LC Mayfield Defeats Franklin 44-42 In An Epic Battle

Las Cruces Mayfield proved why they are one of the elite teams in the state of New Mexico by knocking off 1-5A powerhouse Franklin 44-42 at the Field Of Dreams.The game was a seesaw back and forth offensive battle that featured non stop scoring by both teams.  The Cougars struck first by taking advantage of an early Mayfield fumble as running back Nickolas Bingham ran for an 18 yard touchdown.  The lead was short lived as Franklin QB Cameron Candelaria threw an interception that was returned 10 yards for the Mayfield defensive score.

By the end of the first quarter Mayfield built a 14-7 lead off of a 27 yard QB keeper for a touchdown by quarterback Kavika Johnson.  Franklin fell behind 21-7 early in the second quarter as Candelaria threw his second pick 6 of the game, this time it was returned 98 yards for the defensive touchdown for Mayfield.

After two costly Candelaria interceptions he settled down and threw an 80 yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Aaron Smith.  Smith had the game of his life finishing with 353 receiving yards and 4 touchdown receptions.  Towards the end of the 4th quarter Franklin was able to get within 2 points of Mayfield as Candelaria found his bread and butter wide receiver Aaron Smith again.

In the end Mayfield's defense was too much for the Cougars to handle as Candelaria threw an interception with just over 2 minutes remaining in the contest as Franklin was driving for the potential winning score.  Mayfield has been successful in the past two weeks by defeating 1-5A powerhouses El Dorado and Franklin.  Both contests were close and their kicker Jessie Jimenez was clutch in the two contests.  Last night he made a 50 yard FG late in the 4th quarter to put Mayfield up 44-35.

This was rather significant because the Trojans beat Franklin by 2 points.  Mayfield will travel to face Carlsbad next Friday.  Franklin will host Andress and attempt to avoid beginning the season 0-3.