Cavemen 2025 Grid Schedule Looks Tough

By Don Eskins

Building a football program with one of New Mexico’s toughest schedules year in and year out does have its challenges. Having said that, the 2025 Carlsbad Cavemen appear to have their hands full once again.

However, regardless of how tough the schedule may be, Cavemen Head Football Coach Cale Sanders, now in his third year, appears to have CHS’s football program moving in the right direction.

During Sanders’ inaugural season, 2023, the Cavemen closed out the year at 2-8. Last year, his sophomore season, they finished 4-6. With a bit of luck, they could have easily finished at 6-4. Two of their losses, a 41-40 overtime decision to Organ Mt. and a 47-44 loss to Lovington, were close ones.

Victories for CHS came at the hands of Goddard 45-22, Cibola 35-6, Clovis 56-8, and Alamogordo 26-21. Defeats, besides their narrow losses to Organ Mt. and Lovington, came via Artesia 44-7, Las Cruces 30-12, Centennial 35-13, and Hobbs 28-19.

Of the four Class 5A teams on Carlsbad’s 2024 schedule, three of them—Artesia, Lovington, and Goddard—closed out the season ranked in the top 10. In Class 6A, Centennial, Las Cruces, and Hobbs also finished the year ranked in the top 10.

From the looks of things, CHS’s 2025 schedule is shaping up to look about the same as last year’s, with one exception. The Goddard Rockets, year in and year out, one of Class 5A’s premier teams, are expected to be a much-improved ball club.

“Although we have made an adjustment or two on our schedule over the past two years, it’s still a gauntlet for our kids,” said Sanders. “But it is what it is, and no matter how tough our schedule may look, our kids, just as they were last year, are ready to play.”

505 Football Hub’s 2025 Pre-Season Class 6A Top 20 Rankings: 1. Cleveland, 2. La Cueva, 3. Centennial, 4. Las Cruces, 5. Volcano Vista, 6. Hobbs, 7. Los Lunas, 8. Rio Rancho, 9. Eldorado, 10. Piedra Vista, 11. West Mesa, 12. Farmington, 13. Sandia, 14. Carlsbad, 15. Organ Mt., 16. Albuquerque High, 17. Alamogordo, 18. Cibola, 19. Atrisco Heritage, and 20. Santa Fe.

The Cavemen will open up the new season against the Artesia Bulldogs, Class 5A’s runner-up in 2024, on Friday night, August 22.