Sundevils burning brighter
Despite early stumbles, young Española Valley team is turning back into a true state contender
Oliie Fell called them “senior moves,” but they were designed for those with experience. Unfortunately for Fell and most of the Española Valley Sundevils, they were in need of just that. Still, that wasn’t going to stop them from trying to execute them or keep firstyear head coach Gabe Martinez from demanding them.
“Senior moves” are simply the kind of decisions upperclassmen make at the varsity level — often the types that lead to success. For a team relying on just two seniors and nine underclassmen in a program that has experienced a great deal of success for the past decade (two state titles and four championship appearances over the past decade), it simply had to wait for the inexperienced youth to grow up.
Or, as Martinez put it: “You can’t gain experience without doing something.”
So, the Sundevils learned and grew, although not at a smooth, steady pace. Still, they find themselves at 13-7 overall and 3-0 in District 2-4A play heading into a game at Taos on Thursday that will determine the leader at the halfway point of the 2-4A schedule. Española has won four of its last five games and appears to be hitting its stride just as the Class 4A landscape seems to be adrift in chaos.
That means the Sundevils can believe in a dream of winning a state title that might not be deferred, which looked likely just a month ago.
Fell, a 6-foot-6 sophomore forward, said the key to their growth has been good, old-fashioned hard work.
“Coach is always pushing us,” Fell said. “If we don’t do the ‘senior move,’ as every one says, then we don’t learn. He gets on us about our wrong decisions that we shouldn’t be doing, so we can make up for it in practice.”
There have been plenty of wrong decisions. Perhaps the lowest point of the season came during the Al Armendariz Tournament at Capital, when the Sundevils scored just four points in the opening half against the Jaguars, their former longtime
district rivals, in a 67-18 loss in the Dec. 13 semifinals.
The following day was just as bad, as Española scored just 11 points in the first half against Pecos, the three-time defending small-school state champion, in a 65-29 final in the tournament’s third-place game. Martinez saw a glimmer of hope in the second half of the game as the Sundevils outscored the Panthers 18-14.
“One of my favorite sayings is that the first way to succeed is to learn how to fail,” Martinez said. “You don’t come in and win everything all the time. Not everything is always glitter and gold. Everyone has to fail in order to learn how to succeed, so you have to take those necessary bumps in the road.”
The bumps started before the season began. Martinez expected a slightly more experienced team, but a couple of seniors did not return to the team.
That left just Jon Garcia and Mario Aguino to help Martinez lead the way.
Then came an injury to Fell in the season opener against Bernalillo. He suffered a fracture and two breaks in his left elbow when he fell awkwardly during the game. He was one of a handful of players with varsity experience and a key post player to boot.
“He’s a really big rebounder, and we got a lot smaller after he went out,” Garcia said. “We’re still a tall team, but having him really makes a big difference.”
His presence was sorely missed during the opening round of Rio Rancho’s Jalene Berger Holiday Classic, as the Sundevils tried to pull off an upset of what was then the second-ranked team in 4A. They led 36-32 late in the third quarter when Garcia, a 6-3 post, committed his fourth foul. Melaki Jones, a 6-4 sophomore, also was on the bench with four fouls, and the Hornets took advantage of their absence with a 19-4 run that led to a 66-48 win.
Despite the loss, Fell said the younger players saw they were not as far as away from being a competitive team as it might have seemed just two weeks earlier.
“I think people noticed that,” Fell said. “I know that Garrett May [a sophomore guard] noticed that he could play with these guys and look at him now. Sometimes, you need a little boost like that. You start to say, ‘Oh, I can do this,’ and just keep doing it.”
Fell also noticed that his elbow was healing much faster than expected and the initial prognosis of a lost season fell by the wayside. He gained clearance to return to practice two weeks ago and has played in all three district games — all wins.
“His first game back, he was a little apprehensive about using [his arm],” Martinez said. “But by the last game [a 67-55 win over Los Alamos on Jan. 28], he started to move around really well and he definitely brings another piece to the puzzle.”
As another piece to the rebuilding project fell into place, it seems the project is moving forward much more quickly than expected. It might not be a “senior move,” but it’s still progress.