Storm bounce back at home, top El Paso's Pebble Hills 42-17

RIO RANCHO — For the first time in 384 days, the Cleveland Storm found themselves looking for a bounce-back victory after a tough loss.

What was their game plan, you may ask?

A healthy dose of Troy Logan.

The senior captain recorded two touchdowns, over 100 yards on the ground, and a couple of sacks on defense in Cleveland’s 42-17 victory over Pebble Hills High School out of El Paso, Texas.

“It felt great being out there,” Logan said. “I love it. I love playing both ways of the ball. We’ve been practicing it all week.”

There was a bit of tension in the air when Pebble Hills came out and scored to open the game. Despite the final score, Cleveland would not take a lead in the game until midway through the second quarter.

Penalties from Cleveland, something that plagued them in the loss to Las Cruces a week ago, were once again a problem. Taking back big plays due to flags and giving the Spartans extra chances on offense left things close in the first half.

Needing a spark, quarterback Jordan Hatch would find wide receiver Jacob Maldonado downfield for a last-second score before halftime. Via a very impressive sliding grab from Maldonado, the Storm headed into the locker room up 21-10.

Pebble Hills quarterback Joe Fernandez did his all to extend plays on Friday night, evading a lot of Storm defenders and turning sacks into positive yards.

Fernandez would pull another rabbit out of his magic hat to start the third quarter, finding receiver L.J. Bailey for a big 30-plus-yard touchdown pass. Now 20-17, tension started to build once again at Lightning Bolt Stadium.

But just like the beginning of the game, here comes Logan to send a shot back at the Spartans.

On the first offensive play of the second half for the Storm, Logan would break out for a 70-plus-yard run to set up a Cleveland touchdown on the next play.

While Logan picked up the Storm after a slow start with two first-half scores, Hatch would take over in the second half to end with four touchdown passes on the night. Tight end Noah Valler and wide receiver Maldonado also tallied two touchdowns on the night.

“The thing all week was that we could not panic,” Logan said. “No matter how bad things got, we could not panic, because everybody’s good when you’re up, but when you’re down, you’ve got to be good at the same time.”

Cleveland is now 2-0 against Pebble Hills since this out-of-state clash came into the picture last year, beating the Spartans 49-27 in El Paso in 2024.

Now at 4-1 and heading into a bye, Logan only had one thing to say regarding Cleveland’s district opener at Farmington in two weeks.

“Win.”