Plenty to cheer about as football season heats up
Sep. 26—If you love prep football, Friday night will test your loyalty.
As of Sunday, six games involving Northern teams are scheduled for Friday, and all four 11-man Santa Fe teams (that's a nod to the 6-man squad of New Mexico School for the Deaf) will play that day.
The two public schools are on divergent paths, as Santa Fe High caps its nondistrict portion of the schedule with a key game against Class 4A contender Lovington. Meanwhile, Capital opens District 5-6A play against the prohibitive favorite: Los Lunas.
Do not let the 0-6 record the Wildcats bring to Ivan Head Stadium fool you.
Three of their losses are to Class 5A's No. 2 (Roswell), No. 3 (Artesia) and No. 9 (Santa Teresa) teams, according to MaxPreps.com's rankings. Another defeat came to an undefeated Hobbs team that is fourth in 6A, and the other two are to a West Texas schools Seminole and Denver City.
Meanwhile, St. Michael's travels to West Las Vegas for a District 2-3A opener against the Dons, while Santa Fe Indian School hosts Raton in its district opener. Las Vegas Robertson heads to Pojoaque Valley for its last nondistrict contest against the winless Elks.
The final Northern contest brings Aztec, fresh off a 32-19 loss to the Horsemen, to Taos to take on the red-hot Tigers, who have won four straight games after losing their season opener to St. Michael's.
Plenty of choices to whet any football fan's appetite. Of course, all games are subject to change, especially with a shortage of officials.
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What at first seemed like a fashion statement turned out to be just a delay in shipping. The St. Michael's football team played its first four games without the trademark Carolina Panthers-esque stripes down the crest of its helmets.
That all changed during the bye week when the decals came in and the coaching staff applied them. They made their debut during Saturday night's win at Aztec.
Horsemen coach Joey Fernandez said the stripes — a white center line with thin black stripes on either side, all of which flair to the side and taper toward the back — were long overdue. He said he was never a fan of the plain blue helmets with the familiar block-M side logo, and that the stripes sort of tie everything together.
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Two weeks ago, Albuquerque Manzano was the only 11-man football team not to have scored a point this season. After scoring 20 points in losses to Santa Fe High and Sandia, the new low teams on the totem pole are the Gallup Bengals and the Pojoaque Valley Elks with six.
Gallup finally scored in a 38-6 loss to Española Valley on Sept. 16, while Pojoaque's lone score came in a 56-6 loss to Bloomfield on Aug. 26. Technically, the Elks scored a touchdown in a Sept. 9 game against SFIS, but the game was declared a no-contest when three lightning delays prevented it from reaching halftime.
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The battle for field position had an interesting note in Saturday's St. Mike's-Aztec game. The Horsemen had just surrendered the lead early in the third quarter and were forced to punt on their first drive of the second half.
The Tigers took over at their own 19 leading 13-8. A 3-yard loss, an incomplete pass and a sack moved it back to the 10 on fourth down. Electing to punt, Aztec gave the Horsemen two points when the snap sailed out of the back of the end zone for a safety, making it 13-10.
The Tigers' ensuing kickoff attempt was a mess. Twice they kicked it out of bounds down the left side, drawing 5-yard penalties each time. It backed them up to their own 10. Appearing rattled at the prospect of doing it a third time, they gave up trying to kick it deep and elected to pooch kick it in the other direction. The ball only traveled 24 yards, where St. Michael's senior Taven Lozada fielded it and returned it a few yards to the 30.
The Horsemen scored a touchdown five plays later to take an 18-13 lead.
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The Dons will play just their second Friday home game this season. The officiating shortage has perhaps hit this school the hardest of all the Northern schools. West Las Vegas has had just four of its last eight home games on a Friday, and one of them — last year's home finale against SFIS — was forfeited when the Braves couldn't field a full team.
To take it a step further, West Las Vegas has seen a regular-season game moved to Thursday or Saturday six times since 2021.
West Las Vegas athletic director Richard Tripp was cautiously optimistic Sunday, writing in a text message he is keeping his fingers crossed the game remains on Friday.
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St. Michael's head volleyball coach Valerie Sandoval is about to reach a milestone as soon as the Lady Horsemen win their next match. If they beat Santa Fe Prep in the District 2-3A opener Tuesday, she will earn her 100th win as a head coach.
In six seasons at the school, she has accumulated a 99-29 record, two state runner-up finishes and a 3A title in 2018. This year's edition is far and away the best team in the North, with a 13-0 record and a No. 3 ranking, according to MaxPreps.com, among all schools in the state.
As a side note, St. Michael's is one of four undefeated teams left in the state, along with Albuquerque La Cueva, Melrose and Laguna-Acoma.
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If rankings mean anything (and they don't), it will be a fun state soccer tournament for Santa Fe-area schools.
Santa Fe High's boys are the reigning state champs in Class 5A and enter the final eight-game stretch of the regular season ranked No. 1. St. Michael's is one of four area clubs ranked in the top five in 3A. Both the Horsemen and Los Alamos (in 4A) are ranked
No. 2 at the moment.
Four of the top seven teams in girls 3A are from the immediate area, including Robertson at No. 1, St. Michael's at No. 4 and Santa Fe Prep at No. 5. Academy for Technology and the Classics is No. 7.
The state tournament for all levels starts Oct. 25, with finals scheduled for Nov. 5.
