New home, new purpose Former district champs invigorated with fresh turf, dangerous running game
While he may not fancy himself a romantic poet, Jesus Maes can’t help it when soaking up the panoramic view his school’s shiny new toy provides. Looking west across the Kelly green artificial turf that dominates the view of Española Valley’s dramatically refurbished football facility, the Sundevils head coach gets downright philosophical when talking about what he sees.
“You’ve got the Jemez Mountains out there looking back at you like they were painted, like someone put them there for you,” he said. “You see the valley at sunset, this place with the new grass and bleachers when the lights come on. There really aren’t words to describe it. It’s a diamond in the rough, a dream come true.”
The Sundevils’ facility is, in fact, an improvement so profound that it is nothing short of emotional rocket fuel for a program trying desperately to distance itself from a moribund past.
The seven-figure project replaced the dilapidated grass field and crumbling track, did away with the unsafe bleacher seats to the east and cinder block press box high up on the hill, and made the entire place easier to navigate with new lighting and fresh sidewalks. Most of the work was done over the spring, giving the football team all summer to settle in.
“I mean, if I were to break this down into numbers,” Maes said, “The way this place looked last year and all the years before it, it was a zero. This year, right now, it’s a 10. I’d go higher if I could.”
The players have taken notice, too. Roughly 40 of them have taken part in preseason camp while another dozen or so are expected to come out before the opener. It’s more than enough to provide stability for the varsity and subvarsity.
In many ways, this coming season is a rebirth for Sundevils football. There’s a real sense of optimism, one that has created a sense of pride rarely seen in these parts.
Save for a district title and the school’s second-ever trip to the playoffs just two years ago, the hard truth is that Española has never been a football school. Much of the resources and attention have, deservedly, gone to the basketball program. At long last, that’s changing. Every starter on the offensive line returns while the backfield is stuffed with a trio of runners that will form the backbone of the team’s identity. Maes likes to describe it as 3-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust, but it’s probably something closer to a boxer working in a flurry of jabs and waiting to unleash the haymaker.
Consider Deondre Curtis the haymaker. A 145-pound senior, he’ll get the start at running back while 240-pound road grader Nick Martinez gets the nod at fullback. Joining them is a familiar face from two years ago, senior Damian Velasquez.
Pegged almost exclusively as a blocking back this fall, Velasquez was in line for that same spot last year before his first and only play of the season ended with a knee injury that kept him on the sidelines.
The proverbial jabs come in the form of Martinez and Velasquez. The occasional punch comes from quarterback Arlen Garcia, a sophomore who got a little experience as a freshman last year.
The fireworks are up to Curtis, a player Maes said can do a little of everything.
“We’ll be looking a him to do all the damage, just like we did last year,” Maes said.
The pride and joy on the field is clearly the line, a unit that averages roughly 6-feet and 212 pounds. Most of them play along the defensive front, as well. In the team’s recent scrimmage against Gallup, the players up front were those who shone brightest in Maes’ eyes.
“They have the unity a coach loves to see,” he said.
More than that, the offensive line will be able to run downhill thanks to Martinez at fullback.
“Sooner or later you’re going to get tired of tackling him and that’s when he’ll hit you for a 30-yard run, or Deondre goes for 60,” Maes said.
Making a playoff push almost certainly depends on a strong run through District 2-5A because the nondistrict slate is as tough as ever. Challenging games against smaller schools Clayton and Escalante are part of a three-game stretch at home to open the year, but three even tougher games on the road against Moriarty, Miyamura and Aztec close out September.
“I think we have the potential to be right there,” Maes said. “Really, more than anything else, I want our guys to defend what’s ours and protect this new field. We have to have a hunger for making this place our own and that starts with staying strong when the lights come on.”
TEAM NOTES
New look: The Sundevils made a splash a couple years ago with new uniforms that deviated a bit from the school colors. The red got darker and the yellow was replaced with gold while the helmet decal was a Superman logo dripping with what looked like streaks of blood.
They will get a makeover once again. The brighter red returns with similar-colored helmets, jerseys and pants. The helmet decal will be a chrome pitchfork while the front of the jerseys will have the numbers superimposed over another pitchfork.
Pomp and circumstance: A dedication ceremony for the new field will be held prior to next week’s season opener against Clayton. It was tentatively scheduled for the night of the scrimmage earlier this week, but Maes said the school wanted to wait until the more formal setting of the regular season’s first game.