For the first time in seven years, the two high schools in Española will square off in a football game.
The McCurdy Bobcats will travel to Española Valley High School’s field on Sept. 2 to battle with the Sundevils.
With Española in the 4A classification and McCurdy in 2A, their schedules would rarely overlap.
They last played each other in 2014, with Española winning 54-6 to open a five-win season — McCurdy finished the year 2-8. They also played in season openers the two years prior, with McCurdy winning in overtime in 2013 (Española finished the year 1-9, McCurdy 4-5) and 54-18 in 2012 (Española went 2-9, McCurdy 8-3).
McCurdy’s football coach Robert Nevarez also acts as the school’s athletic coordinator, which gives him the advantage of picking his own schedule. He said he spoke on the phone with Española athletic director Matt Abeyta and found the matchup to work for both programs. As of now, they are unsure if this will be a one-time meeting or an ongoing matchup.
“I would like to see it continue,” Nevarez said.
But for now, Nevarez said, they are focusing only on week one.
Last year, a matchup between the two would likely have been close as the Sundevils struggled with all of their opponents. Santa Fe Indian School served as a common opponent: McCurdy lost on the road 40-34 while tied in the final three minutes. Española lost to the Braves at home, 24-14, after giving up the first 24 points of the game. Española finished the year ranked 84th in the state (out of 93 11-man teams from 2A to 6A) according to MaxPreps’ formula. McCurdy was 85th.
But if Española makes any sort of improvements from last year, they should expect an easy win over a school with about one-fifth the total enrollment.
Football is essentially the only sport where the two schools have any recent history of facing off.
McCurdy and Española met in an early-season baseball tournament in March, with the Sundevils winning 9-2. Before that, the most recent non-football varsity team sport where they faced was a 2014 softball game.
They have not played each other in basketball since 2011.
The Española Valley matchup is just the beginning of McCurdy’s difficult schedule. Every one of their non-district matchups is against a higher-classification team, and many good ones at that.
Coming off a 2-6 season in their first year under Nevarez and the program’s first year since 2018, McCurdy will start the year with a road game at Hope Christian — a team that reached the 3A quarterfinals last season. The next week comes another 3A quarterfinalist in New Mexico Military Institute. They also face 3A state tournament qualifiers in Cuba and Thoreau.
District season will add a new challenge with Santa Rosa entering the district, four years removed from a state title game appearance, replacing Estancia — who will now play in a district with southern schools.
“I like looking at programs that are good, quality programs,” Nevarez said. “If that’s the kind of program that we want, we have to play those kind of programs.”
Nevarez is excited for his second season at the helm, and down just three seniors from last year, the players are also raring to get started.
“Our weight room is literally bursting at the seams right now,” Nevarez said.