After roster merry-go-round, South hangs on for win
ALBUQUERQUE — The sweltering, stuffy confines of West Mesa’s gymnasium — it’s no place to mess with the volleyball gods.
Just moments before the start of Monday night’s Class 5A-6A NorthSouth All-Star match in a gym that felt like the inside of a sweaty running shoe with no circulation, North head coach Damon Salazar was standing in the facility’s lobby talking about the talented roster laid out before him when a little girl approached and handed him a black golf shirt.
“They want me to wear this one instead,” he said, staring at the cloth in his left hand. “Not sure I can.”
Already dressed in a neon shirt the color of a standard tennis ball, the Española Valley head coach was tempting fate when contemplating which color to wear.
All year, he’d worn some variation of neon when coaching the Lady Sundevils to the Class 5A state tournament. The gaudy hues of vibrant prints have become as much a part of his calling card as the aggressive style he passes onto his players.
Wearing a plain black shirt for the annual North-South event? Just didn’t seem right.
“He’s the most superstitious coach I know,” joked Celina Naranjo, one of two Española players invited as alternates to Monday’s match. “He always has to wear bright colors.”
“It’s like his thing,” added fellow Lady Sundevil Kaitlyn Romero. “It
would be different to see him not wearing something bright. Weird, kind of.”
Salazar gave in to the wardrobe request, forsaking the look of a walking highlighter in order match the style of his fellow coaches. Whether the move had any role in the South’s 22-25, 25-17, 25-19 win is anyone’s guess.
The North was impressive in winning the first game but faded late in each of the next two en route to a tough loss. Salazar said beforehand that the most challenging thing about the NorthSouth rivalry isn’t the decision of which shirt to wear. He said it’s dealing with the multitude of roster changes in the days leading into all-star week.
“Half this team is alternates, which is something that pretty much happens every year,” he said. “But the good thing about 5A and 6A is there’s a lot of great talent to replace the players you lost.”
Most of the absentee players had to skip due to college commitments for various sports. At least one was off to play soccer and another for softball, while others were off to the next level to play volleyball.
Naranjo was one of three North alternates who will play this fall at New Mexico Highlands University, joining Los Alamos grads Brianna Montano and Sierra Foley.
“It’s such an honor to play on a team with players this good,” Naranjo said. “There are so many talented girls. It really makes this week a lot of fun.”
Romero will also head to NMHU, but to play basketball and not volleyball — a sport she dominated as the state’s leader in kills her senior year.
Also on the North roster was Santa Fe High’s Isabella Christian-Padilla, one of six players from District 1-6A programs
invited to the event.
“These all-star games are so much fun to watch, but to be here and coach girls like this is even better,” Salazar said. “I’ve had a chance to coach for or against a lot of these kids so it helps that I’m familiar with what they like to run. I guess it would help if there weren’t so many last-second changes, but if there weren’t I wouldn’t have had my own girls here with me. Believe me, those were fun phone calls to make; to have my own players come here to be a part of this.”
NOTES
Small schools: The South held on for a 2-1 win in the 3A-4A match held just before the big schools took the floor. With five players from the Santa Fe area on the North roster, the match was close until
a late surge handed the South a 25-17, 22-25, 25-18 victory.
Familiar face: Former St. Michael’s star quarterback Cory Serna was on hand to watch his sister, recent St. Mike’s graduate Lainie Serna, compete for the North in the 3A-4A match.
Other area players included Latysha Archuleta (St. Michael’s), Bianca Gonzales (Santa Fe Prep) and Robertson teammates Hanna Lopez and Ashley Encinias.
Cory said he has helped mentor the returning quarterbacks at his alma mater this summer and will continue to do so when he can before heading back to Albuquerque to complete his senior year at The University of New Mexico. Serna is still the winningest starting quarterback in school history, going 26-1 as a starter while leading the Horsemen to 2012 state championship.
More All-Stars: This week
wraps up the annual North-South events, which are organized by the New Mexico High School Coaches Association. Only graduated seniors in good standing are invited to participate.
The 5A-6A football game will be Wednesday at Nusenda Community Stadium in Albuquerque. The only participant from the Santa Fe area is Marcos Flores out of Española Valley.
He is listed as a quarterback and defensive back on the North roster, which is coached by Eldorado’s Charlie Dotson. One of Dotson’s assistants is Steve Castille, the Eagles’ offensive coordinator and a former head coach at Capital.
The 1A-2A and 5A-6A boys basketball games will be Thursday in Albuquerque at Del Norte High School. The small-school starts at 6 p.m. while the big schools take the court at about 7:30 p.m. Capital’s Eric Coca is on the North roster.