniors for all that they have done for the program. Players took the field with their families and friends for the ceremony.

“It's very special for sure. I have a lot of memories on this field,” Hatch said. “I feel like I spent the last four years of my life right here. It's crazy.”

Sophomore star Evan Nanez made his return from injury, posting a couple of catches and a touchdown in his first game since Sept. 19.

Entering the third quarter, the Storm were close to ending the game early via mercy rule. Head Coach Robert Garza opted to take Hatch out of the game, turning the offense over to backup quarterback Michael Denison.

While Denison has not seen much of the field this year, the offense didn’t miss a beat. The sophomore found Karson Weddle with a great ball downfield for six. Fellow sophomore Damian Rodriguez would follow it up on the next drive with a 30-plus-yard touchdown run to put the shortened contest to bed.

Fun and games aside, the Storm offense is now firing on all cylinders ahead of two major district matchups on the road: Volcano Vista on Oct. 24 and Rio Rancho on Oct. 30.

“We played great collectively as a team, but Rio (Rancho) and Volcano, they're both very good teams,” Hatch said. “It's in district, they are both rivals, too. But if we put our best work out there, no one can beat us.”