Scott Brocato:
Let's start with NMSU and let's begin with football.
Kurt Johnson:
So homecoming weekend was this weekend. NMSU decided to play the top team in the conference for their homecoming. So the Liberty game was tough. It was another disappointing loss for NMSU, 30 to 14.
A couple positive notes: Trey Hedden was back at quarterback. He actually had a pretty good game. Passing the ball, they figured out they can pass again, so that might be all right. Upcoming on Saturday, they play Missouri State on the road. Missouri State and NMSU are kind of in the same boat. They're both 3-6 overall, 2-3 in the conference. Both of them are going to need to win out to be bowl eligible, so they're kind of in the same boat. So it'll be kind of a good test for where they're at. But again, they do need to win their last three games if they were going to be eligible for a potential bowl game. So that's kind of where the football teams are at.
Scott Brocato:
All right, let's move on to men's basketball.
Kurt Johnson:
So the men's basketball team had an interesting game on Saturday. They played at Gonzaga, which is the number 15 team in the nation. They played really well for a half. They were only down 47 to 42 at the halftime, but then it all came falling apart in the second half. And Gonzaga beat them pretty badly. But they actually play UTEP tonight, Thursday night, 7 p.m. And that's on the road. But that's coming off that Gonzaga loss where they looked really good for a half.
Scott Brocato:
All right. What's new with NMSU volleyball?
Kurt Johnson:
So the volleyball team split their last home series of the year against Missouri State over the weekend, and they are now 14-13 overall and they finish up their season on the road at Ford International. So Friday and Saturday, that'll be the end of their regular season. So that's where the volleyball team's at.
Scott Brocato:
All right, let's move on to high school, starting with state volleyball.
Kurt Johnson:
So yeah, state volleyball is this week. The brackets came out on the weekend and the state volleyball tournament starts this week. Las Cruces is an interesting story in state volleyball. I don't know if people are aware, but Las Cruces is on a run of three consecutive state championships. They actually had a 61 match winning streak going until this year when they finally lost. So they were 27-0 in both 2024 and '25 and they won state championships three years in a row.
This year they entered a tournament having had that 61 match losing streak broken. Actually it was broken by an out-of-state team, but they've actually lost twice to Cleveland of Albuquerque. Cleveland is the number two seed. Las Cruces ends the state tournament as the number three seed. The top seed is La Cueva, who's the team that Las Cruces beat in the last couple of years for the state title. So it's going to be interesting, Las Cruces comes in a little bit as an underdog this year. Still has a really good team, only four losses all year.
So also, in addition to Las Cruces, Organ Mountain is the 11th seed in the 5A tournament. Centennial is the 7th seed in the 5A tournament. And Santa Teresa in the 4A field is an 11 seed. And one of the interesting stories, kind of goes along with what's happening with their football team. Mesilla Valley Christian among the smaller schools is actually the four seed in the state volleyball tournament. I'm actually writing a story this week about Mesilla Valley Christian's volleyball team and it kind of coincides with them entering the state tournament as a four seed.
Scott Brocato:
And what about football? High school football?
Kurt Johnson:
So interesting: over the weekend, Las Cruces was in a position to win their opening round football game, ended up in overtime again. And this time they were playing Rio Rancho. It was at home. They ended up losing by a point on a two-point conversion. They scored in overtime, kicked the extra point. Rio Rancho scored. They decided to go for two. And they made the two-point conversion, knocked Las Cruces out.
So that leaves Centennial, who had a bye. They'll hope in their playoffs this weekend at home at the Field of Dreams on Friday night at 7 p.m. against Sandia. And also Gadsden actually dominated Mayfield 50-0 over the weekend, so they're still in the 5A tournament in the quarterfinal against Artesia, and Mesilla Valley Christian is into the semi-finals of the eight-man football tournament. So they'll be playing this weekend as well. So after winning last weekend. So a lot of football still going on locally with those three teams.
Scott Brocato:
And cross country? We've never talked about cross country.
Kurt Johnson:
So state cross country was this weekend. The state meet. Ryu Medina from Oregon Mountain High School finished third in the state in the boys individual race in the 5A race. But the Centennial boys team was stronger collectively. They actually finished third collectively in the boys state tournament class 5A. So those are kind of the two top accomplishments.
The Organ Mountain girls team finished 7th in the state and they had their top finisher finished 11th, actually the laws. But Ryu Medina, who's a senior, had a strong finish, finishing third of a state meet. So that was kind of cool for Organ Mountain.
Scott Brocato:
And let's wrap things up with boys' soccer.
Kurt Johnson:
So just from boys' soccer, just a note, Gadsden made history. Gadsden for the first time in its history reached the class 4A state championship game in boys' soccer. They 2-0 to the top team in the state. However, for them, they finished the season 18-4-2. And for the first time in history, they reached the state championship game. So kind of cool for Gadsden to have that opportunity to play in a state title game.
Scott Brocato:
All right, lots of stuff going on, Kurt. Where can folks read about it?
Kurt Johnson:
Las Cruces Bulletin, we can get it online at lascrucesbulletin.com. Pick up a paper. It comes out every week. Thursday, Friday is when it hits the newsstands. We're excited about some of the stuff we have coming up, so we hope you'll pick up a copy.