The Pojoaque Valley High School Elks football team will be road warriors in 2022.
Pojoaque’s first home game is scheduled to be their eighth of the year, not until Oct. 14. All seven non-district games will be on the road, barring a change. Their schedule features plenty of strong opponents as they look to improve from last year’s 5-4 record.
Last year’s team won the most games since 2014, but was a disappointment for a roster that came in with hopes of contending for a state title.
Senior quarterback Adam Pacheco tweeted out a graphic with the team’s schedule on July 21, and the full schedule also appears on MaxPreps.
The season starts August 19 with a road game (surprise) to Socorro, a smaller 3A school (Pojoaque competes in 4A) but a state runner-up from last year. Week two could be even tougher, facing Bloomfield, the No. 2 seed in 4A in 2021 coming off a 10-2 year.
The schedule also includes road games against defending 3A champion Robertson, and 5A Highland who won a close game at Pojoaque last September. They will also play at Santa Fe Indian School, who they beat in Pojoaque 64-12 last year.
Pojoaque will face Los Alamos for the first time since 2019 on Sept. 16, and look to beat them for the first time since 2014.
A game against Eldorado, a 6A team that made the playoffs with a 7-4 record last year, disappeared from the team’s schedule posted on Maxpreps, a reprieve for Elks players.
The district schedule, in order, is an Oct. 14 home game against Moriarty, an Oct. 21 road game at Taos, and closing out the season by hosting Española Valley on Oct. 28.
Pojoaque comes into the year after graduating 12 players from last year’s senior class, including all-state players Dominic Esquibel, D’sean Martinez and Shawn Olivas. Pacheco will aim to take another step forward with a new receiving corps after finishing last year with 1,257 passing yards, 17 touchdowns and seven interceptions.