Yodice: Top five prep stories of 2023
Dec. 31—I hope it was a happy and prosperous year for everyone. As we prepare to usher in 2024, there is one final bit of business to clear off the decks: my choices for the top five prep stories of the year.
5. Make It 32
I like to think of the Artesia Bulldogs football program as the Met Gala of New Mexico high school athletics. Everything just LOOKS right, and it's such a lavish production. There is always great attention to detail, carried out with such love, such passion, such commitment.
And, of course, always the excellence.
Artesia last month won its 32nd state championship — tied for second in the country — as the Bulldogs downed rival Roswell 35-21 at Bulldog Bowl.
4. Bear market
At 0-3, the La Cueva Bears were not a prime candidate to win a Class 6A state football championship as we arrived at Labor Day.
There were notable losses to Cleveland and Centennial. There was also a forfeit loss to Rio Rancho, the result of using an ineligible player. The Bears were perhaps not in disarray, but they clearly were in some distress.
Slowly and gradually, however, they began to get right. When the playoffs began, La Cueva had more momentum than any other team in the field.
And in the postseason, the Bears, led by the tremendous play of quarterback Cam Dyer, essentially accelerated from 0 to 60 in just three games, culminating with a convincing 35-14 win at No. 1 Cleveland 6A final.
I asked La Cueva linebacker Nick Mertz, after the Bears beat Las Cruces in the semifinals, about the prospects of facing the Storm again.
What he said made me smile, it was so bold. He sure was smiling.
"We'll take them any day," he said.
3. The Brown boys
The most bittersweet snapshot of 2023 for me, and by far, was watching brothers Danny Brown and Greg Brown embrace before their boys basketball teams met in the Pit for the Class 5A state championship in March.
Their father, the late Mike Brown, who died in 2021, I am certain would have had some tears in his eyes at the sight of his sons doing battle on this most important of nights.
When all was said and done, Greg's Volcano Vista Hawks beat Danny's Sandia Matadors 43-32 in what proved to be the lowest-scoring big-school boys title game in over seven decades.
2. In the works
It had been a long time coming, this initiative by the New Mexico Activities Association to go after fan bases — and, to a lesser extent, coaches and players — whose behaviors had become too inappropriate to just slap on the wrist.
Hence, the "2 Strikes" bylaw was born, something the NMAA, following in the footsteps of states like Oklahoma, added to its books for the 2023-24 school year..
This bylaw, put simply, was created to punish.
To punish athletes and coaches who needed a course correction.
But more so to punish fans and fan bases who lack that filter to behave properly during high school events that are supposed to be low-stress, pleasant viewing experiences.
There were a dozen or so first strikes issued during the fall sports season. But no second strikes that would have led to the cancellation of a season, or perhaps the loss of spectating privileges for the fans.
Has "2 Strikes" been a success? Can't answer that definitively until the end of this 2023-24 school year. But we can say, it appears that people are being educated on the cost of getting out of hand in public. Which is a terrific step forward.
1. A true swiftie
There have, over the years, been a few eighth-grade athletes in Albuquerque who have made impacts in a high school varsity sport. These largely have been kids from the private school sector.
It was a decision prior to the 2022-23 school year by Albuquerque Public Schools that paved the way for one of the most astonishing varsity debut seasons any of us have ever witnessed.
Her name is Gianna Rahmer. She is in the eighth grade at Hoover Middle School. During the cross country season, she represented Eldorado.
She was spectacular, and she was perfect.
Rahmer went out and won every single race she entered, several of them in beyond-comprehension dominating fashion. She captured first place at all the major meets. At the Class 5A state competition in November, Rahmer crossed the finish line 2 minutes and 4 seconds ahead of the runner-up. This type of margin was unheard of. One longtime former coach remarked that Rahmer already belongs on New Mexico's Mount Rushmore of female cross country athletes.
The week after state, Rahmer won the Nike Southwest regional meet. And the first Saturday in December, she finished sixth at the Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon.
Rahmer ran with precision, with energy, with talent, with unbridled joy. From my chair, no athlete, boy or girl, in any sport, had a better 2023 season than Rahmer did with the Eagles.
She was a sheer pleasure to watch. And Gianna Rahmer is my selection as the No. 1 prep story of 2023.
Happy New Year, one and all.
