PICTURED: The 2025 Bulldog seniors pose for a photo Wednesday morning at Bulldog Bowl.
(All Photos by Artesia Bulldog Paw Prints)
How do you respond to pressure?
The Artesia Bulldogs are a bit more familiar with that question than most. No matter the sport, no matter the circumstance, when you've experienced notable success, you're in everyone's sights. Beating the best gives a team confidence, hope, bragging rights, belief. In the playoffs, it's an instant game-changer for all involved. In a championship game, it's the highest form of motivation.
So what gives the best their belief?
No one who truly loves high school football would argue that a title game in the City of Champions is an event like no other. The elements are familiar: the Dog Pile, the Victory Lane, the orange flags along Main Street, and the portraits in downtown shop windows. At Seventh and Main, a bronze Bulldog statue has recently been given a bright-orange makeover for the occasion. At Bulldog Bowl, the program's history looms as large as the stadium itself, trophies and footballs representing the numbers the state has been talking about all week: 40 state game appearances, 32 titles, second in the nation -- and first in modern history -- in number of championships won.
But while everyone talks about the trappings, only Artesians realize what they truly represent. The business owner arriving bright and early to place that orange flag. The Parents and Boosters hauling watermelons to the practice field on hot August days. The Quarterback Club members meeting their "sons" at local restaurants each week. The students pulling the Victory Bell along the track following each touchdown, the "old-timers" who've held claim to their seats since 1967, every child who excitedly looks for a player to high-five before returning to the stands after the Dog Pile.
Big Orange Offense
Many hands raised every blue trophy in the case at the Bowl triumphantly into the air. Many eyes watched as Reggie Phillips leaned precariously out of the press box to add the next football to its face. Thousands of boys wriggled their small frames into football pads together for the first time as teammates at Zia Intermediate, learned the game together as friends at Park Junior High, fought together for a chance to raise the One as brothers at Artesia High School.
So the short answers? You respond to pressure together. And what gives the best their belief is each other.
Community is what fuels Artesia's success -- individuals working as one. During a week dedicated to gathering to reflect on what's important, Artesians will gather for a second time Saturday at Bulldog Bowl to support a group of young men with a dream. Those young men will gather in the locker room one more time before walking down the championship ramp and into the best of atmospheres.
"We don't like using that word 'last,'" head coach Jeremy Maupin said Wednesday. "The big message this week is 'best.' It's our best opportunity, it's gotta be our best practice, our best game."
The Bulldogs take nothing for granted. There's no such thing as resting on your laurels when you're guaranteed to get everyone's "A" game, but the past three AHS football teams have never known a Thanksgiving week in which leftovers weren't immediately followed by a championship game. Artesia will be competing in its fifth consecutive title tilt Saturday, and for Maupin -- who returned to his alma mater in 2021 from Los Lunas -- that streak is seven.
"I don't mean this to sound cocky at all, but thinking about it, this has just become normal life now," said the coach. "The only year my family has had a different last week of November since I've been a head coach was the COVID year. It's just like hey, we're staying here for Thanksgiving, we're spending the week practicing football. It really is the funnest week of the year."
Orange Crush Defense
Buckshot Offense
Another trend that will be continuing is the matchup. For the third straight season, the Artesia Bulldogs and Roswell High Coyotes will be vying for Class 5A blue. The 'Dogs defeated the Coyotes 35-21 in 2023 at Bulldog Bowl before falling to Roswell when the boys in red won the program's eighth championship in 2024 at Wool Bowl, 41-22. As district opponents, that makes six meetings in three years for AHS and RHS, and it goes without saying that there's little to nothing the two don't know about one another at this stage.
"It's kind of all about finding a balance between some of the things that went well last time and making sure that you add some new wrinkles and some new things so it's not the exact same game plan you had last time," said Maupin. "They're not the same team they were, so that's nice because it automatically lets you change some of the things you're wanting to do."
The Bulldogs took the pair's District 2-AAAAA outing this year by a final of 42-28 at Wool Bowl. Both squads got their share of offensive yards, with Artesia racking up 488 -- despite being whistled 11 times for 120 penalty yards -- to Roswell's 354. In the previous two seasons, the Coyotes took the district bouts, 44-40 in 2024 and 29-8 in 2023.
"Just kind of guessing, I think they're probably the ones thinking they have to change things up this time more than we do," Maupin said. "We've been in that situation the last two years, getting beat by them in the regular season and then playing them again in the championship. You end up feeling like you have to change a bunch of things, so it's going to be interesting to see what they come out in."
Field Goal Unit
Punt Unit
Punt Return Unit
Kickoff Unit
Kickoff Return Unit
Bulldog senior quarterback Derrick Warren completed 20 of 33 passes for a whopping 324 yards and six touchdowns Oct. 17 against Roswell High. To date, Warren has thrown for more than 2,600 yards and 37 touchdowns. Senior running back Bryce Parra was just shy of 100 yards rushing versus the Coyotes and has since brought his ground total to 1,217 yards on the season, while on the receiving end, senior Trent Egeland -- who's 47-675 on the year -- caught eight passes for 154 yards and three touchdowns, Parra was 4-128 and two scores, and senior Jack Byers -- Artesia's leading receiver with 38 catches for 698 yards -- went 4-44.
For the Coyotes, senior QB Luke Lynn stands at 124-190 for 1,628 yards and 14 touchdowns thus far this year and was 10-22 for 194 and two touchdowns versus Artesia. Roswell's ground game is led by sophomore back Luis Rodriguez -- 68-672 on the year, 18-113 against the Bulldogs -- and its receiving corps by junior Izaic Gonzales -- 35-473 on the season and 2-58 against Artesia -- and senior Noah Estrada -- 24-426 on the year, 4-67 versus the 'Dogs.
The 'Dogs were by no means gunning for revenge in that October outing, and that won't be a major motivating factor Saturday either. This year's edition of Artesia football is a bit of a different breed, affable and loose right up until they hit the field, laser focused the second they do.
"This group's almost goofy to a fault, where you're like, 'Are you guys taking this seriously?" Maupin laughed. "As a coach, you have to kind of adjust to it because they're just a fun group but still intense. You've got Charlie [Campbell], Jack, Trent, Derrick, all these guys that've played in so many championship games now that they're just kind of automatically ready. So it makes it really fun because you don't have to go crazy trying to get them to be intense or, on the other end, be trying to calm them down like you do with some teams that get TOO intense. It's just been kind of an even keel with these guys."
Simply put, the 2025 Bulldogs just love playing football together. More often than not, that dynamic allows everything else to fall into place. But the 'Dogs know there's one last piece of the puzzle on the table. The big picture doesn't require it to be placed. They'll go on from here with memories to last a lifetime, solid friendships, and the knowledge that their community was always behind them, win or lose. The ultimate goal, however, remains the same as it has been through generations in the City of Champions: to become the next set of hands to lift that trophy, together.
"We really anticipate a huge crowd, just that atmosphere you look for, where people are lined up outside and the whole town is ready to get behind these guys," Maupin said. "I know they're really excited, and they're ready to go."
Coaching Staff
PICTURED: The 2025 Artesia High School football coaching staff poses for a photo Wednesday morning at Bulldog Bowl. They are, from left, assistant coaches Max Rodriguez, Cory Saxon and Elvis Acosta, head coach Jeremy Maupin, and assistant coaches Taylor Null, Derek Montoya, Jackson Bickel and Tony Jaramillo.
Seven Questions with Seven Bulldogs
Bulldog Babies
Can you match these baby faces to the 2025 Bulldogs? At the link below, you'll find photos of this year's 35 seniors when they were just pups. If you're playing on PC, there'll be a zoom feature at the bottom right of the screen to give you a close-up. The names of this year's seniors will be numbered at the bottom of the page; just match the letters on each photo to the number of the player whose adorable face you think you're seeing! When you're finished, visit the second link for the answers.
Ready to guess?
Click here to play Can You Name These Bulldog Babies
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