Comeback kid: Demons get tight end back just in time
Tight end Jones key part of Demons’ resurgence
Trent Jones was the first person Andrew Martinez met. He might end up being the last piece to fill out Santa Fe High’s playoff puzzle. The Demons’ senior tight end has been one of the handful of mainstays through one of the darkest periods in the football program’s history, and became a beacon of light as Martinez, the third-year head coach, rebuilt it. But even as Santa Fe High embarked on a remarkable turnaround in which it is playing its most meaningful game in six years with a Friday night matchup at home against Albuquerque Del Norte, Jones was merely a spectator for most of this season as he waited for a torn right meniscus to heal.
It finally did last week — just in time for the start of District 2/6-5A play — and Jones showed how valuable he was on the field. Jones had a 3-yard touchdown catch in the
Demons’ 55-28 win over Los Alamos on Oct. 18, but it is no coincidence that the team had its best offensive performance in years. Santa Fe High gained 518 yards of offense and 457 on the ground, and Martinez said it’s an indication of what Jones brings to the team on the field.
“What he was asked to do a lot was a lot of blocking, and he did that pretty well,” Martinez said. “That’s the thing with him at tight end, he is such a good blocker because he is so big and strong.”
Martinez has become accustomed to singing Jones’ praises and that began almost from the moment he walked into his office in May 2017. The first two players he met were the Jones brothers — Trent and Jared, a 2018 Santa Fe High graduate.
“I was like, ‘Oh, these are some good-looking kids,’ ” Martinez said. “They were real nice, and respectful — ‘Yukon’ and ‘Moose.’ But they don’t call Trent ‘Yukon’ any more.”
Jones said he wanted to meet Martinez because he wanted to hear his vision for rebuilding the Demons, who were in the midst of a 35-game losing streak. It didn’t take long for Martinez to win the brothers over.
“We both knew there needed to be a change from the ground up,” Jones said. “I think we were excited to hear that was his main focus — to change the culture.”
At the time, Trent Jones was a center on the team and weighed about 285 pounds at the time. He split time between the varsity and junior varsity, but Martinez saw that Jones had good hands and could move well for his size and used him as a tight end at times.
“He was the prototypical size for a tight end,” Martinez said. “Because he had good hands, we transitioned him over there going into his junior year.”
Jones managed five catches for 44 yards last year in an offense that was filled with inexperienced underclassmen learning as they went. HowWASHINGTON
ever, Jones’ effectiveness was going to improve as the younger players matured, but fate forced the Demons to show patience. First, sophomore quarterback Luc Jaramillo suffered a right Achilles’ injury that limited his availability in the summer before getting cleared to play for the season opener against Las Vegas Robertson.
During the game, Jones tore his meniscus but played the rest of the game, recording a pair of catches for 6 yards. He didn’t notice the extent of the injury until the following day, though.
“The next day, when I woke up, it was swollen,” Jones said. “That’s when we decided to go see the doctor.”
The injury put him on the shelf for the next seven weeks, but it was during this stretch that Jones showed how much of a leader he had become. He said the Demons coaching staff implored him to be a more vocal presence in the locker room and on the field as a junior, which went against his more reserved nature. Jones demonstrated that on the first day of practice when he admonished the team after a flat performance. For Jones, he wanted to set a tone for the season.
“I think the first day is one of the most important days of the season,” Jones said. “Especially to start off the season, you need to start fast and it all begins with that first day of practice.”
As he waited for his body to heal, Jones took the time to watch, learn and teach from the sidelines. Jones said it was an invaluable experience, as he saw the game from a different perspective and tried to carry it onto the field against the Hilltoppers.
“Sitting back and looking, you don’t have as much going through your mind watching the game,” Jones said. “So you can critique and see what’s going on more. It’s helped me in watching my film, so I watch the game like I’m watching film.”
Jones called last week’s practice “exciting,” but he also knew what was at stake. The Demons had lost three straight games and were in a must-win situation heading to The Hill.
“I got to Friday and I was locked in,” Jones said. “There was hype and all of that, but everybody knew what we had to do and the opportunity we had.”
Now, the opportunity extends to this week, and a win can do something that has never been done in the city. It would set up a winner-take-all game with Capital, which plays at Los Alamos on Friday, for the 2/6-5A title. Those were words Jones never thought he’d hear while he was a Demon.
“I thought I was going to be a part of the rebuilding,” Jones said. “I never thought I’d get to see this part. So that’s exciting.”
More important to Martinez, though, is that Jones was here to help build the culture he wanted.
“I’ve told some of these younger guys to follow Trent around and watch him,” Martinez said. “I want them to understand that’s how a leader carries himself.”