For being the head coach of a football team, Escalante High School’s Dusty Giles is soft-spoken.
Along with his signature, shoulder-length hair, he carries himself in a rather calm and unassuming demeanor.
He never yells at his players or barks orders like a stereotypical football coach. Instead, he opts to bring players aside for a moment, to teach them a bit of technique or give them an insight into their role into the team’s overall strategy.
Giles is entering his eighth year of coaching at Escalante, a tenure that has involved two stints. He first came to the school in 2006 and stayed through 2008, then came back in 2012 to win a state championship that year.
For a school of approximately 150 students, Giles has built a relative football powerhouse at Escalante. They are accustomed to playing schools that are bigger and winning those games. Last season, Escalante beat every higher division school they played.
In fact, on this season’s schedule, Escalante will only be playing three teams that are within their 2A division. The other seven teams are all in the divisions above the Lobos, and some have a total enrollment six times bigger than that of Escalante.
But for such a small school, there are very few males at the high school that do not go out for the football team, and the sport has taken on a significant role in the community under Giles’s tenure.
“Our numbers have gone up tremendously since 2012, when we won that first state championship,” he said. “I remember we had about 18 kids (in 2012). And now this is one of our lower number years, and we’ve got about 35.”
Giles added that last season, he finished the year with around 50 total players. In addition to the obvious success of the team, having won state championships in 2012, 2014 and 2015, Giles credits his high turnout rate to the culture that he and his assistant coaches have created at Escalante.
“I think the kids love being out here,” he said. “Our culture out here isn’t one where we’re screaming, yelling and hollering. We’re coaching and teaching. They’re having fun and we’re having fun. I think that shows on Friday night.”
This season, Giles needs to replace much of the personnel that helped lead the Lobos to a 9-2 record last season.
Six Escalante seniors were featured in the 2A football All-Star Game: Devon Abeyta, Diego Aguilar, Waylon Hinds, Joseph Martinez, Tristan Martinez and Noah Ruppert. All six of those All-Stars graduated last season.
Of the top four players that had the most all-purpose yards for Escalante last year, three of them were graduating seniors. Hinds topped that list with 957 yards. He shared quarterbacking duties last season with Tristan Martinez, and although the Lobos were run-heavy, they will have to deal with a new quarterback commanding the pocket.
“We’ve got players coming up,” Giles said. “Every year we graduate some really fine football players, and then just like we’re supposed to do, we take the other ones and turn them into really fine football players.”
Esteban Archuleta, a junior, will take over the starting quarterback duties. Last year, he primarily played receiver, but is ready to take on his role in the pocket.
The 5-foot-8 quarterback has been working adamantly in the off-season with his receivers, including senior Anthony Paul Martinez.
“We’re really starting to mesh together,” Archuleta said.
During the off season, the team’s primary form of training is hitting the weight room, although players will run drills by themselves or with a couple of other teammates.
Despite the relaxed off season, the players looked sharp at their Aug. 10 practice, running through plays with game-time precision.
“We look good,” Giles said. This is the second week of practice and we are probably a little ahead of schedule.”
The Lobos are heading into a 2A conference, where they will face two primary contenders for the state championship title — Lordsburg High School and Fort Sumner High School.
Lordsburg knocked Escalante out of the playoffs last year and ended up taking the state championship in a game against Fort Sumner.
Giles believes that Fort Sumner will bring back the strongest squad in 2A this season, although he feels that the Lobos will definitely be able to compete with them.
“We’re pretty confident,” Martinez said. “We will just take it one week at a time.”