PREP FOOTBALL
10 storylines to follow in NM high school football 2026
From Cleveland's dynasty to Sandia's offseason makeover, the 2026 prep football season kicks off Thursday with plenty to watch.
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The coming attractions are over. Our feature presentation is about to begin.
After a lengthy offseason of weightlifting, 7-on-7s, team camps, summer high school camps, team building exercises, fall camps and a scrimmage, the state鈥檚 prep football teams are ready to step up to the start line.
There are eight games scheduled around the state Thursday as the 2026 season kicks off. New Mexico School for the Deaf and Reserve will be the first two on the field, at 4 p.m.
The metro area has games at Milne, Wilson and Nusenda Community Stadiums on Thursday night.
In no particular order, I鈥檝e identified 10 storylines that are worth tracking over the next three months.
ABOVE THE TITLE: Cleveland merits top billing, and why not? The Storm have five state championships since 2019, including the last two, and the regular season opens with the same pressing question that was asked last year, and the year before that: What, if anything, can anyone do to stop them? Cleveland鈥檚 program operates like an 18-wheeler; most everyone else seems to be driving a mid-size 4-cylinder by comparison.
WHAT WILL IT TAKE?: I do not know for certain if it is a mental hurdle, being outmatched physically, or the sheer experience of the Bloomfield Bobcats that has confounded the St. Pius Sartans, but St. Pius has been bounced hard in the last two postseasons. Here St. Pius is with another legitimate chance to win a Class 4A championship after Bloomfield outscored the Sartans 120-55 in the previous two finals. That promising, arriving-before-its-time squad of 2024 is largely grown up now, but can St. Pius decipher whatever puzzle it is that eludes their grasp come November?
BE LIKE MIKE鈥橲: With two victories to start the year, St. Michael鈥檚 would have 35 consecutive wins, and that would give the Horsemen the second-longest streak seen in New Mexico over the last 70 years, and the longest in 36 years, since Animas鈥� 69-game streak ended in 1990. Gadsden has held the No. 2 spot for quite some time, 34 from 1952-56. How long can this Horsemen run continue?
TEXICO/DEXTER: The Class 2A division has belonged to Texico the last three seasons, but last year鈥檚 3A finalist, Dexter, has moved into 2A under the latest realignment, and this adds definite muscle to this classification. These two meet on Oct. 2, incidentally, in Dexter. The Demons are just itching to hoist a blue trophy after narrow 3A championship game losses to St. Mike鈥檚 in both the 2024 and 2025 finals.
TRANSITION GAME: Quite a number of elite, game-changing quarterbacks at premier programs have left, like Jordan Hatch of Cleveland, Derrick Warren of Artesia, Gunnar Guardiola of Las Cruces, Manual Chavarria of Bloomfield, Kamal Stith of St Mike鈥檚 and Elijah Melancon of Eunice. And there are others. What kind of production those teams (four of them were state champions last year) get from their successors will go a long way toward the fate of their 2026 season.
LONG DIVISION: The metro area will get a peek at the state鈥檚 most highly regarded Division I defensive prospect, Carlsbad linebacker Colton McKibben (a UCLA commit), when the Cavemen visit Eldorado during the regular season. The metro area has weekly access to St. Pius running back Hershul Olloway Jr., who has committed to the Lobos. (Get out and watch the kid, boys and girls.) Not sure how Hershul could possibly follow up his spectacular 2025 season, but we鈥檒l see. Alamogordo two-way star Bryson Bloom also has committed to UNM, for you Lobo fans who鈥檇 like to chart his progress. And St. Pius QB Isaiah Carpenter is a New Mexico State commit, and this kid鈥檚 arm talent is remarkable.
A SANDIA MOUNTAIN?: The most mysterious team among the 6A ranks is the Sandia Matadors. Rarely does an individual program have such a compelling offseason, but Sandia sure did, largely because of the state鈥檚 new one free transfer rule that saw the Matadors add a slew of talent. No way to know just yet what heights Sandia might scale with this talented roster, but man is this going to be a fascinating team to watch.
SOUTHERN DISCOMFORT: Neither Eldorado nor 近距离内射合集 Vista were particularly pleased to have been placed in District 2-6A, which is, except for Clovis, filled with teams in the southern half of the state. Of the two 6A districts, this one is by far the more challenging one, and it鈥檚 probably a large part of the reason why the Eagles and Hawks were placed there in the first place, because they鈥檙e strong enough to withstand the gauntlet. How will they fare? That should make for a compelling watch party over the next 11 weeks.
CHANGE IN SCENERY: The realignment saw five previous 6A programs move down into the 5A division. Specifically, the addition of Los Lunas is the one I would say generates the most intrigue, especially since the Tigers were such a strong 6A presence before the 近距离内射合集 juggled things up. Does Los Lunas have the magic to dethrone you know who?
SPEAKING OF YOU KNOW WHO: That would be the Artesia Bulldogs, who are going after a 34th championship. There is almost no hyperbole that could do this magnificent dynasty justice. It鈥檚 almost unfathomable to think about a football program that has 33 titles 鈥� and not only that, but all of them have been achieved since 1957, which computes to about one every other year over a 68-year span through the 2025 season.
And with that, the proverbial lights go down, and the Friday night lights go up.
Enjoy the show.
James Yodice covers prep sports for the Journal. You can reach him at jyodice@abqjournal.com or via X at .
Prep Football 鈥� Week 1
Thursday
N.M. School/Deaf at Reserve, 4 p.m.
Gadsden at Santa Teresa, 7 p.m.
St. Pius at West Mesa, Community, 7 p.m.
Cibola at Sandia, Wilson, 7 p.m.
Rio Grande at Highland, Milne, 7 p.m.
Hot Springs at Tularosa, 7 p.m.
Organ Mountain at Deming, 7 p.m.
Hatch Valley at Chaparral, 7 p.m.
Friday
El Paso Da Vinci at Grady, 6 p.m.
Escalante at Tatum, 6 p.m.
Laguna-Acoma at Capitan, 6 p.m.
St. Michael鈥檚 at Capital, 6 p.m.
Del Norte at Valencia, 6 p.m.
Santa Fe at Alamogordo, 6 p.m.
Taos at Pojoaque Valley, 6 p.m.
Magdalena at Melrose, 7 p.m.
Ruidoso at Eunice, 7 p.m.
Hobbs at Roswell, 7 p.m.
Espanola Valley at Los Alamos, 7 p.m.
Silver at Legacy Academy, at Bernalillo HS, 7 p.m.
Cloudcroft at Questa, 7 p.m.
Moriarty at Thoreau, 7 p.m.
Valley at Albuquerque High, Milne, 7 p.m.
Ramah at Hagerman/Lake Arthur, 7 p.m.
Bayfield, Colo., at Aztec, 7 p.m.
Shiprock at Kirtland Central, 7 p.m.
近距离内射合集 Vista at Atrisco Heritage, Community, 7 p.m.
Menaul at Mesilla Valley, 7 p.m.
Eldorado at La Cueva, Wilson, 7 p.m.
Alamo Navajo at Mescalero Apache, 7 p.m.
Los Lunas at Mayfield, Field of Dreams, 7 p.m.
Hozho Academy at Dexter, 7 p.m.
Bernalillo at Belen, 7 p.m.
Raton at Navajo Prep, 7 p.m.
Hope Christian at Gallup, 7 p.m.
Centennial at Cleveland, 7 p.m.
Cuba at Crownpoint, 7 p.m.
Piedra Vista vs. Farmington, Hutchison Stadium, 7 p.m.
Las Cruces at Rio Rancho, 7 p.m.
Socorro at Robertson, 7 p.m.
McCurdy at Cobre, 7 p.m.
Loving at Estancia, 7 p.m.
Goddard at Lovington, 7 p.m.
Fort Sumner/House at Gateway Christian, 7 p.m.
Jal at Tucumcari, 7 p.m.
Carlsbad at Artesia, 7 p.m.
Mountainair at Logan, 7 p.m.
Santa Rosa at Texico, 7 p.m.
Clovis at Bloomfield, 7 p.m.
Duncan, Ariz., at Lordsburg, 7 p.m.
Tohatchi at Ganado, Ariz., 7 p.m.
Saturday
Manzano at Albuquerque Academy, 11 a.m.
Santa Fe Indian at Zuni, 1 p.m.
Dulce at Clayton, 3 p.m.
West Las Vegas at Portales, 6 p.m.
Grants at Miyamura, 6 p.m.
Midland, Texas Leadership Charter Academy at Clovis Christian, 7 p.m.
