Preview: La Cueva Bears vs. Las Cruces Bulldawgs
The La Cueva Bears will be playing at home against the Las Cruces Bulldawgs at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. One thing working in La Cueva's favor is that they have now posted big point totals in their last eight matchups.
With a playoff game on the line, La Cueva rose to the challenge on Friday. They really took it to Farmington for the full four quarters, racking up a 45-6 win at home. La Cueva might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team's won eight games by 28 points or more this season.
La Cueva can attribute much of their success to Cheeto Lumbrera iii, who rushed for 118 yards and two touchdowns, and Cameron Dyer, who rushed for 141 yards and three touchdowns on only nine carries. Dyer is on a roll when it comes to rushing yards, as he's now rushed for 100 or more in the last six games he's played.
Another reason for the win was La Cueva's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for four sacks. In fact, those sacks all came courtesy of defensive juggernaut Mason Posa.
Meanwhile, Las Cruces faced Centennial in a battle between two of the state's top teams. Las Cruces managed a 38-34 victory over Centennial on Friday. This was one game where the offenses had no trouble playing at a high level.
La Cueva's victory was their sixth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 8-3. It's not like the team was facing easy opposition over that stretch either, as it included 9-3 Rio Rancho and 8-3 Sandia (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 59.3% over those games). As for Las Cruces, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won seven of their last eight games, which provided a nice bump to their 7-5 record this season.
La Cueva strolled past Las Cruces when the teams last played back in September of 2021 by a score of 28-10. Does La Cueva have another victory up their sleeve, or will Las Cruces turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
