While watching the McCurdy Bobcats’ 75-12 win over Navajo Pine Aug. 29, I couldn’t help but notice the Warriors had just one coach, while McCurdy had six coaches.
This discrepancy could have been one reason the Bobcats pummeled Navajo Pine, since to my eyes, the Warriors didn’t look any less athletic than the Bobcats.
Also, McCurdy has a head coach who has been there for seven years and a veteran staff of assistants, including Cecil Brown, a former head coach of the Bobcats and a member of McCurdy’s 1962 state championship team.
That coaching stability and connection to tradition have helped the Bobcats become one of the more successful football programs in Northern New Mexico.
At small schools throughout the state, the strength of the program determines success, not the number of players or their athletic ability.
Fort Sumner is a prime example. The Foxes have won four consecutive Class A football championships, but they don’t look much different than their opponents.
The Foxes opened the season with a 38-7 pounding of New Mexico Military Institute. They had 24 players on their roster, none who weighed more than 200 pounds. In contrast, the Institute had more than twice that number of players and at least nine players on their roster over 200 pounds.
Obviously, the Foxes haven’t missed a beat. Whether the Bobcats can compete with the “big boys” should be one of the more compelling local stories this football season.
Sundevils’ Year
Things were looking up for Española Valley prior to last weekend.
The Sundevils have a weak predistrict schedule and could have expected four victories (over Dulce, Cuba, Santa Fe Indian School and Hot Springs) by the time District 2AAAA play begins. Instead, the Sundevils are 1-1 after falling to Cuba (see related story).
Nevertheless, Española may be able to sneak into the state playoffs if it can win its next two games and take advantage of a down year in the district.
The Bernalillo Spartans were being touted as an up-and-coming team, but they were beaten 14-9 by Hatch Valley, a Class AAA, in their opening game.
Capital, the District 2AAAA champion in 2007 and runnerup last year, was crushed 59-6 by Cleveland High School, a team with no seniors and playing its first ever high school football game. The Cleveland score may be deceiving. Cleveland is a Class AAAAA school that has a large talent pool from which to draw in Rio Rancho. Los Alamos, the perennial favorite in the district since St. Pius X left in 2004, lost a lot of players to graduation. Los Alamos opened its season last weekend. Despite winning its opening game over West Las Vegas, Taos is still rebuilding after four consecutive losing seasons.
If Española were to win the rest of its predistrict games and pick up a couple of District 2AAAA victories, it could earn a state playoff spot. The Sundevils would likely be a low seed, but it would be only the second time in school history they advanced to postseason play.
Rest of the Pack
Pojoaque’s blow out win over Santa Fe Indian School is hard to draw a lot of conclusions from since the Braves fielded a weak team. The most impressive thing I saw was a swarming Pojoaque defense.
I will not predict an outcome for the Pojoaque/Espanola game scheduled for Friday in Española, but Española had better have learned to play pass defense.
Last year, Pojoaque receivers ran wild against the Sundevils’ porous secondary in their first win over Española since 2000. All those same receivers are back this season, as is Elk quarterback Michael Garcia. With an improved running attack and an aggressive defense, the Elks are a much better team than they were last year.
Escalante was beaten by Estancia in its opening game, but the Lobos have quality athletes in Justin Atencio and Isaiah Maldonado, as well as an experienced line led by Carlos Casados. The Lobos will likely be chomping at the bit in anticipation of their regular season showdown with McCurdy because of all the attention being paid to the Bobcats. That annual battle concludes the regular season for both teams and is always a tremendous game. Both teams could advance to the Class A playoffs this season.
Dulce is rebuilding this year, but I was impressed by the Hawks’ line play in their loss to the Sundevils. Also, freshman running back Darrell Vicenti will be a star later in his career. The Hawks should pick up some victories, especially once quarterback Jarret Vigil gains a better grasp of the spread offense installed by coach Jesus Maes.
Escalante coach Diego Brusuelas and Maes are two young coaches who have returned to their alma maters. Hopefully, they’ll both be given a chance to develop programs, because as as I wrote at the beginning of this column, winning football teams are built by stable programs.