One last day of prep football

Just because St. Michael's and the rest of the Northern schools are done with football for 2008 doesn't mean the sport should take a backseat to basketball now. The big schools take the stage to determine their state champions and each game has plenty of intrigue.
This year will feature three new champions, as last year's titleholders- Las Cruces Mayfield (AAAAA), Artesia (AAAA) and St. Michael's (AAA) - were ousted in the semifinals. In fact, AAAAA will see a new champion for the first time in three years as the Trojans have own the blue trophy each of those seasons.
In AAA, District 2AAA's reign of champions also ends at three after the Horsemen, the 2007 champs, were ousted by Lovington. They were preceded by Las Vegas Robertson's back-to-back run in 2005 and 2006.
It's also the first time in six years a 2AAA team does not appear in the title game. That is nothing compared to the 21-year run District 4AAA had from 1984-2006. Oh, and it is an All-4AAA final between Portales and the Wildcats.
The plots don't end there:

Class AAAAA
No. 1 Las Cruces High (12-0) at No. 2 Albuquerque Eldorado (12-0).
Wilson Stadium
1 p.m.

For the first time in 12 years, the AAAAA state champion will be crowned in Albuquerque. The last time that happened, Mayfield won its first state championship in 25 years by shutting out Manzano 14-0. The Trojans have won five more since then.
Las Cruces makes its first trip to the AAAAA game since 2002, when it won the last of a string of three in four years.
It's been 28 years since Eldorado hoisted the blue trophy, when then-senior quarterback Jim Everett guided the Eagles to a 14-11 win over Clovis. Everett went on to Purdue and then the NFL's Los Angeles Rams, but never won another title in his career.
If you read today's Albuquerque Journal (Not the North section, though), reporter Will Webber writes about the legacy of Gentry family, one of the four storied families of New Mexico football.

Here's the link:
www.abqjournal.com/sports/preps/05920580820sportspreps12-05-08.htm


Class AAAA
No. 2 Aztec (12-0) at No. 1 Roswell Goddard (11-1)
Wool Bowl
1 p.m.

The Rockets finally get a chance to soak in the limelight that has belonged to Artesia the past two years as well as win their first championship since taking the AAAA crown in 1997. But the Tigers of Aztec have been waiting since 1952. The Tigers have played for the state title nine times since then, and they have been presented the red runner-up trophy nine times.
Aztec comes in with the fourth-most prolific offense in the state's history (at 589 points, or a 49.0 PPG clip) but needs just 23 points to surpass Albuquerque La Cueva's 2003 team that amassed 611 points on its way to the first of two AAAAA championships. A word of caution, however. The Bears managed just 24 points in the finale to barely beat Mayfield, 24-21.


Class AAA
No. 1 Lovington (9-3) at No. 3 Portales (10-2)
Greyhound Stadium, Blackwater Draw
2 p.m.

1996.
Never mind that the Wildcats beat Portales 17-14 in the District 4AAA opener, although that will be the motivation for the current edition of the Rams. It's just that the spell the Wildcats have over them supersedes that. It becomes magnified when Portales rolled into Wildcat Stadium at 5-2 and with the top rank in Class AAA (by virtue of the New Mexico High School Coaches Association) on Oct. 24. Lovington took a 17-14 lead with 6 minutes remaining, and escaped with the win when the Wildcats stopped the Rams at the Lovington 5-yard line on the game's final play.
The Wildcats are gunning for their 16th state title, the second most in the state. Portales, which is playing in its third AAA title game this decade, hasn't won a title since 1988.