Cavemen Battle No. 5 Volcano Vista

By Don Eskins

After reeling off three straight wins, the Carlsbad Cavemen, off to their best start in several years, tasted defeat for the first time this season on Friday night, September 11, in Las Cruces.

In the City of Crosses, Carlsbad High dropped a tough 35-7 ballgame to the Centennial Hawks.

The loss dropped Carlsbad to 3-1 on the year and 0-1 in District 2/6A play, as it was their 2026 conference inaugural.

As a result of their loss, CHS has been ranked eighth by MaxPreps this week, September 13-20, two notches down from last week.

The Cavemen will get an opportunity to right their ship and pick up their first district win of the season against the Class 6A fifth-ranked Volcano Vista Hawks on Friday night, September 18, in Carlsbad. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

The Face Off

Following their disappointing 35-7 loss to Centennial, picking up their fourth win of the season against the fifth-ranked Volcano Vista Hawks looks to be a stiff challenge for the Cavemen.

With three shutouts under their belts and a scoring average of 44 points per outing, the Hawks are on a roll.

En route to their unblemished record, 4-0, Volcano Vista has defeated American Heritage Academy 51-0, Cibola 33-0, La Cueva 42-31, and Clovis 50-0.

But despite their loss to Centennial and the prospect of facing another Class 6A Goliath, Cavemen head coach Cale Sanders said his charges are ready to meet the challenges ahead.

“Falling to Centennial 35-7 was disappointing for all of us, players and coaches alike. We just didn’t execute well enough against a very good Class 6A football team,” said Sanders.

“But we do have several new starters in our lineup, and I think some of them were a bit surprised by the level of play they saw in Las Cruces. They’ll get to see it again against Volcano Vista, a really good team that could easily be the second-best team in Class 6A,” he said.

“On the field, Volcano Vista is very similar to Centennial. No doubt, they’ve seen our game film and will try to do the same type of things to us that Centennial did,” said the CHS coach. “But, we’ve had a week to address the problems we had in Las Cruces, so we’ll be prepared and ready to compete with them.”

The Matchups

The Cavemen, in an effort to get their offense moving again after accumulating just 143 yards against Centennial, will be looking to offensive leaders Marley Munoz, quarterback, Brock Wright, running back, and receivers Jaxson Duarte and Jaden Harper, for points.

Through four games, Munoz, having completed 36 of 75 passes, has thrown for 470 yards and five TDs with no interceptions. He’s also carried the ball 57 times for 334 yards and six touchdowns. Wright, with the ball in his hands, has rambled for 361 yards and three TDs on 69 carries.

At the wideout spots, Duarte has hauled in 17 receptions for 218 yards and four TDs, while Harper has reeled in nine catches for 130 yards and a touchdown.

Key offensive players for Volcano Vista have been junior quarterback Jude Herrera, sophomore running back J. Gonzales, and senior receivers A. Wiley and J. McCary, along with junior Z. Ward.

Behind center, Herrera has completed 49 passes on 77 attempts for 871 yards and 12 touchdowns with five interceptions. He’s also run the ball 24 times for 87 yards and four TDs.

Taking handoffs from Herrera, Gonzales has run for 174 yards on 32 carries. He scored four times.

At the receiver spots, Wiley has 21 catches for 338 yards and two TDs, McCary has 13 catches for 273 yards and five TDs, and Ward has nine catches for 174 yards and four TDs.