The Pojoaque Valley football team this season just keeps checking off boxes when it comes to milestones.
With the Elks’ (5-4, 2-2 in District 2-3A) thrilling 19-16 comeback win Oct. 30 over West Las Vegas (4-6, 1-3), they secured back-to-back playoff appearances for the first time.
And more importantly, when playoff seeds were announced last week, Pojoaque landed at No. 4, meaning the Elks earned a first-round bye and a first-ever home game in the quarterfinals Friday at 6 p.m. against No. 5 New Mexico Military Institute (7-4), who are coming off a 48-7 win over No. 12 Wingate.
“We’ve done a lot of history,” Pojoaque coach Zeke Villegas said. “We started with the Robertson victory and now this is the first time we beat both Las Vegas teams. The best seed Pojoaque ever had was ninth.”
Still, Villegas said, the best is yet to come.
“We’re not done,” he said. “We’re really excited to go to the state playoffs as a fourth seed. I really feel like we’re a top four team and I’ve been telling you that since the beginning of the season.”
Now it’s up to the Elks to take care of business.
“We’ve never made it past the quarterfinals, so there’s still some stuff we can take care of,” he said. “We should have been 3-1 in district, but 2-2 is the first time we’ve done that in the toughest district in 3A.”
The Elks’ surge, however, has been a process, Villegas said.
“It’s taken a few years to turn the program around,” he said. “I feel like we’re a little ahead of where we expected to be. But, we’re exactly where we should be. But it’s not just this year. We’ve been building up for this year. Every year, we’ve gotten better. Every year, we accomplished what we needed to. They are a very good team. But people have been against these guys all year and this has been a drive to really show what we’re all about.”
The players are looking forward to shining in a playoff atmosphere at their home stadium where they are 4-0 this season.
“I think it’s going to be crazy,” Elks running back Jonah Villegas said. “We have a large crowd for big games like this. It will be great for us to have the home field advantage for sure. We just need to be confident and go into this game fearing nothing and finish all four quarters.”
The Elks have galvanized the greater Pojoaque community, as well, he said.
“I think people are pretty excited for our game,” Zeke Villegas said. “A few people were asking me where we’re ranked. They’re just excited and to want to come out and watch. I think that’s pretty cool. People from town want to watch us. We did start at the bottom so it’s pretty cool to be the foundation.”
Dual-threat quarterback Josh Gonzales said the team is excited about the chance to perform in the playoffs at home.
“I think it’s going to be great, because everyone that’s been coming all year and maybe we’ll get even more people out. I feel like a lot of people will show up,” he said. “I love just playing in front of our fans. Away games, we still have our fans, but our student section has been great this year and they don’t go to the road games. But they’ve been there all year at home, so I think we should be undefeated.”
Even the coach is excited about it.
“It’s already been a great feeling,” he said. “You could feel the energy from the kids. Everybody is really excited about hosting our first playoff game. Just being at home is an advantage for us since we’re 4-0. Another thing, the kids have played really well at home. Crowds have been big, but I’m looking forward to having a really big crowd Friday night.”
The Elks will rely on their ability to break big plays either running the ball behind Gonzales, Zeke Villegas, D’Marcus Rodriguez and Jaden Leyba-Moya, while Gonzales will be looking to hook up with Joaquin Baca and Leyba-Moya through the air.
“We feel like we can attack on the short passing game,” Zeke Villegas said. “And I believe we can take some shots downfield. We can still run the ball against them. This year, unlike past years, we’re a 60-40 split for the run so whenever we need to go to one, we can, and when we need to go back to the other, we feel comfortable we can do that.”
Still, it’s the running game that keys the offense, he said.
“A lot of the run is to set up to play-action passing, with a lot of misdirection, Zeke Villegas said. “It’s all pretty much connected. We’ll come out in our base and feel them out in the first quarter. That’s what we branch out of and how we call the rest of the game. We can go under center, pistol, spread shotgun. We can do all three. What we feel we’re going to get most the explosive plays.”
The Colts are primarily a rushing team, amassing nearly 1,300 yards on the ground on the season, which is far below the Elks’ total of 1,700. Gonzales has chucked for almost 1,100 yards, while NMMI only has 352 yards through the air. Baca himself has 19 catches for 526 yards and seven touchdowns.
But Gonzales knows where the game will really be won or lost.
“It’s more up to our line, getting them pumped and they just are leading the way for all of us like they’ve been doing all season,” he said. “They give me and the running backs room to run and time to pass. It starts with the blocks first and our athletes will be athletes after that. We’re getting to play our first home playoff game. We already got farther than we got last year. We win this and then get to the semifinals for the first time ever. People don’t how the hard work it took to get us here. But now the atmosphere of it, well it’s win or go home and no one want to go home yet.”