It was a whirlwind start to football season
Welcome back to prep football, and maybe now we can catch our collective breath. What a frantic opening weekend!
I scarcely know where to begin. With a remarkable quarterback at
Cibola who threw for 428 yards and six touchdowns? With Volcano Vista holding off La Cueva thanks to a gritty offensive line and an emergency quarterback? By talking about the A-list metro talent that went on the disabled list in Week 1? Let’s start with Highland.
I woke up the other day to a text from Highland athletic director John Barnhill, whose message said that over two dozen new football players, freshmen and sophomores, had decided to come out to play football for the Hornets, who barely had enough athletes to adequately fill a varsity roster this fall until that development.
That number represents more players than were already in Highland’s program — “it doubled everything,” Highland coach Phil Lovato said — and it is a sign that perhaps the Hornets’ storied program, one of the state’s iconic programs, may yet find a way to survive and play football for years to come.
Lovato said a combination of media attention, plus recruitment by coaches and current Highland players, and also efforts in the community and on social media, led to this unexpected boost.
“Put all that together,” Lovato said, “and we got this big influx. It’s just amazing.”
Highland will even field a C-Team this fall, even if a majority of the newcomers haven’t played the sport before.
“I’m hoping that if we can keep half of them, maybe that’s gonna be the key in being able to have a C-Team (beyond this year),” Lovato said.
SPEAKING OF NEWCOMERS … : Cibola quarterback Aden Chavez threw for 428 yards and six touchdowns in his varsity debut for the Cougars on Friday night in a 40-35 victory against Sandia.
Actually, make that his high school debut.
Chavez is a freshman.
It’s almost unheard of, a coach at a bigschool program turning the offense over to a freshman. And for a freshman to have a debut that blows up like this? Startling.
“Man, I knew he had the potential to play at this level, there’s no doubt,” Cibola coach Rod Williams said Saturday. “He drinks and sleeps football.”
Williams said he didn’t know what Chavez had done, statistically, until the ride home from the stadium, when he saw tweets from the Journal’s Ken Sickenger.
“I was shocked,” Williams said. “I couldn’t believe those were really his numbers.”
Chavez completed 32 of 38 passes. “We were not prepared for that by any means,” Sandia coach Chad Adcox said, talking about the number of passes Cibola attempted and on what he saw from the Cibola offense at its scrimmage. “We were going blind into this one, for sure.”
Williams said the 6-foot-4, 175-pound Chavez has been attending Cibola games for many years; he had two older brothers, Gannon and Logan, who also played quarterback at Cibola.
I couldn’t help but laugh when Williams — who kept Chavez a closely guarded secret — said this about the ninth-grader: “He’s gonna get a lot better.” VOLCANO VISTA-LA CUEVA P.S.:
When quarterback Diego Pavia exited Thursday’s game against La Cueva with 7½ minutes to go and Pavia’s Volcano Vista Hawks clinging to a 29-25 lead, it seemed entirely within reason that the Bears’ defense would hold against emergency QB Nathan Sanchez, get the ball back, score and win the game.
Instead, Sanchez, who hadn’t taken a single offensive snap all year, came in and, backed by manly work by Volcano’s offensive line — Tyrus Charley, Aiden Ross, Beto Cabral, Quinten Walker and Ryan Martinez — had two big runs as the Hawks chewed up almost six minutes of clock and scored the clinching TD.
And let’s not forget — La Cueva knew
Volcano Vista was going to run on every snap, and the Hawks still imposed their will on the Bears.
Pavia’s left ankle is very tender, and it’s hard to know when he’ll return. The Hawks’ upcoming schedule is not terribly demanding, Volcano Vista’s backup QB, Johnny Herrera, also went out Thursday, with a hip injury, and he may miss also a block of time. So Sanchez may be the guy for the immediate future.
As for La Cueva, some observations: First, the Bears’ running game was largely nonexistent: 30 carries for 49 yards, and by my count, only three yards rushing in the final two quarters. Also, slot receiver Nas Robertson left with a left knee injury in the first half. La Cueva coach Brandon Back on Saturday said he didn’t know the extent of the injury.
Lastly, Brad Thomas, a state triple jump champion, was everything Back said he would be and then some. Thomas was tremendous as a possession receiver for QB Austin Smith, who was threw for 361 yards in the loss.
“He’s got the same type of skill (Connor) O’Toole does, just in a different body frame,” Back said of the 6-2, 170-pound Thomas.
RECORD TYING: With four field goals on Thursday, La Cueva place-kicker Dominic Camacho has apparently tied the state’s all-time career record (28).
The record that appears at nmact. org lists Albuquerque High’s Erik Hinterbichler with 28 from 1999-2001. Note: there’s almost no way to know if the list is 100 percent updated.
Camacho had eight FGs as a sophomore and 16 last season, Back said.
THE AFOREMENTIONED DL: Pavia, Herrera and Robertson were not the only local studs to leave a Week 1 game with an injury. Cleveland’s outstanding junior wide receiver, Tre Watson, suffered an arm injury on the first offensive series Friday against Oñate.
Efforts to reach Storm coach Heath Ridenour on Saturday for an update on Watson’s condition were unsuccessful.
THIS AND THAT: Two of the three first-time head coaches in the metro area earned their maiden victories on Friday — Shaun Gehres of Albuquerque Academy and Ty House of Belen. Moriarty’s Gabe Romero will have to wait at least another week after his Pintos fell to West Las Vegas. … Atrisco Heritage and Valencia traveled great distances (Las Cruces and Alamogordo) only to have lightning rain on their parades in Week 1, so the Jaguars and the Jaguars will open in Week 2 against Sandia and Highland, respectively.