Despite tough times on the field, Dulce’s football team has consistently shown out in recent seasons, and looks to continue improving.
“We have a lot of tough kids,” first-year coach Lawry Johnson said. “We have a lot of grit. They work hard is the first thing I noticed.”
The Dulce Hawks enter their third season in the 8-man division, after seasons of 1-6 in 2022 and 3-6 in 2021. Over the past two seasons, the Hawks have been known for continuing to fight hard and show up for practice despite big losses against top teams from Southern New Mexico. This year, they hope to turn that into more wins.
Johnson takes over as the coach and as the school’s athletic director, replacing Brad Muniz. Johnson was last year an assistant at Zuni, who finished 1-9. He previously coached in Washington, where he is from. Johnson is a member of the Navajo Nation, with family from Window Rock, Ariz.
“I was mainly looking to get a head football coaching job,” Johnson said. “That kind of was my dream goal.”
While still playing 8-man football, Dulce’s schedule includes back-to-back trips to Logan and Melrose, both trips of over 300 miles. The next week, Tatum comes to visit from 400 miles away.
The Hawks will also face Questa, one of the closer 8-man teams. Last year, Questa was new to 8-man, and beat Dulce twice 56-40 and 62-30. Their September 1 matchup is Dulce’s homecoming.
Dulce had planned to try to jump back to 11-man football given the growth in their roster size the past two years, though Johnson was less committal. Johnson said that so far about 15 athletes have been coming to preseason practices, and they hope to grow the numbers further.
Last year, quarterback Bob Harrison, Jr. led the team as a senior, and junior Ivan Harrison was the backup.
Johnson said that senior Issak Reval has taken over at quarterback and is leading the team. And LJ Dixon expects to be a big contributor after moving from North Carolina.
“I could probably name all of them, they’re all going to be utilized,” Johnson said.
Before their August 25 opener at Navajo Pine, Dulce is working hard to prepare for the season.
“The kids are already being well conditioned, I think we’re going to be able to wear out some teams,” Johnson said. “A lot of the kids are picking up my kind of offense, and they’re learning it at a good pace. Right now, we could probably run a full game, we have enough plays in our playbook. We could go out and compete right now.”