Tiger and Eagle football players named to All-State, Metro teams

 

The New Mexico High School Coaches Association recently announced its All-State and All-Metro teams for the 2021 football season, and Los Lunas and Belen both had players named to each.

The 5A State Champion Los Lunas Tigers quarterback Paul Cieremans was named All-Metro Player of the Year by the NMHSCA, while head coach Greg Henington took home All-Metro Coach of the Year honors.

Cieremans led the way for the Tigers this past season, throwing for 1,350 yards and 20 touchdowns while adding 1,550 yards and 20 more touchdowns rushing the ball.

Cieremans also was awarded the New Mexico High School Football Quarterback of the Year Award by NMPreps.com, which covers high school sports for the nationwide rivals.com network.

Henington led the Tigers to their first ever state championship in football in his first season as head coach at LLHS. The Tigers finished with a 13-0 record during the 2021 season.

Aside from being named the All-Metro Player of the Year, Cieremans was also named to the NMHSCA’s All-State and All-Metro first teams.

Los Lunas had 17 players named on either the All-State first, second or honorable mention teams.

On the All-State first team are Cieremans, receiver Emilio Mora III, center Jasiah Baca, offensive lineman Braden Castillo, offensive and defensive lineman Mikkel Beltran, inside linebacker Miguel Andrade, inside linebacker Zander Doyle, outside linebacker Eric Aragon, defensive back Aiden Pairett, defensive back Darryn Romero and kicker Kaden Bell.

Named to the All-State second team from Los Lunas are linebacker Gavyn Fredrickson, receiver Fabian Tujillo, defensive back Nicholas Torres, and defensive end Marlon Cruz.

Defensive back Dominic Trujillo and offensive lineman Casey Herrell were both named to the All-State Honorable Mention team for LLHS.

On the All-Metro side of the awards, Cieremans, Baca, Doyle, Cruz, Eric Aragon and defensive lineman Cody Gonzalez were named to the first team.

Bell, Beltran, Fredrickson, Andrade and Nicholas Torres were named to the All-Metro second team along with Mora III and Fabian Tujillo.

For the Belen Eagles, they landed two players on the All-State teams and had six players named to the All-Metro teams for 2021.

For All-Metro honors, Brody Jaquez was named as All-Metro Defensive Player of the Year for 2021. Jaquez had 75 tackles during the season, 33 of those were tackles for loss, he also piled up 15 sacks during the regular season.

Jaquez was also named to the All-Metro offensive and defensive first teams.

Joining him on the first teams is safety Elijah Romero, offensive lineman Bobby Orona and running back Sam Tibbs.

Tibbs had 740 yards rushing this season with eight touchdowns.

Offensive lineman Adam Aguilar and running back Diego Avila were named to the All-Metro second team by the NMHSCA.

Jaquez was also named to the NMHSCA All-State first teams on both offense and defense, while Tibbs was named to the All-State second team on offense.