Hobbs football team stays at No. 4 in latest coaches poll

Jason Farmer/News-Sun

For the first time this season, there was no change in the Top 5 teams of the New Mexico High School Coaches poll in Class 6A. Cleveland, La Cueva, Centennial, Hobbs and Volcano Vista remained in the Top 5 spots, just like the schools were a week ago.

Cleveland, with 166 points and 13 first-place votes, is the No. 1 team for the third straight week. The Storm (4-1) nearly doubled up Artesia, beating the Bulldogs 61-33. La Cueva, with 148 points and two first-place votes, remains at No. 2. The Bears (3-1) routed Los Lunas, knocking the Tigers out of the Top 10, 49-17. Centennial crushed Las Cruces rival Mayfield, a Class 5A school, 49-13. The Hawks are third with 140 points and two first-place votes.

Remaining at No. 4 is Hobbs. The Eagles beat Rio Rancho, the No. 7 team, 30-20 at home. Hobbs, the only undefeated team in Class 6A, got 116 points entering its bye week. Volcano Vista is still at No. 5 with 106 points; the 4-1 Hawks pulled in 106 points.

Moving up one spot to No. 6 this week is Cibola, even with a loss. The Cougars received 75 points. Rio Rancho (3-2) fell one spot to No. 7 with 63 points after losing to the Eagles by 10 in Hobbs.

Las Cruces, which was not in the poll last week, picked up its first win of the season, earning the Bulldawgs a spot back in the Top 10 – the Trojans (1-3) are ranked No. 8 with 28 points. Also moving into the Top 10 is Atrisco Heritage. The Jaguars, scored 50-plus points for the fourth straight game while surviving a shootout with West Mesa. Atrisco Heritage is one point behind Las Cruces.

Rounding out the Top 10 is Sandia. The Matadors fell two spots after losing to Volcano Vista.

Los Lunas, which was No. 10, currently sits 12th in the rankings, one point behind Farmington, which is 11th with 13 points.

Lovington, which lost another game, falling to 0-5, remained at No. 5 in the Class 4A standings. The Wildcats have yet to play a school in their classification this year. Lovington, a defending state 4A champion, is the only winless team in the Class 4A poll.

Portales (5-0) jumped Bloomfield (4-0) for the No. 1 spot while Silver (5-0) remained at No. 3. Albuquerque Academy stood pat at No. 4.

In Class 2A, Lea County rivals Jal and Eunice remained at No. 1 and 2, respectively. The undefeated Panthers are atop the poll with 99 points. Eunice (4-1) is second with 86 points while Texico remained third with 79 points, despite losing last week. Santa Rosa received 74 points and sits fourth in Class 2A while Estancia jumped up two spots to No. 5 with 53 points.

There was a change at the top of the 8-Man poll as Lordsburg moved to the No. 1 spot with 75 points after improving to 5-0. Fort Sumner/House, which had to battle back to win its game, fell to No. 2. The Foxes trail Lordsburgh by one point. Melrose (65 points) remained at No. 3 despite losing, while Magdalena (51 points) moved up a spot to No. 4. Clayton (48 points) slipped one spot to No. 6 and Tatum, which got a 30-point win, remained at No. 7 with 41 points after evening its record at 2-2.

The Eagles will resume action on Sept. 30 at Las Cruces. Eunice, like Hobbs, is off this week and will also resume action on the last day of the month, hosting Hagerman.

Lovington hosts Artesia this Friday at 7 p.m., while Jal plays its homecoming game against Capitan, and Tatum visits Melrose, both with the same start times.