Sep. 12—LAS CRUCES — The Cleveland offense flexed its muscles the last two weeks. The Storm defense stepped in for some reps on Thursday night.
A goal-line stand at the end of the first half was crucial, and a fourth quarter interception on a deflected ball was even more so, as it led to the go-ahead touchdown for No. 3-ranked Cleveland, which left the Field of Dreams with a wild, and important, 35-25 victory over No. 5 Las Cruces.
"This was a must-win. There were playoff implications on the line," Storm coach Robert Garza said. "It was a game we needed to win and we needed to treat it like a playoff game."
It most definitely had the feel of a playoff game, with two Class 6A heavyweights slugging it out, punching and counterpunching for almost the entire 48 minutes.
Cleveland (3-1) scored two touchdowns in a span 2 minutes and 2 seconds to seize control late.
Trailing 25-21, a deflected ball at the line of scrimmage led to a Jon Baca interception for Cleveland, and he rumbled 34 yards to the Las Cruces 6.
Two plays later Juan Muñoz scored from the 6, and a 28-25 Cleveland lead with 4:56 remaining.
But the Bulldawgs (2-2) still had five minutes to work with.
But the Cleveland defense, which played extremely well the final 1 1/2 quarters, got a stop with two incomplete passes.
And two plays later, taking over at the Las Cruces 37, Isaiah Yannis scored on a 5-yard run. He had galloped for 32 yards on the play prior to that.
It was Yannis' third rushing TD of the night, and supplied the final margin. Muñoz had Cleveland's other two scores, one on a rush, the other after he took a short pass 31 yards for a first-half score.
"We just had to put ourselves out there," Yannis said. "We had to show that we can win against tough opponents."
Centennial came into Rio Rancho and beat the Storm 35-28 in Week 1. Cleveland followed that up with easy victories over Los Lunas and Clovis, in which the Storm scored 50-plus points.
Baca's pick and subsequent return put a notch up for the defense, and that defense also registered a goal-line stand to close out the first half, which preserved a 14-13 lead for Cleveland.
"I would say, it's a thing of having to constantly be at it," said Psalmon Kegler, one of the mainstays on that Storm defense. "I would say the only thing that kept us in it is the hard practices we've been through. ... It made it very manageable."
Danny Amaro, the Bulldawgs' outstanding senior running back, had all four Las Cruces touchdowns. The first one put Las Cruces up 6-0, but the PAT hit the post.
Yannis scored from the 2 on a fourth down run on the next drive, and Cleveland grabbed a 7-6 lead.
Amaro caught a short pass moments later and did some nifty running after the catch, and his 60-yard touchdown allowed Las Cruces to regain the lead.
Yannis' second score, from 5 yards out, made it 14-13, which is how the first half ended after the defense stopped Amaro at the 1 on a fourth down with 1 second to go in the second quarter.
But Las Cruces regained momentum with a magnificent drive to open the third quarter. The drive spanned only 51 yards, but it took 14 plays and consumed nearly eight minutes of clock, and the Bulldawgs overcame a 1st-and-31 on that drive following three consecutive holding penalties.
Amaro capped it off with a 13-yard run, but the PAT was blocked and the lead for Las Cruces was 19-14.
Cleveland had another response.
The Storm went 81 yards in six plays, with Muñoz taking a short throw 31 yards for a touchdown and 21-19 edge.
Las Cruces wasted no time getting another lead, and Amaro's 1-yard TD run 17 seconds into the fourth quarter put the Bulldawgs in front 25-21.
The Cleveland defense took over from there.
"So many turning points," Garza said, and he wasn't exaggerating. "It was basically a bloodbath all night. It was a very physical game and I feel like our guys persevere at the end and kept going and kept going."
Cleveland is down south again next week for its third straight road game, at El Paso Pebble Hills.
Also Thursday night, Belen defeated Valley 31-20 in a District 1-5A opener at Milne Stadium as the Eagles (1-2) won for the first time this season. The Vikings fell to 0-4.
At Wilson Stadium, Los Lunas won a 2-6A opener, 14-6, over Eldorado.
