Champions show that setbacks can rally a team
Time to put a bow on the prep football season. First, a hearty congrats to the Class of 2018: Animas, Tatum, Eunice, Dexter, Taos, Roswell and La Cueva for their championships.
Three of them — Animas, Eunice and La Cueva — finished undefeated. Animas and Eunice are back-to-back state champs.
The newcomer is Taos, as the Tigers, in their first-ever football final, put on a virtuoso defensive display during the playoffs in winning the Class 4A title, capped by a 14-7 victory over Bloomfield.
The season clearly turned on Taos’ least favorite day of the fall, when the Tigers came to Albuquerque and, as the state’s No. 1-ranked team, lost 27-0 to St. Pius.
Setbacks like this can galvanize a football team; La Cueva, who we’ll discuss in a minute, is another example. Sometimes, one step back can equal several leaps forward, and this was particularly true of Taos.
While I certainly miss the era of Animas as an 11-Man powerhouse, it warms my heart to see the Panthers back winning football championships. Few towns in this state have had to overcome hardships like Animas, the repeat 6-Man winner.
On the flip side, Robertson is a state runner-up for a fourth straight year, but the Cardinals are recognized everywhere as one of New Mexico’s great midsize programs.
Dexter and Roswell ended championship droughts of 21 years and 18 years, respectively. Coyotes coach Jeff Lynn joined his father David as part of the ring-worthy fraternity after Roswell dismantled Los Lunas 42-6 in
the 5A final.
La Cueva’s championship was surprisingly one-sided as the Bears thrashed Cleveland 33-14. La Cueva had been chewing on the previous year’s loss to Manzano for a full year, and Saturday’s victory was both rewarding and cleansing.
“We came out and punched them in the mouth and got the ball rolling,” senior defensive end Kendrick Milford said, adding, “We knew we had to come out and we kept the pedal to the metal the whole time.”
La Cueva’s motivated veteran roster shoved around and displaced a younger Cleveland roster for most of the 48 minutes, and after an initial 14-0 La Cueva lead midway through the first quarter, the Storm never got closer than 10 points the rest of the way.
“I knew we would play like this coming into the game,” La Cueva senior quarterback Dylan Summer said.
La Cueva rushed for 415 yards — 357 of them, by my count, from senior tailback D’Andre Williams.
While Cleveland running back Dorian Lewis energized the Storm after moving from Texas, it’s easy to forget that Williams moved here from Texas, too.
Family issues led him to move from San Antonio to Albuquerque, he said. And things haven’t always been smooth at La Cueva, either — he had to sit out a couple of quarters here and there for an assortment of issues — but he overcame and became the clear headliner of the state final. “This is a straight blessing,” Williams said.
Me? I was genuinely happy for his success. I’ve always found him to be a polite, well-spoken kid.
I wish we would have had a tight game to the end Saturday, but that was in keeping with a trend we saw this entire season, a season largely composed of blowouts here in the metro area.
The other thing that defined the year were injuries to several elite athletes. To Lewis. To Eldorado QB Gabe Smith. Los Lunas QB Nick Gaerlan. None of whom made it to the finish line. That Los Lunas managed to get into the final without Gaerlan was a reflection of the stellar coaching of Jeremy Maupin.
Of course, disabled lists are part of the narrative most any year. La Cueva was far from healthy last year when it played Manzano. Possibly, the Bears may have played out some what-if scenarios in their head in the aftermath, wondering about the outcome had everyone had been at full strength. Me as well.
This year, La Cueva, a champion for the first time since 2009, rewrote its narrative. Which means it’s time to get fitted for rings.