Cavemen Defense Throws a Change Up

kmarksteiner0

Aug 5

3 min read

By Don Eskins

As Carlsbad well knows, the Cavemen football team took a significant step forward during 2025. Posting an overall record of 6-6, becoming a player in the state playoffs once again, logging a victory in the first round of the state tournament for the first time in 15 years, and closing out the season as Class 6A’s eighth-ranked team were all positive movements forward for CHS.

In the Cavemen’s effort to take another step forward in 2026, shoring up the defensive side of the football has become a priority.

“Offenses are a lot different today than they’ve been in the past. They’re set up to make you guess wrong, and they’re going to pick up yards,” said Cavemen head coach Cale Sanders. “Like most other teams around the state, we’ll be giving up some yards this season. What we hope to do, though, is to minimize them and hope that we can put up more points on the scoreboard than our opponents.”

And how will this year’s version of Cavemen defense attempt to minimize opponents’ total yardage?

“We’ll have a different look with lots of movement,” said Sanders. “On the backside, we’ll be more complex.”

Defense and the Players

The Cavemen will be banking on senior linebacker Colton McKibben to bolster this year’s defense.

“At 6’3” and 225 lbs., Colton, a Class 6A First Team All-Stater in 2025, is a once-in-a-decade type of kid to come through our program. Because he’s so physically talented, people try to schematically take him out of a play,” said the Cavemen coach. “This season, we’ll be trying to free him up so he can go out and make plays, to be Colton.

“In order to make that happen, we’ll be attempting to scheme him into every play, a scheme that doesn’t allow our opponents to get an extra man on him,” said Sanders. “Understandably, for us to be able to do that will take the efforts of a lot of unselfish players, and we have them.”

Surrounding McKibben will be six other returning Cavemen, who’ll help make up the nucleus of this year’s defensive effort. They are 2025 All-Stater junior defensive nose tackle Sean Cruz, senior defensive end Isaiah Gaitan, junior linebacker Trey Barta, junior linebacker Juan Rubio, senior safety/cornerback Lennon Ananins, and senior safety Damian Valencia.

“These young men all played key roles in our run to state last year. They’re all great kids, and we’ll be leaning on them a lot to help us shore up our defense,” said the Cavemen boss. “As we’ll still have some young and inexperienced players on the field as well, we’ll also be counting on them for leadership.”

The Cavemen will have one more big change in this year’s defensive look. Assuming the role of Cavemen defensive coordinator will be Kaden Merrell. Last year, CHS’s new DC served as an assistant Defensive Coordinator and linebacker coach for the Eastern New Mexico University Greyhounds.

“Kaden has a rich background in football. Growing up in a household with a father who is a football coach, and having worked in several other successful programs, he’s well-versed in our game,” said Sanders. “He’s patient, quiet, and our kids have all gravitated toward him.

“Kaden has taken the things he’s liked best from the programs he’s worked in and put them together in a defensive package that fits well for us,” said the Cavemen coach. “Our kids have all bought into what he’s doing and couldn’t be more excited about kicking off the new season. We’re very lucky to have him.”

As probably all Cavemen fans already know, in kicking off the new season, CHS couldn’t be matched up against a tougher opponent. On August 21, under the Friday night lights of the Bulldog Bowl, the Cavemen will take on Artesia once again, the Class 5A defending state champion. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

Tough Race for D2/6A Crown

Grabbing a district title won’t be an easy task for any of the eight teams comprising this year’s newly formed District 2/6A. Six of them (Las Cruces, Hobbs, Centennial, Volcano Vista, Carlsbad, and Eldorado) have all been ranked among the Class 6A’s top 10 teams in the MaxPreps 2026 pre-season poll.

The following is a look at this year’s MaxPreps Poll and all of the eight teams making up this year’s District 2/6A, which includes Carlsbad.

Cavemen fans will probably notice that Alamogordo, a District 3/6A team in 2025, alongside Carlsbad, was not included in this year’s conference shakeup. Also, new to Carlsbad’s conference will be Volcano Vista and Eldorado.

MaxPreps Pre-Season

Class 6A Top 10

1. Cleveland

2. Las Cruces

3. Hobbs

4. La Cueva

5. Centennial

6. Volcano Vista

7. Rio Rancho

8. Carlsbad

9. Sandia

10. Eldorado