A local high school football coach is trying to change the way the post-season All-Star games are selected by adding a new game just for the 6-man and 8-man teams.
The all star games run under the auspices of the New Mexico High School Coaches Association and honor outstanding seniors across the state, with large schools in Classes 4-6 playing in one and all the other classes playing in the other.
But these leave the smallest-school players at a distinct disadvantage in getting selected, Escalante coach Carlos Casados said.
“This game combines four classes into one game and the result is a huge disadvantage to 6/8-man-school athletes,” he wrote. “There (are) a minimum number of required 6/8-man-school athletes that are included in the game, however, those numbers are so small, being four and five respectively, the 6/8-man schools are severely under-represented. For example, the roster size of the all-star game for 2024 was 80 players split between two teams. Of those 80 players, only approximately 20% were from 6/8 man schools combined.”
This year, the games, which include several days of practice beforehand, are set for Dec. 6-8 in Artesia.
Casados said he’s tried to produce an independent “pilot” game for this season that the coaches association board of directors could use as a data point, but there has been some push-back. He has raised sponsorship money and completed many of the critical tasks to produce the game.
But efforts to secure officials for the game have not succeeded, he said, and there is a false rumor circulating that participating players would be ineligible to play in any other sports this school year, Casados said.
“We’re not sure where it is coming from but it’s an effort to keep our game held back from taking place,” Casados wrote.
Angel Castillo, coaches association executive director, who was named to the position in the spring, following the death of longtime NMHSCA leader Buster Mabrey, said he has not been involved in any kind of start-up game for the small schools.
“There was a proposed independent game, but it has to be voted on as an action item by the board and it just didn’t make it that far,” Castillo said. “Buster passing and the transition and we got caught in the middle of a large coaches association summer clinic, that took a back seat in this crucial time of transition in terms of me taking over.”
As for officials for an independent game, Castillo said, “I don’t deal with the officials.”
But Casados said the small schools athletes simply are not getting their due recognition.
“There is a current negative attitude that the coaches from 6/8-man schools have in regards to the format and selection process of this all-star game,” Casados wrote. “Many 6/8-man coaches do not even nominate players because they know there is an extremely small chance of them being chosen. From experience, 6/8-man players are overlooked during the selection process. Many larger-school coaches have little to no experience or knowledge of the 6/8-man players.”
What’s more, he wrote, is small-sided football is vastly different in that the field is narrower, there are different alignments and different rules for the players to follow. And that leaves the small-school players struggling to adapt to a game with which they are unfamiliar.
“Positions are not alike when compared to an 11-man game,” Casados said. “Offensive and defensive schemes vary drastically. Many athletes are overlooked on this basis alone. Many 6-man athletes have experience with playing 8-man because they may scrimmage or play teams from both 6-man and 8-man programs, often running both types of games in a single season.”
The proposal first surfaced in December 2024 as a discussion item and Castillo said the board is certainly interested in moving forward with it, but just not this season. Mabrey’s lingering illness, during which he was hospitalized before his passing, as well as the delay in naming Castillo as his successor, led to an awkward period of uncertainty within the organization that slowed down many aspects of any new business.
“The board is looking at it, trying to get everything in line to make sure all the channels of bringing a game like that together are correct,” he said. “We’re going to put together a group to come up with a proposal that can go before the board as an action item and something to be voted on. We want to make sure it’s a longstanding and successful game.”