Three things to watch for Week 3 of high school football
LAS CRUCES – Monsoon season finally struck last weekend in Las Cruces, costing Mayfield and Santa Teresa a Week 2 high school football game.
The Trojans move into Week 3 looking to remain undefeated while Organ Mountain looks for its first win on Friday.
Organ Mountain and Mayfield play at 7 p.m. on Friday at the Field of Dreams in the first meeting of the year between City schools. Centennial plays host to La Cueva at 1 p.m. on Saturday and Las Cruces plays at El Paso Eastwood on Friday at 7 p.m.
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Here are three things to watch for Week 3 of high school football:
Gadsden High School starts 2-0 for first time since 1998
Gadsden improved to 2-0 on the season with a hard-fought 21-14 road victory at El Paso High. It's the Panthers' first 2-0 start since 1998; the Panthers look to improve to 3-0 this week with a road game at 1-1 Alamogordo on Friday. Gadsden has not been 3-0 since the Panthers started 6-0 in 1997.
"The biggest thing is they are actually coming out and playing as a unit," said Gadsden coach Dino Facio, whose team returned seven players on each side of the ball. "Last week was tough. El Paso High is as physical a team as we had seen, so to be able to come out and play as a team was really nice to see."
The Panthers started last season 0-3 with the same schedule, which shows progress.
Gadsden is well ahead of schedule for making the Class 5A playoffs last year as a No. 10 seed with a four-win regular season.
"Our kids have been fired up and hungry," Facio said. "Our success happened so late in the year and we have kind of carried it with us. ... To be 2-0 tells you that they really do want it. They want to get back to be able to play for a district championship and try to get a home playoff game."
Alamogordo beat Gadsden 54-12 in Week 3 last season and the teams have split a pair of meetings the past two seasons.
"Defensively, they tackle really well and they have a nose guard and two linebackers who get to the ball," Facio said. "They have a fast-paced offense. They spread the field and run the ball and they have the talent to do it."
Trojans, Knights meet in season's first City meeting
Organ Mountain beat Mayfield 28-0 last season, but both teams enter Friday's matchup at the Field of Dreams searching for an identity.
The Knights are 0-2 in Kenny Sanchez's first season and the Trojans are 1-0 after having a game called last week due to weather against Santa Teresa.
"I think it's a huge disappointment," Mayfield coach Gary Bradley said. "It should have happened on Saturday, but it didn't. Our kids are itching to play football. I guess we will find out how much it hurt us in terms of playing together as a team.
"(Organ Mountain) have a new coach and they are doing new things. They have tried a few quarterbacks. They are similar to us in they are pretty young and searching for an identity. That is my take on them from watching film but I haven't seen them live."
Organ Mountain lost 33-6 to Deming last week and 34-17 at Albuquerque in Week 1.
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"Last year's game was a defensive ballgame in the first half and they started running on us pretty hard and we couldn't stop them," Bradley said. "It's an in-town rival. I know they are trying to get on track and we have only played one game so it should be interesting."
Las Cruces, Centennial look to avoid 0-3 starts
Las Cruces and Centennial are 0-2 to start the season, and neither team has an easy matchup in Week 3.
The Bulldawgs play at El Paso Eastwood this week after losing 63-35 to Eastwood last season. The Bulldawgs play at Rio Rancho Cleveland next week before a rivalry game against Mayfield.
La Cueva is officially 1-0 after the school had to forfeit a Week 1 victory over Rio Rancho. La Cueva was the only team to defeat Centennial last year, beating the Hawks in the big school semifinals. The Bears reached the state championship game last year and the Hawks are looking for a victory after losses to state champion Rio Rancho Cleveland in Week 1 and El Paso Franklin last week. La Cueva quarterback Cameron Dyer has an offer from New Mexico State.
Jason Groves can be reached at 575-541-5459 or jgroves@lcsun-news.com. Follow him on Twitter @jpgroves.
This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Three things to watch for Week 3 of high school football
