Tough rival? It’s just SFHS’ latest obstacle
Shorthanded No. 13 Demons face No. 4 Eldorado for trip to The Pit
Santa Fe High found endurance through adversity. In the past 13 months, the boys basketball program faces the kind of adversity most adults experience in a lifetime: controversy, a forfeiture of a postseason berth, injuries, player departures and a coaching change. Despite those troubles, Santa Fe High found a way to persevere, and now the Demons find themselves one upset away from a dream realized.
The 13th-seeded Demons take on No. 4 Albuquerque Eldorado in the opening round of the Class 6A State Tournament on Saturday, and a win sends them to the most hallowed gym in the state — The Pit — for a state quarterfinal matchup. The two teams face off at Eldorado at 5:05 p.m., with the winner facing either No. 12 Albuquerque Volcano Vista or defending state champion and fifth-seeded Rio Rancho at 9:45 a.m. Wednesday.
When first-year Santa Fe High head coach Zack Cole brings that possibility up to his players, the gleam in their eyes is unmistakable.
“Every time we bring it up, you see this glow come over their faces,” Cole said with a laugh. “It’s really cool. You can see when you tell them, ‘ We can punch our ticket the The Pit.’ ”
Yet, it seems every opportunity brings one more hurdle to overcome. Demons senior wing David Marquez will miss the game as he goes through concussion protocol after taking a fall late in a 47-42 loss to Albuquerque Sandia in the District 2-6A semifinal on Feb. 24. He must sit out a mandated 10-day period according to New Mexico Activities Association bylaws, so that takes the Demons’ best creator off the court.
It’s not like they haven’t dealt with adversity before, though.
Senior center Everett Robinson sat for most of the Sandia game with illness. Senior guard Oscar Perez was on the sidelines for a district game, as was Marquez for another game, both one-game suspensions because of ejections.
Then-leading scorer Victor Salcido and reserve guard Isaiah Andermann were dismissed from the team at mid-season for undisclosed reasons. The program was embroiled in a potential sex crime case that involved sev-
eral players. And that was this season. Many of the players were with the varsity program last year when they were involved in an alleged hazing incident on the team bus in February 2016. It came on the heels of an overtime win over Rio Rancho that effectively punched Santa Fe High’s ticket into the state tournament. It was also the final win the team enjoyed last season.
When the video came out later that month, the reaction was so intense that then Santa Fe Public Schools then-Superintendent Joel Boyd elected to forfeit the team’s berth in the state tournament just days before it was to play in the opening round against top seed Las Cruces Oñate. Ironically, it was Eldorado that replaced Santa Fe High as the opponent.
That wound ran deep with those returning Demons.
“It was just heartbreaking, knowing that we could go down there, knowing that we were really good and worked for it,” senior Diego Salinas said.
What disappointment did to fuel their fire, discipline helped them withstand the challenges they faced this season. The team started off 6-1 — its best start in 13 years — but struggled in late December and early January.
Santa Fe High rebounded in District 2-6A play and started off 4-0, including a 55-54 win over Albuquerque Manzano in its first game without Salcido and Andermann. That came during a stretch in which the Demons went 8-2 after a troubling loss at Los Alamos on Jan. 7 that dropped them to 9-6.
They were competitive in a 62-58 2-6A loss at Albuquerque La Cueva on Feb. 7 as Perez served his suspension before rebounding with key wins over Clovis (54-39 in overtime) and Manzano to put Santa Fe High in position to tie for the district’s top spot with Eldorado.
The key to success, Cole said, has been focusing on the little things.
“It takes time to learn a new system but to learn new expectations and new focus points,” Cole said. “And we do focus on the little things and having them understand why they’re so important and take those early teachable moments and transfer them over to playing well in the second half of the season.”
Then came another obstacle — a shooting slump. The Demons hit just 12 of 50 shots in a 58-35 loss to the Eagles to finish the season, then went 15-for-45 against the Matadors. Cole said the team had the shots it expected against Eldorado, but they just didn’t fall. He added that illness ran through the team prior to and after the Sandia game.
Salinas even missed Monday’s practice because he was sick, but returned Tuesday and looked ready to go in Friday’s practice.
“We just weren’t on early and then late [in both games],” Perez said. “Our defense was excellent, we just couldn’t execute inside.”
The last time the Demons didn’t have Marquez, they battled defending 5A champion Española Valley to a 44-43 loss. However, they had Salcido and Andermann. This game will be a different, but the players believe they can still win because of how they handled previous situations.
“Each situation is tough,” Perez said. “Coach Cole says, ‘Whatever doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.’ I think each situation we’ve come across has made us stronger.”
If they can string together another strong 32 minutes, it might be enough for the Demons to find a well-deserved reward after overcoming so much just to get to this point.