‘RIGHT THERE ON THE BRINK’
Braves move to 4A, hope to be more competitive
Overcoming obstacles is nothing new for the Santa Fe Indian School football team. The Braves have to do it every season. Unlike virtually every other team in the state, the very nature of the school prevents the Braves from conducting formal or even informal drills or weightlifting sessions throughout the summer.
“We get a few locals guys in here lifting weights,” new coach Carl Vigil said. “But that’s about it.”
Mix in what has become an annual parade of coaches — Vigil is the fourth in as many seasons — and the Braves fall even farther behind the curve.
Of the former hurdle, there’s not much Vigil can do, but he has vowed to try to put an end to the latter. And he’s got a pretty good chance to do just that since this is his fifth season connected to the program.
As a matter of fact, he coached many of the players when they played on the school’s middle school team.
“They all know me because I’ve been here,” said Vigil, a St. Michael’s High School graduate. “The juniors and sophomores, I coached them at the midschool level so they know my expectations as a coach.”
And he’s been on the high school staff the past two seasons, and plans to continue the systems and terminology that coach (now athletic director) Erik Brock brought in.
“Coach Brock brought it two years ago and coach (Wayne) Thompson ran the same style of football,” Vigil said. “We’re not changing it too much. I am bringing my own personality to the squad. The lingo and verbiage hasn’t changed too much. We’ll mix it up a little, but the offense and defense will be running a lot of the same systems. You can’t really install too much in the summer, so you have to rely on what they already know.”
Vigil also has to rely on the individual players’ self-discipline to work out at their homes during the season since they are spread across the state.
“I have a pretty good idea of what those challenges are and how to meet those challenges,” he said. “It’s hard to get a summer program and a lot of them really enjoy track, so they’re doing that in the spring.”
But when the players do roll into town and are sequestered in the dorms, they are on board with a total commitment, Vigil said.
“There are some benefits, for twoa-days, the past couple of weeks, my entire team was there and it was awesome,” he said. “They ate together, stayed in same dorm rooms together. They had a full week of them getting to know each other. There’s a lot of camaraderie. These kids are such great kids and they respond to coaching so well.”
With just a handful of seniors on the squad, Vigil will have to get production from his younger players. But one aspect that he’s trying to change is the notion of ironman football, with multiple players taking numerous snaps on both side of the ball.
Right now, he said he sees just four players who will be getting regular snaps both ways: seniors Hartwell Yazzie (5-foot-11, 185-pounds, outside linebacker/ tight end) and Dominic Star (5-10, 195, fullback/defensive end), as well as junior Jamain Garcia (5-7, 180, running back/middle linebacker) and sophomore Anders Pecos (5-7, 165, halfback/outside linebacker).
But where Vigil is setting his sights on things happening is at quarterback, where junior Alec Lee (5-11, 175) is back for his third year as a starter. He also started two years in middle school under Vigil, so the two are on the same page.
“He has some speed and he does have an arm,” Vigil said. “He definitely can get it to the receivers when they’re open.”
It all will hopefully make the Braves a competitive team as they step up from independent play to 4A.
“I’ve definitely seen these kids step it up as far as the football program,” Vigil asid. “We tried to install a different attitude. It’s been carrying right on. We’re right there on the brink.”