Every game the Española Valley High School football team plays this season may have a different player leading the team in rushing, but one thing will remain constant.
The offensive line will lead the way as long as it gets its way.
Barring injury, those five players will remain the same, paving the way for whomever head coach Tylon Wilder chooses to feature in the Sundevils’ wishbone attack.
From right to left, senior tackle Leandro “Chungus” Salazar, senior guard Nick Sandoval, senior center Matthew Martinez, senior guard Jesus Gonzales and junior tackle Leonard Martinez will pave the way to the New Mexico Athletic Association Class 4A playoffs.
District play starts at 6 p.m. Friday as the Sundevils host Grants (1-2).
Against Santa Fe Capital High at Sundevil Stadium Sept. 5, that line paved the way for 252 yards rushing in a 13-6 victory. Zeke Cuevas ran for 107 yards behind that line, but it was the Sundevils’ 15-play, 56-yard scoring drive on their first possession of the second half that set the tone and broke a 0-0 halftime tie.
“I’ll take that all game,” Wilder, now comfortably into his third season at Española Valley, said of that game-defining drive. “We have helmet stickers for the first time this year. We set a goal for 250 yards rushing every game and the entire line and the blocking fullback gets a sticker for meeting that goal.”
Fullback Dylan Sandoval added 80 yards rushing in addition to blocking for Cuevas. Victor Parra led EVHS in rushing yards for the first two games, victories over Los Alamos and Cuba, but Wilder wants more players to get meaningful rushes during varsity games.
“We had eight players run the ball (Thursday),” Wilder said. “But we needed to get Zeke the ball (against the Jaguars) and when we watched back on film, you could see (Capital defenders) make a business decision, maybe not wanting to get in front of Zeke.”
Cuevas, the starting fullback during Española Valley’s first two games, knew he was going to get the ball against the Jaguars.
“I knew they were going to feed me the ball,” Cuevas, who scored that first Sundevil touchdown on a 5-yard dash, said. “But all the credit goes to (Dylan Sandoval) and to the offensive line who set things up beautifully in front of me.”
After Capital scored its first touchdown of its season on a 70-yard double pass to draw within 7-6, the Española Valley offensive line created a drive that was almost a duplicate of its preceding series — a 10-play, 80-yard effort where Sandoval had rugged runs of 11, 12 and 10 yards. That 10-yard run to the Capital 2-yard line, left a pair of Capital defenders needing attention on the Sundevil Stadium artificial turf.
“We do what we do,” Matthew Martinez said. “We knew what we were going to do after (a scoreless first) half and we did it.”
He may not be the biggest member of the Sundevils’ offensive line, but that doesn’t diminish his importance.
“(Guard) Nick (Sandoval) is our leader,” Wilder said. “But Matthew is kind of our glue of the line. He makes all the (offensive line) calls. He knows the angles of the blocks needed to make our offense go.”
A 7-yard quarterback sneak by Irvin Primero on 4th-down-and-four with 6:21 to play was a back-breaker against the Jaguars.
“That’s all Irvin and Matthew,” Wilder said. “Other teams are trying to sell out and attack the A-gap, but Matthew knows how to defeat that and he gets off the ball really well. We knew last Spring that the offensive line was coming together and Matthew said that he also wanted to play defense. It turns out he’s a beast on defense, too.”
Despite the one breakdown allowing the double-pass touchdown, Wilder was pleased with his team’s response when Capital tried the double pass two more times in the fourth quarter.
“We adjusted and we also increased pressure (on Capital quarterback Ace Bachicha),” Wilder said. “And we weren’t going to let that happen again.”
In addition to Parra and Mikey Maestas, the Española Valley secondary got a boost from the addition of senior Anthony Mendoza.
“We know we are going to play (more) teams that will try and spread us out and throw the ball (like the Jaguars tried),” Wilder said. “And Anthony is going to help us. He’s a very good athlete.”
Friday’s opponent, Grants (1-2) lost to Class 3A Dexter, 34-12 on Sept. 6.