Step one carried a lot of weight.
Playoff openers can sometimes be a bit harder for the teams that earn the first-round byes. When you’re two weeks removed from your last competition playing a squad that essentially got a warm-up, it can require a little extra effort and overcoming a few mistakes. The Bulldogs accomplished both on a sunny Saturday at Bulldog Bowl, taking their Class 5A state quarterfinal by a healthy margin over No. 7 Los Alamos, 57-14.
With that, not only did the second-ranked ‘Dogs advance to the Final Four, they ensured they’ll be spending the remainder of their playoff run at home. Of the four potential opponents remaining in the bracket Saturday afternoon, only No. 4 Goddard — which fell to fifth-ranked Deming 33-0 at Wool Bowl — held a home card with Artesia.
And all of that has the City of Champions in a particularly thankful mood as mid-November moves in.
The ‘Dogs’ bout with the Hilltoppers wasn’t a perfect effort, but it was a strong one. Artesia compensated for any hiccups that occurred along the way, consistently preventing Los Alamos from building anything resembling a head of steam.
Artesia held the ‘Toppers to just under 250 yards of offense on the day while amassing 524 of their own.
“We definitely still had some things there,” head coach Jeremy Maupin said Saturday. “We had some throws that were off the mark, some drops, and we had their quarterback wrapped up several times for sacks and let him get out of it. So there are a lot of little things we can continue to work on, but overall, I was pleased with how our guys played.”
The Bulldogs announced their presence with authority on the game’s opening drive, stuttering to a fourth-and-six situation at their own 34-yard line before shocking Los Alamos with a perfectly executed punt fake that saw Diego Wesson complete a 31-yard pass to Jack Byers to set Artesia up at the Hilltopper 35.
From there, a Frankie Galindo run and subsequent facemasking by the ‘Toppers pushed the ball to the four, and Galindo would finish things off from there to put the ‘Dogs up 6-0 after the failed conversion attempt.
The Orange Crush, meanwhile, made an equally unpleasant introduction, logging tackles for a loss on Los Alamos’ first three plays of the contest to force a punt. A 37-yard pass from Nye Estrada to Galindo later, Artesia was back in the Hilltopper red zone, and a 23-yard touchdown toss from Estrada to Matthew Saiz completed the series. Galindo regained the missing extra point with a conversion run to make it 14-0 with six minutes to go in the first quarter.
Wesson did manage to bring down elusive LA quarterback Kyle Evenhus for a loss of six on the Hilltoppers’ next drive to bring about another three and out, but wide receiver/safety Seth Cowan would notch an interception three plays later to effectively set up the ‘Toppers’ first score of the day.
It was a long row to hoe between A and B, however, as Los Alamos trudged from their own 23 to the Bulldog 33 on 11 plays, yellow laundry flying like autumn leaves in between. A personal foul and three offsides penalties on Artesia outdid a holding and an illegal motion by the Hilltoppers, and LA would cut the ‘Dogs’ lead in half, 14-7, on a 33-yard pass from Evenhus to Cowan a minute into the second quarter.
Forty-three seconds later, however, the Big Orange offense was back in the end zone, as Estrada completed an 80-yard catch-and-run to Izac Cazares to make it 22-7.
The Crush further… well, crushed any Hilltopper hopes of a momentum swing on the second play of Los Alamos’ ensuing drive, as corner Phillip Finley snagged an Evenhus pass to give the ‘Dogs the ball at the ‘Topper 37. A few more flags — and a lack of a few others — helped stymie that series, but after forcing a turnover on downs near midfield, Artesia tacked seven more points to their tally at the 4:03 mark on two consecutive runs on direct snaps to Cazares — the first for 45 yards and the last for eight.
And following another Los Alamos punt, the Bulldogs had just enough time to punch in another when — following a big gain of 41 yards on an Estrada pass to Galindo — Ethan Conn covered the final three yards to paydirt with 34 seconds to go in the first half.
Up 36-7 at the break, the ‘Dogs delivered another devastating blow to kick off the third quarter when, on first and 25 from his own 41, Evenhus let loose a throw that was snatched in stride by Bulldog linebacker Josiah Rodriguez. Rodriguez took the pick six back 46 yards to bump Artesia’s lead to 36 and set the 35-point mercy-rule clock in motion at the 9:44 point.
A Los Alamos turnover on downs near midfield saw Artesia’s second-string offense hit the grid, and they’d score on a 20-yard pass from Cazares to Trent Egeland to make it 50-7 with 2:27 to go in the third. The ‘Toppers would finally break a few big plays against the back-up D in the final seconds of the quarter, however, with Evenhus launching a 33-yard pass to speedster Melaki Gutierrez before turning the quiet-to-that-point back loose for a 48-yard touchdown run.
It was the Bulldog sophomores who’d have the final word in the contest, though.
With quarterbacks Derrick Warren and Cael Houghtaling swapping out every three plays, the underclassmen picked up a first down on a nine-yard pass from Warren to Jett Fuentes, propelled into Hilltopper territory on a 45-yard bomb from Houghtaling to Jett Whitmire, and scored on a four-yard toss from Houghtaling to Bryce Parra to round out the 57-14 final with 5:33 left in the game.
Los Alamos was able to move from midfield to a first-and-goal at the Artesia 10 on their final possession, but a sack of Evenhus for a loss of 14 by junior linebacker Axel Hartley helped force a game-ending TOD.
The Bulldogs finished with 524 yards of offense on the day, 361 passing and 163 on the ground. Estrada was 11 of 17 for 236 yards and two scores, with Cazares (two for four for 26 yards) and Houghtaling (three for three for 58 yards) also logged TD passes.
Cazares (3-89) and Galindo (2-78) led a receiving corps that included 13 different athletes, and Cazares also led the team in rushing with 110 yards on nine carries, followed by Galindo with seven carries for 51.
Los Alamos picked up 143 of their 249 yards through the air and 106 rushing, with Evenhus finishing his junior season 11 of 29 for 143 yards, one touchdown, and two picks. Cowan was 3-79 receiving and Gutierrez 4-66 rushing.
The Bulldogs were also competing Saturday without their offensive line anchor, Rickey Armendariz, and Maupin was pleased with the athletes who stepped up to fill his very large shoes.
“Those guys really stepped into that role and played really well,” said the coach. “Offensively, we kind of started off with some different formations and then went for it with that punt fake. That was one we’d kind of been saving all year, so it was good to use that in a game and have it be successful.
“We had a lot of guys involved. Ethan Conn made some plays, Matt Saiz had a big touchdown, Frankie ran the ball well, and Nye had a consistent game for us. And then Izac Cazares had, I thought, one of the better games for us today. He played really well both at quarterback in that little wildcat package and then at receiver.”
Maupin was also happy with the Crush’s performance on the day.
“Our defense is still creating turnovers, which is big,” he said. “That first drive, they came out and it was just negative, negative, negative. I thought we were in the backfield pretty consistently, and we really took their running game out of it and forced them to be pretty one-dimensional.
“[Gutierrez] had a couple of plays where he broke some things, but for the most part, we were able to hold him in check, which I was really pleased with because that’s their best player. We made them get away from him a little bit and try to beat us with some other guys.”
With the quarterfinal win, the Bulldogs improve to 10-1 on the season as they prepare to move into the semifinal round, where they’ll face third-ranked Piedra Vista in a rematch of last year’s 5A title game.
The Panthers (6-5) got past No. 6 Valley Friday, 30-6. They’ll head to Bulldog Bowl for a 1 p.m. game Saturday, Nov. 18. Elsewhere, top-ranked Roswell High eliminated No. 9 Mayfield 50-9 Friday and will take on Deming at 1 p.m. Saturday in Deming following the Wildcats’ shutout of Goddard.
“I thought we gave a complete team effort today, and it was a good game to start the playoffs,” said Maupin. “This gives us a little momentum, and we’ll be looking forward to seeing Piedra Vista again next week.”
