State title game reminiscent of a different Horsemen loss
Nov. 28—Ruidoso's dominant defensive performance in a 12-0 win over St. Michael's on Saturday might evoke some bad memories for the Horsemen faithful.
The 65 yards of offense were the fewest by St. Michael's since collecting 73 yards in a 44-0 rout at the hands of Las Vegas Robertson in 2019. In that game, quarterback Lucas Coriz went 4-for-16 for 49 yards and was sacked seven times by the Robertson front seven.
Those sacks cut into a 24-yard rushing performance by the Horsemen, who were down 6-0 until late in the first half before surrendering 38 points. The Cardinals scored on six straight possessions at one point.
It was the breaking point of what looked to be a promising season. The Horsemen had lost their first three games, then rallied to win four straight heading into the Robertson game.
The loss led to a late-season tailspin as St. Michael's lost its last three games to finish 4-6 — with the last two to Raton in the regular-season finale and the first round of the Class 3A playoffs. It is the only losing record in the 21 years under head coach Joey Fernandez, who coached in his seventh state championship game Saturday against the Warriors.
He is now 3-4 in those games.
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It was a tough week for New Mexico State but, hey, at least it ended well.
Two time zones away on Saturday afternoon, the Aggies football team hammered once-ranked Liberty 49-14 to improve to 5-6 on the season. It's the most wins in a single season since the fabled 2017 team went 7-6 and won the Arizona Bowl.
It's just the second time in 17 years they've won at least five games — an amazing accomplishment considering the myriad obstacles the program has faced over the decades. That's especially true nowadays.
Kicked out of the Sun Belt Conference after that 2017 season, NMSU has drifted in the hinterlands of independent ball for the Football Bowl Subdivision the last five seasons. Minus a conference affiliation, the Aggies have had to take what they can get when building a schedule.
They've also had to work without the financial windfall of a multimedia TV rights deal a conference membership provides. Those lost millions are usually made up with the so-called bodybag games against Power Five schools. This season there have been three: Minnesota, Wisconsin and Missouri. Those seven-figure payouts basically fund the program and keep the lights on.
Enter coach Jerry Kill. The former Big Ten coach of the year has transformed NMSU into a solid outfit capable of punching an opponent in the mouth and smiling while doing it.
All NMSU needs is one more win to become bowl eligible. That potential win was lost when the Aggies' homecoming game on Oct. 22 against San José State was postponed when Spartans player Camdan McWrite was killed in a traffic accident just days before the game. It's not likely that game will be made up, and NMSU has been scrambling to fill the hole in its schedule ever since.
The Las Cruces Sun-News reported the school is close to signing a deal to get Valparaiso on its schedule for next weekend. If so, the magical six-win requisite for bowl eligibility would likely be reached.
If that's the case, chew on this: New Mexico Bowl anyone? The game has tie-ins with the Mountain West and Conference USA (NMSU joins C-USA next year, by the way), but a window of opportunity exists if one or both conferences can't get enough bowl-eligible teams to fulfill that obligation.
If it all falls into place, Christmas may come a little early this year for the Aggies.
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Santa Fe native and longtime University of Arizona men's basketball beat writer Steve Rivera recently released his sixth book, Lessons From Lute, a book of reflections about how late Wildcats coach Lute Olson turned the program into one of the nation's elite.
Rivera tells the tales of players, coaches and others who got to know Olson during his 25-year stint with the Wildcats, including former players Steve Kerr, Sean Elliott and Luke Walton, plus rival coaches Roy Williams and Mike Montgomery. He also briefly speaks about the professional relationship and the friendship the two created during his seasons.
The hardback book is $28 and can be purchased on a variety of online websites and is also available as an ebook through Kindle and Barnes & Noble.
Rivera, an NMSU graduate, still covers the Wildcats for
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Can we get some love for the Cowgirls?
New Mexico Highlands' women's basketball team is off to a 6-0 start after completing a sweep of the state's smaller schools in the season's first two weeks. NMHU opened with a win over Western New Mexico, then beat Eastern, then sandwiched a two-game sweep of University of the Southwest with two wins over Northern New Mexico.
Their six wins equal all of last season's total, when they finished 6-22.
The competition gets a bit stiffer next week. The Cowgirls open play in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference with a two-game road trip to Colorado Christian and Chadron State, then a stop in Laramie, Wyo., to face Wyoming on Dec. 5.
Freshman Juliana Aragon (Bernalillo) leads the team in scoring, headlining a roster that has five players from New Mexico high schools.
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While you were busy being distracted by the end of the fall sports schedule, the start of hoops, politics, the World Cup and, admit it, the TV debate over the name luminarias or farolitos, the Pecos League snuck in the back door with the release of its 2023 regular season schedule.
That, of course, includes the Santa Fe Fuego.
Each team in the Mountain Division will play a 50-game schedule beginning May 31. The top four teams make the playoffs, with the eventual winner moving into the league championship series against the Pacific Division champion. The annual all-star game will be July 16 at a site to be determined, and Fourth of July games are being played — but not in Santa Fe.
As has always been the case, the Fuego will be at home nearly every weekend. Every Saturday has them playing at Fort Marcy Ballpark and all but two Sundays have home games.
