#9OT high school football preview: Mayfield Trojans

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico (KTSM) — The Mayfield Trojans are ready to tackle the second year of the Gary Bradley era.

The 2024 season will mark Mayfield’s second campaign under the direction of head coach Gary Bradley.

Last season, the Trojans went 5-7 overall and 0-3 in District 4-5A play, losing to Roswell, Artesia, and Goddard in the regular season. In the playoffs, Mayfield beat Gadsden in the opening round before being eliminated in the 5A quarterfinals by Roswell, 50-0.

Bradley and the Trojans are aiming to take another step forward in 2024 and put together a solid season as experience will be one of this year’s team’s biggest strengths.

“One thing that we have is experience. Last year we were really young. Our seniors didn’t play a lot, the year before and then our juniors class stepped in and we had a big junior class who are now seniors this year,” Mayfield High School football head coach Gary Bradley said. “So, these guys have played a lot of football, a lot of varsity football. They got into the quarterfinals last year. So, the maturity level and the expectations are pretty high right now.”

This season, New Mexico’s class 5A is looking way different than years past. Re-classification put Mayfield in District 2-5A, an eight-team district that consists of: Artesia (the defending 5A state champ), Deming, Gadsden, Goddard, Lovington, Roswell, and Santa Teresa.

Along with facing all seven district opponents this season, Mayfield opens up its season with three tough non-district games as it faces off against rival Las Cruces High to start off on Friday, followed by games against West Mesa and Organ Mountain.

Mayfield returns 13 starters. Seven on offense and six on defense. Some key players to watch out for are QB/LB Luke Linnan, TE/DE Andy Garay, and WR/DB Zaiden Salcido.

Mayfield opens up its 2024 season with a huge game. The Trojans will take on in-city rival Las Cruces High on Friday at the Field of Dreams.

This is the first time in the history of the long-standing rivalry that the two schools will meet in the first game of the season, according to NMAA. Las Cruces leads the all-time series 30-29-1.

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