The weight room at Española Valley High School looks like a well-oiled machine.
Roughly 50 athletes run around in rhythm lifting, spotting, stretching and pushing their bodies to get stronger.
Where two or three years ago there might have been a dozen athletes, a full football team is working all summer long to try to beat the best and be the best as they start their summer workouts.
“It’s so different, the amount of energy there is,” senior Adrick DeLeon said. “Years before, no one would even want to go up. But now, people are stepping up.”
In the years since a magical 2015 run, winning was hard to come by in Española — they were 9-44 (8-45 not counting a forfeit) in the next six seasons. But under coach Tylon Wilder’s first season a year ago, Española energized the community with a 6-4 season. And they look to improve further with their sights set high.
“We’re going to make something good happen this year,” senior E.J. Martinez said.
Martinez and DeLeon are among the seniors who have been working hard for years, and seen the growth of the programs from its lowest lows to now, with about four times as many people out working in the summer. Now, they are prepared to lead the team to potentially new heights.
Assistant coach Rudy Martinez has been with the football team for 10 years, under a high share of different head coaches. He said that this year’s team has progressed further than the 2015 team had.
“Every kid that comes is pushing hard,” he said. “What happens is, the upperclassmen are teaching these kids our work ethic. So we’re going to have a program, a real program. From the junior high to the high school.”
Rudy Martinez said the organization and discipline in the team have motivated huge numbers to spend their hot summer days working hard in the weight room and on the football field.
Wilder said he is hoping to get even more students out on the football field as the summer continues, with 75 students signed up. He plans to have full varsity, junior varsity and middle school seasons.
“Expectations are high,” Rudy Martinez said. “I believe in this group of kids, and I truly believe we can have, minimum, seven to eight wins. And I think these kids believe that they can do that, too.”
The team is also motivated by the end of last season. After a 6-4 finish, the Sundevils were “snubbed” per Wilder from the postseason, likely due to their strength of schedule and a disappointing 55-point loss to Taos.
“Some of these kids have a chip on their shoulder, and they want to come out and prove that it wasn’t just a one-hit wonder,” Wilder said.
“Last year opened our minds to what hard work can do for us,” EJ Martinez said. “And now we see that when you put in hard work, success comes out of it. And that’s what’s motivating us here now.”
Española continues to be bolstered by a group of mainly linemen who made up the school’s powerlifting team. EJ Martinez won first place at the state championships, and fellow lineman Bryan Almedia was second and Leandro Salazar was third (skill player Jack Purdy also won first place in a smaller weight class).
“It gives us the strength,” EJ Martinez said. “But when it comes to football, speed is what we need.”
The Sundevils will adjust to life after the graduation of Nate Chacon, the three-year starting quarterback. Chacon was a pure passer with different strengths than anyone left on the roster. In his place, speedsters Adrick DeLeon, Alex Chavez and Victor Parra — all of whom were pushing 4.6 seconds in a 40-yard dash — should have the ball in their hands whether it is passing, running or receiving. (Though seven athletes were throwing passes at an early practice).
Wilder was coy when asked how the offense might look for the season.
“We’re going to look exactly the same,” Wilder said. “But different.”