With the recent Super Bowl game just completed and the Winter Olympics in full swing, excitement and anticipation over sporting events is at a fever pitch.
Locally, the excitement is building now that the state basketball tournament is less than a month away and the Española Valley boys basketball team, ranked second in state, is marching toward a showdown with top-ranked Roswell Coyotes in the Class AAAA state championship game
The Roswell Coyotes are for real. They are 19-2 on the season. One of Roswell’s losses was 62-50 to Abraham Lincoln High School, of Denver, Colo. The other loss was 76-53 to Estrella Foothills High School from Goodyear, Ariz. Estrella is the top-ranked team in Class AAA in Arizona. Roswell has beaten Hobbs and their most recent win in District 4AAA was 89-51 over Artesia at Artesia. Española lost to Artestia last year in the state semifinals.
Overall though, Roswell has not played as tough a schedule as the Sundevils. The Coyotes’ traditional rivals in southeastern New Mexico are down this season, and they have not taken on any Albuquerque high schools like the Sundevils have. If Roswell stumbles, Española deserves the top ranking in Class AAAA.
Española did stumble Feb. 13 in a loss to Hope Christian, which may be the best team in the state despite being a Class AAA team. But so far there have been no surprises for the Sundevils in District 2AAAA where Española has been handling its opponents with relative ease.
Class AA is where there has been some surprises. Mesa Vista suffered a devastating home loss to Questa in District 3AA but bounced back Feb. 10 with a huge 61-59 road victory over Peñasco. This district is still wide open.
Questa is leading District 3AA with a 3-1 record and this may be the year that the Wildcats finally make it to the state tournament from District 3AA. Every season since the 2004-2005 one when District 3AA became comprised of Questa, Mesa Vista, Peñasco and McCurdy, the Wildcats have been unable to finish higher than third and have been left out of the state tournament.
McCurdy (1-3) had been primed to pull off an upset in this district and did so Feb. 13, knocking off Mesa Vista 50-44 for its first victory over the Trojans (2-2) in three seasons. If McCurdy beats Peñasco (2-2) Tuesday, the District 3AA title will be up for grabs because Peñasco knocked off Questa 74-64 Feb. 13 in Peñasco.
In District 2AA, the Coronado Leopards were beaten by the Navajo Prep Eagles 51-48 in their District 2AA opener at Farmington, opening the door for Escalante, which knocked off the Eagles 60-52 in Farmington. The first meeting between Coronado and Escalante was a hard-fought 56-53 win by Coronado in Gallina. The rematch to be held Friday in Tierra Amarilla should be exciting, especially with the limited seating in Escalante’s gym.
The Navajo Prep boys team has played second fiddle to the Eagles’ girls teams for a long time. The Lady Eagles have won five state championships, while the boys have never won a championship and seldom advance to the state tournament. This appears to be a year where perhaps the Eagles can steal some of the girls team’s thunder and make it to the state tournament. The Eagles were knocked off by Dulce 59-55 in Farmington Jan. 9, but rebounded to crush Escalante 56-35 Feb. 13 in Tierra Amarilla.
The Pojoaque Elks still haven’t found a way to beat St. Michael’s, but that may come to an end Saturday when the Elks host the Horsemen. That game will be for second place in District 2AAA.
The Santa Fe Indian School Braves wrapped up their first regular season district title and will host the championship game of the District 2AAA tournament for the first time since they ascended to Class AAA in the 2004-2005 season.
Indian School has moved up the polls and is now ranked third in Class AAA behind top-ranked Hope Christian and second-ranked Sandia Prep.
Class AAA is dominated by the aforementioned Hope Christian Huskies. It will be a major upset if any team from Class AAA beats the Huskies this season.
Then again, that’s why they play the game.