From the end of the season, football all-district teams were announced in recent weeks. And those teams featured plenty of players from local football teams in big and small schools.
Española Valley’s Adrick DeLeon was, very unsurprisingly, the District 2-4A offensive player of the year after a season where he rushed for 1,887 yards and 31 touchdowns, marks that rank third and second in the state. Nick Sandoval was the district defensive player of the year while constantly disrupting opposing run games.
The Sundevils had 11 players make the all-district first team: DeLeon and fellow running back Jack Purdy, offensive linemen Leandro Salazar and EJ Martinez, Kevin Coffeen at both wide receiver and linebacker, defensive linemen Adam Garcia, Jose Castillo and Sandoval at defensive line, Ezekial Cuevas at linebacker, Abraham Tamayo at defensive back and kicker Andres Valenzuela.
Pojoaque had four on the first team: running back Jonah Villegas, offensive lineman Isaiah Martinez, linebacker Matthew Romero and defensive back Zeke Villegas.
On the second team for Pojoaque: quarterback Ethan Meloy, offensive lineman Marcus Sandoval, tight end AJ Talache, wide receivers Andrew Martinez and Killian Medina, Isaiah Martinez for defensive line, linebacker Corey Gonzales, and defensive backs Jonah Villegas and Joaquin Baca.
Española also had many on the second team, including quarterback Irvin Primero, Dylan Sandoval, offensive linemen Jesus Gonzales, Bryan Almedia and Matthew Martinez, Tamayo at wide receiver, Leonard Martinez and Emilio Baca on defensive line, and defensive backs Anthony Mendoza and Cody Coffeen.
Española’s Tylon Wilder was also named the district coach of the year.
And in 2A, Escalante’s Trey Archuleta was named the offensive player of the year after a season where he recorded over 1,400 rushing yards and 22 touchdowns. Plenty of players from Escalante and McCurdy were also named to the District 1/2/5-2A all-district team.
The first team included Escalante’s Trey Archuleta at quarterback and inside linebacker, Greysen Horan at tight end, Ramon Martinez on the offensive line, defensive line and punter, RJ Trujillo for secondary, and Marcelo Baeza for outside linebacker.
McCurdy had Jeremaya Roybal make the first team as both running back and secondary (though he played a run-first quarterback for most of the year), Lucas Martinez at both receiver and outside linebacker, Jacob Samaniego on the offensive line and Isaac Morales on the defensive line.
For the second team, Escalante’s Jeremiah Martinez was awarded at running back and defensive line, Baeza at receiver, Ezekiel Martinez on offensive and defensive line, Damon Emery for outside linebacker, and Tayshaun Toya, Damien Baeza and Stephen Vance for secondary.
Their honorable mentions included Damian Baeza at tight end, RJ Trujillo at receiver, offensive lineman Emery, Miguel Martinez, Kaden Iocca and Jerome Montoya, Jayden Salazar in secondary and defensive linemen Joel Valdez, Montoya and Miguel Martinez.
For McCurdy on second team: offensive linemen Mario Perez, Patrick Lovato and Isaac Madrid, Lovato at inside linebacker and Daniel Leyba for defensive line. Thomas Bolton was an honorable mention return specialist.