With only 10 players practicing, any little ripple can cause a big disturbance for the Dulce Hawks football team.
So when five players fell ill last week, the Hawks were forced to forfeit their Saturday 8-man football game against Questa.
Dulce did not practice Monday, but Escalante coach Carlos Casados confirmed Tuesday that Dulce (0-2) will be able to field a team Friday in Tierra Amarilla.
Hawks’ coach Lawry Johnson remains guardedly optimistic.
“We hope to have 13 or 14 players out (to practice) this week,” Johnson said. “When you only have 10 (players) it gets pretty close (to forfeiting a game) because you run a risk if two players get injured you are down to eight players with players playing out of position and they’re playing a position they’ve never played before. We had our center and a guard out (last week). By Thursday, we knew we didn’t have enough players. “
For Escalante, the Lobos have a sufficient number of players to field a team, but lost team leader Gumicindo DeYapp with a wrist injury on the third play of their 54-0 home loss to Roswell’s Gateway Christian.
“We lost Gumi with a dislocated wrist and he’s out for the season,” Casados said. “It was a rocky night from there.”
The Lobos lost five fumbles and that’s after losing four fumbles in a 46-30 loss at Tatum to open the season.
“We have to learn to hold on to the football,” Casados said.
Hopefully, Escalante will play Friday and improve on those turnover woes. Illness adversely affected the Lobos, too, as starter R.J. Atencio was recovering from strep throat. Casados expects Atencio at close to full strength against the Hawks.