Cibola QB Chavez says he’ll be fine for season
Soph recovering from surgery on collarbone
It started with a low snap. It ended with a scramble, a fall, and a broken collarbone.
The play that prematurely ended what was already an abbreviated prep football season this spring for Cibola High quarterback Aden Chavez will put the sophomore on the shelf for the next several months.
Chavez had surgery to repair a right broken collarbone April 7. It broke into three pieces after he was shoved out of bounds on a scramble play against Eldorado on April 3, causing him to fall hard to the ground at Nusenda Community Stadium.
One piece of his collarbone, Chavez said, fell off, and doctors inserted eight screws during his recent surgery. The play occurred late in the second quarter.
Chavez, one of the state’s top underclassmen at the QB position, said Wednesday he expects to be back at full strength with full throwing mobility for the fall season.
He will be in a sling, he said, for about six to eight weeks, adding that he could have full range of motion by the end of that period.
“It’ll be three months before I’ll be cleared for everything,” he said. That puts him into mid-July, just a couple of weeks before the first official practices for the fall season.
His injury will prevent him from attending several elite camps/combines this spring and into the early summer. But he said he’s happy to sacrifice in the short term.
“Next season is way more important than any national looks,” he said. “I don’t think I’d want to go to a national stage and be weak.”
Chavez said he expects to begin physical therapy in about a month, and will begin throwing sometime around the start of June.
“I’m really excited for next (season),” he said. “Our team is gonna be amazing.” BIG JOB OPENING: With the resignation last week of Rex Henderson
at Artesia, arguably the state’s most prestigious head football coaching position is vacant.
Artesia athletic director Cooper Henderson said the job was officially posted Tuesday, and he said he hopes the school can conduct interviews as early as next week.
Cooper Henderson said he believes the Bulldogs will have a new head man before the end of the month.
“We’re gonna move pretty quickly,” he said.
SISNEROS HONORED: Eldorado’s Laurynn Sisneros, fresh off her victory at the Class 5A state meet a couple of weeks ago, is the Gatorade girls cross country athlete of the year in New Mexico.
Sisneros has committed to the United States Military Academy, where she will run cross country and track.
BACK IN THE SWING: The Albuquerque Academy boys (327) and girls (367) golf teams won team titles in the Shootout in the Desert at the Canyon Club on Monday.
Piedra Vista’s Quinn Yost won the boys individual title after tying with Albuquerque Academy’s Neil Parasher and Belen’s Grady Cox at 74. The tiebreaker was by scorecard.
Socorro’s Harley Richardson (76) won the girls title. Piedra Vista’s Shandiin Harper (78), who recently signed with Western New Mexico, was second.
The field of teams was limited due to restrictions created by the pandemic.
THIS AND THAT: Two La Cueva athletes signed national letters of intent Wednesday: Lindsay Eckelman (volleyball at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota) and Ryan Holloway (tennis at LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas). … La Cueva is the preseason No. 9 in the Rocky Mountain Region as chosen by Baseball America. Rio Rancho was No. 9 and Sandia No. 11 in Perfect Game’s Southwest Region preseason baseball ranking.