Storm rebound against Los Lunas

CLEVELAND 56, LOS LUNAS 7

RIO RANCHO — The Storm (1-1) defeated the Los Lunas Tigers (2-1) 56-7 at Cleveland High School after a huge night from the CHS running backs.

Cleveland backs Juan Munoz, Samuel Bustillos and Isaiah Yannis all scored multiple touchdowns on the ground.

"We couldn’t go wrong with any of them,” said head coach Robert Garza. “I was very happy with all three of those guys.”

Munoz started the scoring only a minute and a half into the game with a rushing TD from 10 yards out.

The Storm attack didn’t let up from there. Munoz scored his second TD with 5:54 left in the first quarter after a 60-yard run. His night wouldn’t be over, however. He scored another TD on another long run, this time 40 yards with 7:53 left in the half.

Bustillos also scored twice, including the play of the game, a 72-yard run as time expired in the first half. The score was made more impressive by a 66-yard touchdown run from the senior running back five minutes earlier.

Yannis scored twice as well, once on a 30-yard run.

After the Storm week-one loss to Centennial, Garza told the Observer his squad needed to “get tougher up front,” and that’s exactly what appeared to be their strength this week.

“Los Lunas is big and tough. So, we challenged [the Cleveland players] this week. We told them, ‘You got to get tougher,’” Garza said. “And that’s exactly what they did. They answered the call, and I couldn’t be prouder of those guys up front.”

Bustillos was a beast behind the line as well, getting a sack to go along with those touchdowns.

Senior cornerback Michael Haynes was also a defensive standout, registering several tackles, including at least two behind the line of scrimmage.

Los Lunas received the ball in the second half for what proved to be a quiet third quarter. The Tigers found some small success thanks to a 40-yard reception from receiver Jordan Howard, but ultimately, Los Lunas turned the ball over on downs without putting any points on the board.

The third quarter ended with the same 48-7 score it started with.

Fifteen seconds into the fourth quarter, Hatch hit receiver Jacob Maldonado for a 4-yard touchdown, pushing the score to 56-7 (after a successful PAT) and ending the night's scoring. At that point, Garza pulled Hatch and put in freshman QB Kaeleb Escudero to finish things off. Escudero handled himself well.

“He’s heading in the right direction. It was a good opportunity to get him in and get his feet wet.”

It was a big rebound for the promising Storm squad, but Garza said the real test is about to begin.

“We got to keep taking the next step,” he said. “We got a tough road game in Clovis this week. In fact, we have three tough road games in a row, so we are about to see what we are made of.”

Those three away games are Clovis, Las Cruces (Sept. 12) and Pebble Hills (Sept. 20), a high school in El Paso, Texas. This win put the Cleveland Storm at 1-1. They face off against the Wildcats in Clovis at 7 p.m. Sept. 6.

RIO RANCHO 50, CLOVIS 0

CLOVIS, NM -- It was a big Friday night for the Rio Rancho Rams football team (2-0) as they completed a long road trip to Clovis with a 50-0 blowout win versus the Clovis Wildcats (0-2), Aug. 30.

The Rams came out fast, putting up three touchdowns in the first quarter. They then doubled the feat, scoring 21 in the second quarter as well.

The game ended at the beginning of the fourth quarter when a final RRHS touchdown followed by a two-point conversion put the score at 50-0, activating the "Mercy Rule" and ending the game.

The Rams will look to keep the streak going against a big Las Cruces team on Sept. 6 at 7 p.m. at RRHS.