LOOK FOR WINS
With just two high schools, RR teams enjoy advantages in terms of participation
At some point, the city of Rio Rancho will build and open a third public high school. Probably, it will be located a fair bit west of where Rio Rancho High and Cleveland High are situated, and roughly halfway between those two on a north-south plane.
Time line to open? Hard to say. I had an informal chat with Rio Rancho Public Schools Superintendent Dr. V. Sue Cleveland last week, and she said a third high school was still at least five years from being realized.
Who knows? Given the state’s financial hardships as it relates to education, it could be much longer than that. But RRPS hasn’t even purchased the land yet, to my knowledge, let alone figured out how it would flip the bill for such a school.
But putting that aside, Dr. Cleveland told me, the district has other more pressing needs. Adding elementary schools, I believe she said, was one of the more imminent priorities.
So what does all this have to do with football?
Well, as we approach another state championship final today in the City of Vision, it reminds us that in the years to come, the city’s two public high schools are likely to continue to be the two most feared programs in the Class 6A division.
Las Cruces has four public high schools. And while that city isn’t much larger than Rio Rancho, there are only two here.
Which means the Rams and Storm, in addition to the facility and coaching advantages both teams enjoy over a district like Albuquerque Public Schools — and with student populations far bigger than any of the Las Cruces high schools — should probably continue to win at an impressive clip.
Both Rio Rancho and Cleveland have approximately 600-700 more students each than Mayfield, Oñate, Centennial or Las Cruces. In football, participation numbers are usually — although not universally — one of the key factors in on-field success.
It stands to reason that at least one of them, if not both, will be in the conversation every season when it comes to teams that could win a blue trophy. The frustration for other schools, I would imagine, is going to mount.
PUMP THE BRAKES: Gary Herron from the Rio Rancho Observer told me the other day about a person in Rio Rancho who wanted to attach the nickname “Titletown” to the city.
I can’t be sure if this was only about football, but even as the city basks in the glow of three recent undefeated state gridiron teams — two from Cleveland, another from Rio Rancho — with a fourth unbeaten team a possibility if the Rams defeat visiting Las Cruces this afternoon in the Class 6A final, such a nickname is ludicrous.
It is ridiculous to even consider this.
Rio Rancho doesn’t even have the most robust football history in this state, not by a country mile.
Artesia owns 29 championships and rightfully would have any dibs on that nickname. Las Cruces and Mayfield have enjoyed nearly a quarter-century of excellence between them, and have over a dozen combined titles to their name since 1995.
When I sat down with Rams coach David Howes earlier in the week, he said something that I absolutely agree with:
Rio Rancho and Cleveland would need at least another decade of this kind of dominance before we could begin a realistic comparison between Rio Rancho and Las Cruces.
SECRECY MUST BE MAINTAINED: If the Rams close out the season with a victory today, that will be four times since 2011 that the city has produced an undefeated state champion.
One of the state’s 6A football coaches offered to me, in private, this ranking of the four:
1. 2015 Cleveland.
2. 2011 Cleveland.
3. 2016 Rio Rancho.
4. 2014 Rio Rancho.
I would be curious to get other reactions to this, whether they come from coaches or former players or fans. If you’re interested, email me at jyodice@abqjournal.com.
SARTAN P.S.: Meanwhile, Rio Rancho is not even the only school from Rio West competing for a championship today. In fact, this is the first time multiple area programs are in a state football final on the same day. This has occurred frequently in other sports, but never in football.
St. Pius will play for the 5A title at 1 this afternoon against Artesia at Nusenda Community Stadium.
It wasn’t long ago that St. Pius was having a difficult time escaping mediocrity. The Sartans labored through a string of forgettable seasons that ended early in the playoffs, and they didn’t seem to be all that relevant in the state’s second-largest classification.
Much like Valley in 2013 when the Vikings had an undefeated regular season, St. Pius seems to have hit upon a special class. This group has been killing it for the last two seasons.
It has been 17 years since St. Pius won a football championship, or about when many of these current seniors were born.