The Española Valley High School Sundevils played three football games in March and April, and all three they lost in a mercy rule. Combined, opponents outscored them 160-6.
But they noticeably kept their spirits up the entire year. Even when down 40 points against teams with players twice their size and with far more experience, the Sundevils could be seen cheering on the bench and fighting for every yard.
And the advantage of having a team full of freshman is that they return stronger for the following season.
The Española football team will look to rebound after a tough year in a bizarre pandemic-shortened spring season, and bring back a group of young players looking for on-field success this fall.
“A lot of them feel like, this year there’s going to be a season,” said coach Santiago Archuleta, as he goes into his second year with the team. “You’re seeing a lot more excitement.”
Throughout practices, coaches will point toward the western mountains and count down the days until Los Alamos comes to Española to start the season Aug. 20. They point out a feeling that those on top of the hill look down on the Valley, both literally and metaphorically.
“Los Alamos has beaten us forever,” Archuleta said. “That’s the one team we really want to beat. I don’t like losing to Los Alamos.”
“They’re all tired of hearing about Los Alamos,” said defensive assistant coach Daniel Haymes. “They’re ready to bring some pain and win.”
Adding to this year’s difficulties, though, junior Nate Chacon, who played quarterback for the team last year, fractured his ankle in basketball practice.
The Sundevils will likely turn to sophomore Adrick DeLeon, who played some snaps at the position last year.
“It’s important, it’s a big role,” DeLeon said. “I need to focus up.”
“I was already in the process of developing him as a QB,” Archuleta said. “But now he’s going to have to step up.”
Archuleta also pointed to freshman lineman Leandro Salazar, who started last year as an eighth-grader, as a strong player with talent, and said they are already considering bringing in college recruiters to look at him.
Light attendance
Española will get around 15 in attendance at a summer practice, largely freshman and sophomores. Some will come to some practices when they can find time or for weightlifting, and Archuleta expects another group to start after school begins Aug. 9 and he can recruit students in person.
“We still have a lot of guys who are playing for the first time,” Archuleta said. “So we’re kind of having to ease them into it. I think last year was a good opportunity for the young guys to get some experience without so much pressure on them. I think they came back really confident.”
Archuleta also wants to keep a strong middle-school program to feed into the High School.
Those numbers, though, are far less than other programs. Pojoaque, for example, has 52 players already listed on their online varsity roster.
Juan Aldaz, a center and one of the only seniors on the team, has high expectations to try to win every game this year, and is prepared for anything to happen, but said he wants to focus on helping the underclassmen before he graduates.
He said he wants to bring all of the positive things from last year, and leave everything negative in the past.
“Just kind of feeling that it’s my last year, and this is the best way to end it off,” Aldaz said.
Early days
Archuleta starts the practices at 6:30 a.m. during the week, a tough ask for any high school boy. That gives them the opportunity to work out in the cool early morning before the sun beats down on the Valley in the afternoon. Archuleta said it was also important to create a team mentality of waking up, eating breakfast and lunch, and working out in practice to stay healthy.
At the same time, though, he will lower the physical expectations on players during practice, saying that he would rather a freshman stay on the team for four years than quit after their first day.
“We’ve got a lot of young faces who are excited to play,” Archuleta said. “They look at me and go, ‘Coach, I don’t know what to do.’ But hey, they’re here, and that’s awesome.”
And given the delay in starting the season after the beginning of 2020’s summer workouts, the football team has in some ways been practicing almost nonstop for over a year. Archuleta said they cannot push as hard for fear of injuries or burning out players before the season even begins.
Archuleta said they will work to install more offensive systems after working with a very limited package last year.
The football players participate in the program’s ‘Bigger, Faster, Stronger” workout program, which involves timed runs on the track or in the bleachers, and then routines in the weight room.
Archuleta was excited about the group of skill-position players in the program, which he said was almost completely absent from the team last year.
The Sundevils will participate in a 7-on-7 scrimmage in Taos on July 23 as part of their summer workouts, Archuleta said.
Archuleta also pointed to another important game against Robertson on the road Sept. 17. The Cardinals have traditionally been one of the strongest 3A teams, but he thinks they can compete and win.
“We have a lot of strong teams in the beginning (of the year’s schedule),” Archuleta said. “If we can at least maintain those games, put up a good fight, that’ll really put us on the right foot for districts. I feel like our regular schedule is stronger than our district schedule.”
The Sundevils are also looking to fill two assistant coaching positions, Archuleta said, and for as many high schoolers to play as he can find.