Football on red turf is going to look quite a bit different next year.
The number of players on the field was just cut down by 27%.
New district alignments were approved in a Nov. 29 New Mexico Activities Association Board of Directors meeting.
Football saw drastic changes to the districts, some good and some bad. Next year will bring big changes: many 3A teams are moving down to 2A, several new schools are playing with smaller teams, and districts in all classifications are being combined.
The biggest change for northern New Mexico: Escalante is heading down to 8-man football.
The storied program with three state titles will now compete with just eight players on a side. Their new district finds them against Clayton, Fort Sumner, Menaul and Questa.
The Lobos have had between roughly 15 and 20 players in recent years; coach Rico DeYapp said during their heyday they had about 40 players some years, but closer to 20 in others.
“At the end of the day, football’s football,” DeYapp said. “You gotta block and you gotta tackle”
But their competition might not be any easier. The best 8-man teams have turned themselves into beasts, and are used to the style of play it demands. Escalante, a historically run-first team, will have to learn to adapt to the passing style of play that the game often demands, both on offense and defense. And the players who grow up playing with 11 players per side will have to change when they reach high school.
However, the move puts Escalante on more of a level playing field. When they faced Eunice in the state tournament, I counted 50 players on the Cardinals’ sideline. That’s about as many boys as attend Escalante, total.
DeYapp said the community is optimistic about the change, which sees them face similar competition as when they won their state championships last decade. That’s true; the three other teams that were in the state tournament for Escalante’s last two title runs (Ft. Sumner, Hagerman, Questa) are all slated to be in 8-man.
McCurdy football might be the big winner in redistricting.
In their new district, made up of mostly northwest-area schools, McCurdy could come out ahead. While head coach and athletic director Robert Nevarez wouldn’t celebrate the change, they should be considered the immediate favorite in that district.
The full district slate is: Cuba, Hozho Academy, Laguna-Acoma, Navajo Prep and Newcomb. They defeated four of those five teams last year by 19 points or more; and they did not play Newcomb but the Skyhawks lost to all four of the other teams in the district.
They are more than lucky to escape the other districts, with southeast District 3 a behemoth.
Pojoaque Valley is moving from 4A to 3A. But their competition might not be any easier.
The Elks will move down just for football, and play in a Santa Fe/Las Vegas district. They are taking a new advantage that allows teams that have struggled in their win percentage to “play down” a level from their enrollment.
But the teams they face — Hope Christian, Robertson, Santa Fe Indian, West Las Vegas and defending champion St. Michael’s — might be as good or better than their old district.
Despite that, though, coach Zeke Villegas was excited about the change. He pointed out that they have a better chance to get a playoff spot given the competition outside the district, even if they finish fourth or fifth in the district.
It’s not clear at this point if the number of teams in each playoff will stay the same, if 12 of the now 15 schools in 4A will make it while just eight of 19 in 2A do.
Española Valley may have the toughest-sledding post-redistricting.
Football in 4A was split down the middle to create two giant districts. Española now faces Moriarty and Taos, along with Aztec, Bloomfield, Bernalillo, Grants and Kirtland Central. Several of those new teams are strong contenders that the Sundevils will have to face annually.
“It didn’t make anything any easier,” Wilder said.
That also means a big change in the schedule with seven, rather than three, district games. Travel is a good bit further now. And Wilder pointed out that scheduling teams in the other 4A district is tough since, with seven teams, they have an extra open week.
The Sundevils already have a tentative schedule in place, opening the season with 5A Los Alamos, then playing 2A Cuba (who is 3A in all other sports) with 5A Capital in week three.
Yep, that’s right. No Pojoaque Red vs. Green game next year.
There also aren’t any necessarily longtime rivals anywhere on the district slate. Española administration is still decided who to put in their final week.
Taos is a basketball rival, and could be a football rival. But their biggest battles in recent years have come with Moriarty.
Let’s suggest Bernalillo, who seems to often have a contentious game with Española, and isn’t that close to anyone else in the new district. You can get between the two high schools in just over an hour, but don’t speed! Especially when it’s snowing as I write this.
The Dulce Hawks make a change in joining a conference after a few years as an independent 8-man team. They’ll compete against Alamo Navajo, Navajo Pine, Northwest, Pine Hill and Ramah.
That seems much more reasonable, both in terms of competition level and travel, than the schedule they have had in recent years, facing the top teams and taking 7-hour bus rides to lose with scores like 72-6.
“We have something to really play for now,” Dulce coach Lawry Johnson wrote in an email. “We now have a chance to go to the playoffs and play district games.”
They are now eligible for the state tournament. But they still have a long way to go to get there.
Other Sports
Outside of football, many districts remain the same.
The 4A district of Española Valley, Pojoaque Valley, Taos, Los Alamos and Moriarty remains intact for sports where 4A has its own classification (Española does not play in soccer, and wrestling and tennis are sports where 1-4A are combined).
The small-school district in 2A with Escalante, McCurdy, Mesa Vista, Mora, Peñasco and Questa also remains the same (even though some other 2A districts look quite a bit different). Peñasco is electing to play up despite enrollment numbers that could qualify them for 1A, with Mesa Vista and Questa doing the same.
Dulce keeps Laguna-Acoma, Navajo Pine and Rehoboth in its district, but also adds Ramah and Hozho Academy, both moving up from 1A with increasing enrollment. Making the playoffs in 2A will also be tougher in basketball especially, with the classification now up to 36 schools from 30.
But the biggest change is for Coronado. Their district — which had at one point swelled to eight teams representing nine schools, is down to four. Santa Fe Waldorf closed, and Walatowa and Foothill no longer appear to offer athletics. Jemez Valley and Legacy Academy, the latter of which had been dominating in several sports, move up to 2A.
And Oak Grove, which had previously been in a co-op with Evangel Christian, is now on its own in 2A.
So, their district contains New Mexico School for the Deaf, Evangel Christian and the newly-opened Chesterton Academy.
In basketball especially, Coronado should be able to be much more competitive than they have in recent years. It will be a bit of a sigh of relief to not be in a district with teams that were turning into a bit of a behemoth.