Rio Rancho, Atrisco Heritage to meet for the 2024 prep football opener

We have a date, and we have the opponents who will kick off the 2024 prep football season in the metro area.

Rio Rancho and Atrisco Heritage will square off on Thursday, Aug. 22, at Nusenda Community Stadium, in the first of the Week 1 games for Albuquerque Public Schools.

APS has its roster of games in terms of opponents, although some dates have not yet been finalized as the district checks on stadium availability.

But the Rams and Jaguars, former district opponents, will kick off the season locally.

And the 2024 schedule, the first of a two-year block, will of course look different as there is a fairly radical realignment of schools in football. In stark contrast to previous years and decades, there are much larger (and fewer) districts, and thus fewer nondistrict matchups.

Other Week 1 matchups in the metro area include: Cibola-Albuquerque High, Highland-Manzano, Del Norte-Hope Christian, West Mesa-St. Pius, Piedra Vista-Sandia and Valley-Bernalillo.

But the top opening week game locally will be the one between defending Class 6A state champion La Cueva and Volcano Vista.

Rio Grande is re-entering a district after a few years competing as an independent. The Ravens open the 2024 season in Week 1 at Aztec. Eldorado is at Organ Mountain in Week 1.

Cleveland, which lost to La Cueva in the 6A final last November, opens at home against Centennial on Friday, Aug. 23.

The six teams in the newly configured District 1-6A — Cleveland, Rio Rancho, Volcano Vista, Cibola, Farmington, Piedra Vista — will play five nondistrict games, which is a relatively standard number.

But the schools in the new 2-6A, and there are eight of them, will play only three times outside of their league. District 2-6A for the next two seasons includes La Cueva, Sandia, Eldorado, Atrisco Heritage, Los Lunas, Santa Fe, West Mesa and Albuquerque High.

One of the real highlights of the schedule includes a game that won’t even occur in New Mexico.

La Cueva has long been wanting to travel outside the state for a game, and the Bears will finally get to do that this year. La Cueva is taking on Pinnacle High from Phoenix. They have arranged to play in Flagstaff in Week 2, on Saturday, Aug. 31, at 5 p.m.

The Bears will also play Farmington, a former district rival, among their three nondistrict games.

Cleveland opens with two straight home games. After taking on Los Lunas in Week 2, the Storm visits Clovis, Las Cruces and El Paso Pebble Hills.

Rio Rancho picked up several new teams in this next two-year block: Clovis and Centennial (both on the road), plus a home game with Las Cruces High.

With the larger districts, you will see some teams beginning their district schedule without yet having finished their nondistrict schedule. Eldorado, for example, has a 2-6A opener against Los Lunas before it closes outside the league the following week against Volcano Vista. La Cueva will face Sandia in 2-6A before it faces Farmington, is another example.

Cleveland and Rio Rancho close the regular season against one another on Friday, Nov. 1.

A rundown of some nondistrict opponents:

Atrisco Heritage plays Rio Rancho, Centennial and Rio Grande. Albuquerque High, after Cibola, faces Valley and Alamogordo.

Cibola has Sandia, Eldorado, Carlsbad and Clovis after opening with AHS. Del Norte from District 1-5A (which has eight teams, including now Rio Grande) plays Hope, Albuquerque Academy and Manzano.

Eldorado plays Cibola and Volcano Vista after starting against Organ Mountain. Highland’s three nondistrict games are against Manzano, Bernalillo and Taos.

Manzano, which is dropping into Class 4A, faces Highland, Del Norte, Rio Grande and Hope. The Monarchs’ district (2-4A) includes Academy, Silver, Portales, Chaparral, St. Pius and Valencia.

Rio Grande, after its trip to Aztec, has Manzano and Atrisco Heritage. Sandia faces Cibola and Volcano Vista after the Week 1 contest against Piedra Vista. Valley opens with Bernalillo, then plays AHS, and then plays host to Goddard as Vikings coach Billy Cobos faces his alma mater in the Rockets.

Volcano Vista’s five nondistrict games are La Cueva, Las Cruces, Sandia, West Mesa and Eldorado. West Mesa opens with St. Pius, then visits Mayfield before a West Side showdown with Volcano Vista.

The 4A, 5A and 6A playoffs begin Nov. 8-9. The championship games in the larger 11-Man classes are Saturday, Nov. 30.