Robertson advances to third straight final
Navajo Prep making its first-ever championship game appearance
The Class 3A boys state championship game pits a burgeoning power that is starting to make a habit of playing on the season’s final day in Robertson, against one that is making the program’s first appearance.
Navajo Prep will look to grab the blue trophy today at 8 a.m. on Saturday at the Pit.
No. 1 ROBERTSON 60, No. 4 HOT SPRINGS 37: While the Cardinals (27-2) under coach James Branch are heading to the state championship game for the third straight season, it wasn’t that long ago that scenario would have seemed farfetched.
In the 2019-20 season Branch, 64, was coaching the seventhand eighth-grade teams at Mountain View Middle School, a feeder program to Cleveland, where he also was an assistant coach.
It was quite a fall for a coach who a year earlier had taken the Española Valley boys to the state title game before losing, then being run out of town.
“I wanted to be on the Cleveland staff and part of the deal was I had to coach middle school,” Branch said Friday as he sat in the stands at the Pit scouting Navajo Prep against Santa Fe Indian School. “So that’s what did.”
The next season, while COVID mandates shuttered athletics for much of the school, Branch was out of coaching because a gig at his hometown of Mora fell through.
“I wanted to work there a year, maybe two years,” he said of the job in Rio Rancho. “It turned out to be just a year. I couldn’t handle not being the guy in charge.”
When the job opened up in Robertson — a noted power in football but a school where basketball was decidedly second-fiddle — he dove back in and grabbed it, taking over a program that had seen relatively little success with titles or even a championship game appearance. That, of course, is all changed now. “That’s our mindset now. That’s the culture we’re trying to develop at Robertson,” said Branch, who also won a state championship with Questa in 1994. “We’re a great football and baseball school, but I always felt like God blessed me and put me in a place where I had good guys, good teammates, good players that are coachable. I couldn’t ask for any more blessing than that right now. It’s awesome.”
The players have bought in to building a powerhouse program that outlives their own eligibility, as well.
“We’re trying to teach them to prepare for games like this,” said point guard Jesse James Gonzales, who had 12 points and eight assists against the Tigers (25-6). “It’s going to be loud. The Star Center is going to be loud. District games are going to be loud. District is tough, state is tough. We teach them composure. And to stay
calm, don’t panic.”
Adrian Gomez was the only Tigers’ player to reach double-figures, scoring 10 points. No. 2 NAVAJO PREP 59, No. 3 SANTA FE INDIAN SCHOOL
56: The Eagles (25-4) are sitting where Robertson was three years ago, having just earned the school’s first championship game appearance after withstanding a 3-point barrage from the Braves (23-8) in the fourth quarter.
“This was our third final four in four year and we haven’t been able to figure out how to get past that one,” Navajo Prep coach Matt Melvin said. “That win means a lot of this group of guys. We have a lot of seniors. They’ve done everything I’ve asked them to do.”
Jude Thomas scored 20 for the Eagles, while Jamal Alonzo had 18, including 12 on four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.
Reaching this point is just the next step, said Navajo Prep’s Xavier Nez, who finished with 11 points.
“This means a lot,” he said. “I’m in my junior year and most of my brothers over here are on their senior year. It’s either go big or go home. We’re trying to go big with my boys, to bring back something big that’s never been brought back before.
Jamal Alonzo paced the Braves with 18 points. Dainen Gonzales chipped in 15 points and 14 rebounds.