New Mexico football isn't just about the bright lights in Rio Rancho or the historic dominance down in Artesia. It’s a culture. If you were looking for nm hs football scores this past November, you likely saw a landscape that shifted in ways nobody really predicted. Honestly, if you bet against the established dynasties this year, you probably lost some money. But the scoreboards told a much deeper story than just who hoisted the blue trophy.
It’s easy to look at a final score of 35-28 and think "close game." But in the 6A final between Cleveland and Las Cruces, that seven-point gap felt like a mile and an inch at the same time. People think they know New Mexico football because they know the big names. They’re wrong. The real juice of the 2025 season was in the small-town upsets and the statistical anomalies that redefined what "dominance" looks like in the Land of Enchantment.
The 6A Battle: Why Cleveland Still Rules the Roost
For years, the talk of the town has been whether the southern powerhouses could finally reclaim the throne from the Rio Rancho giants. Las Cruces came so close. Like, heartbreakingly close. On November 29, 2025, the Cleveland Storm secured a 35-28 victory over the Las Cruces Bulldawgs.
Jordan Hatch, the Cleveland senior quarterback, wasn't just throwing the ball; he was surgically dismantling a defense that had previously given up next to nothing. He finished the season with 2,896 yards and 40 touchdowns. That’s insane. But the real MVP of that scoreboard wasn’t even on the offensive side. It was the Cleveland defense holding a high-octane Bulldawgs offense just enough in the fourth quarter to prevent a overtime nightmare.
Las Cruces fans will tell you the officiating was "kinda" questionable on that late-game pass interference call. Maybe. But the scoreboard doesn’t care about "what ifs." It reads 35-28, and Cleveland (12-1) took home yet another trophy under Robert Garza.
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5A and 4A Drama: The Bulldog Heritage and the Bloomfield Machine
If you want to talk about nm hs football scores that define a community, look at Artesia. The Bulldogs are the standard. Period. Their 25-24 win over Roswell in the 5A final was a masterclass in "Bulldog Magic." Roswell (9-4) played a nearly perfect game, but Artesia (12-1) has this weird, almost supernatural ability to find one point more than their opponent when the clock hits zero. Jeremy Maupin has those kids believing they are invincible, and frankly, after that goal-line stand, I’m starting to believe it too.
Then there’s 4A. Bloomfield is just... different.
The Bobcats rolled over St. Pius X with a 58-27 final score.
Wait, 58 points in a state championship game?
Yes.
Manual "Peanut" Chavarria is a human cheat code.
He threw for 3,577 yards and 53 touchdowns this season. Read those numbers again. Most college quarterbacks would kill for that production. He basically treated the St. Pius defense like a scout team in the first half. By the time the Sartans found their footing, they were already staring at a 30-point deficit.
The Small School Heartbreak and Glory
We spend so much time talking about the big schools that we miss the absolute wars happening in 3A and 2A. The St. Michael’s Horsemen out of Santa Fe finished a perfect 13-0 season by taking down Dexter 28-21. It was gritty. It was muddy. It was exactly what high school football should be. Kamal Stith was the engine for that Horsemen team, and while the score was close, St. Michael's never really felt like they were going to lose.
In 2A, Texico just demolished Eunice. 42-7.
Eunice is a proud program, but they ran into a buzzsaw.
Texico's ground game was relentless.
One-on-one, their offensive line just moved people against their will. It wasn't fancy. It was just physics.
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2025 State Championship Scoreboard Roundup
- Class 6A: Cleveland 35, Las Cruces 28
- Class 5A: Artesia 25, Roswell 24
- Class 4A: Bloomfield 58, St. Pius X 27
- Class 3A: St. Michael's 28, Dexter 21
- Class 2A: Texico 42, Eunice 7
- 8-Man: Fort Sumner/House 28, Melrose 14
- 6-Man: Logan 32, Grady 31 (The closest game of the entire weekend!)
What the Numbers Don't Tell You
People look at these nm hs football scores and see numbers, but I see the end of eras. Jordan Hatch is graduating. Peanut Chavarria is heading off to the next level. The landscape in 2026 is going to look completely different because the star power is shifting.
Take Los Alamos, for example. They didn't win the title, but Jordan Herrera led the state with 2,224 rushing yards and 218 total points. He was a one-man wrecking crew. When you see a Los Alamos score of 35-14, you have to realize that 30 of those points usually came off Herrera's feet. If you're a scout and you aren't looking at these rural New Mexico box scores, you're missing out on some of the best talent in the Southwest.
Also, can we talk about the 6-Man final? Logan 32, Grady 31. One point. One single point decided a year's worth of 5:00 AM practices and two-a-days in the August heat. That score is the purest distillation of New Mexico sports. It’s hard, it’s isolated, and it comes down to who wants it more in the final thirty seconds.
Looking Toward the 2026 Season
The off-season is already here, even though the pads haven't been cold for long. If you're following the NMAA (New Mexico Activities Association) updates, you know the realignment talk is already brewing.
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- Watch the Transfer Portal: It's hitting the high school level now. Keep an eye on the Albuquerque metro schools.
- Coaching Changes: With some big names retiring after the 2025 run, the power vacuum in 5A is going to be fascinating to watch.
- The Rise of the North: For a long time, the south (Artesia, Las Cruces) owned this state. But with Bloomfield and Cleveland's recent runs, the power has shifted North. Can the southern schools reclaim it in 2026?
If you want to stay ahead of the curve for next season, stop just looking at the final scores on Saturday morning. Dig into the passing leaders and the defensive stats. When you see a kid like Denton Walter from Las Cruces racking up 197 tackles in a season, you realize that the nm hs football scores are often a result of one or two kids playing like their lives depend on it.
The best way to prep for the 2026 kickoff is to look at the junior varsity rosters of the top four teams from this year. The dynasties in New Mexico aren't built on luck; they're built on a pipeline of talent that starts in middle school. Keep your eyes on the NMAA brackets as they get released in October 2026, but for now, let those championship scores sink in. They represent the peak of New Mexico prep sports.
Actionable Next Steps: Check the final 2025 All-State rosters once they are officially ratified by the New Mexico High School Coaches Association. Use those lists to identify the returning starters for your local team so you know who to watch during the 2026 preseason scrimmages in August.