By Don Eskins
Carlsbad High, 3-3 on the year and ranked 10th in Class 6A football, will entertain the Organ Mountain Knights, 2-4 and ranked 16th, on Friday night, October 4. Kickoff for the encounter will get underway at 7 p.m. at the Ralph Bowyer Cavemen Football Stadium.
With district play in full swing and the NMAA’s selection committee already looking at teams for berths in this year’s 2024 state playoffs, Friday night’s game will be of the utmost importance for Carlsbad and Organ Mountain.
Both teams will enter the confrontation with identical 1-1 records in District 3/6A play. The Cavemen, after falling to the second-ranked Centennial Hawks, 35-13, in their conference inaugural, rallied to post their first district win of the season over the Clovis Wildcats, 56-8, on Friday, September 27, in Clovis.
Organ Mountain registered their lone conference victory in their district opener over the Alamogordo Tigers, 18-10. They’ll take the field Friday night, coming off a 55-7 loss to the fifth-ranked Las Cruces Bulldawgs.
“Organ Mt. is a much-improved ball club; they’re kind of going through what we’ve been experiencing here at CHS for the past couple of years. But they’ve definitely passed the eye test and are capable of winning every Friday night,” said Caveman head coach Cale Sanders. “That tells us that we’d better show up, ready to play, in order to get the win.”
Offensively, impact players for the Knights are Quarterback, No. 12, X. Perez, 27-57-334 yds., TD, 3 Int; Rushing: RB, No. 23, R. Jones, 66-450-6.8 YPC, 6TD’s, and X. Perez, 76-425-5.7 YPC, 3 TD’s; Receiving: No. 10, A. Gomez, 8-127, TD, No. 1, L. Washington, 7-130, TD, and No. 2, N. Holguin, 8-78, TD.
Judging from the Cavemen’s performance against the Clovis Wildcats, they’ll be more than ready to take on Organ Mountain. In grabbing their 56-8 win over the Cats, CHS piled up 519 total yards of offense.
En route to the win, quarterback Kason Perez threw six touchdowns to set a new school record. Overall, the senior signal-caller completed 16 of 27 passes for 270 yards.
“Kason just keeps getting better every week. You know, he’s had some doubters this year, but nobody has worked harder than Kason, and it’s showing,” said Cavemen head coach Cale Sanders. “He’s proven to be a great leader for us and deserves all the accolades he gets. I’m so proud of him and happy to see him experiencing so much success.”
The Cavemen also ran for 218 yards. Scoring via the ground from one yard out was sophomore running back Brock Wright. On the night, Wright carried the ball 14 times for 113 yards.
Defensively, Carlsbad limited Clovis to just 258 total yards of offense, 140 through the air and 118 on the ground. Both Blas Lopez III and Rio Sanchez aided the CHS defensive effort with interceptions.
Cavemen 56, Clovis 8
The 3-3 Cavemen got back in the conference race with a 56-8 victory over the Clovis Wildcats on Friday night, September 27, in Clovis. The win lifted CHS’s record to 1-1 in the tough District 3/6A. Currently, they’re tied for third place with Hobbs and Organ Mountain.
“We got a lot of effort from our kids in picking up the win against Clovis,” said Sanders. “Each week, as a team and individually, we’ve gotten better. Hopefully, we’ll continue this trend throughout the rest of our season.”
Quarterback Kason Perez hooked up with three different receivers for six touchdowns in the Carlsbad rout. Hauling in receptions for scores were Robert Castaneda, three, Richard Hernandez, two, and Ian Sandoval, one.
Simon Rubio, with nine total tackles and a tackle for loss, led the CHS defensive effort. Colton McKibben also had a big night with nine total tackles. Recording interceptions were Blas Lopez III and Rio Sanchez.
District 3/6A Standings
Team Dist. Yr. Rank
Las Cruces 2-0 4-2 5
Centennial 1-0 5-0 2
Carlsbad 1-1 3-3 10
Hobbs 1-1 3-3 9
Org. Mt. 1-1 2-4 16
Clovis 0-1 0-5 21
Alamo 0-2 1-5 18
This week’s D3/6A Schedule:
Carlsbad vs. Organ Mountain
Alamogordo vs. Centennial
Clovis @ Las Cruces
Hobbs Open
Cavemen @ Clovis Recap
C-bad 21-14-14-07--56
Clovis 00-00-08-08--08
Game Summary
Carlsbad Game Stats Clovis
249 Rushing 118
270 Passing 140
519 Total Yds. 258
25 First Downs 12
1 Turnovers 2
5/31 Penalties 13/106
Cavemen Scoring
1st Qt: K. Perez 35 yd. pass to R. Castaneda, L. Ananins kick; K. Perez 2 yd.
pass to I. Sandoval, L. Ananins kick; K. Perez 5 yd run, L. Ananins kick
2nd. Qt: K. Perez 26 yd pass to R. Castaneda, L. Ananins kick; K. Perez 3 yd pass to R. Castaneda, L.
Ananins kick
3rd Qt: K. Perez 5 yd pass to R. Hernandez, L. Ananins kick; K. Perez 13 yd pass to R. Hernandez, L. Ananins kick
4th Qt: B. Wright 1 yd. run, L. Ananins kick.
Offense Stats
Passing: K. Perez 16-27-270/6 TD’s/1 int
Receiving: E. Lopez 5/101
R. Hernandez 5/93/2 TD’s
R. Castaneda 5/64/3 TD’s
I. Sandoval 3/12/1 TD
Rushing: B. Wright 14/113/TD
I. Sandoval 9/81
K. Perez 4/30/TD
R. Castaneda 1/25
Defense Stats
R. Sanchez 5T/1A/Int
C. McKibben 3T-6A
Z. Pesante 3T-1A
T. Young 2T-4A
J. Akwiembi 2T/2A
S. Rubio 3T-6A-TFL
L. Ananins 1T-4A-TFL
B. Anderson 1T/2A
R. Valenzuela 6A
E. Lopez III 3A/Int
J. Duran 3 A
A. Venegas 2A
C. Carrasco & C. Roberson 1A
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