Ferocious young Tigers show their potential
The rain refused to relent on Saturday (Oct. 8) in Santa Fe at the El Camino Real Academy football field for the two young Tigers football teams matchups against the Española Spartans. The D1, D2 and D3 squads from Taos pulled through to win their games, while the D4 team lost their matchup.
Despite the weather, supporters of the Taos youth football league teams (D1 to D4 going from younger to older in age) came out in full force to cheer on the little playmakers. Both sidelines were lined with parents and fans who watched the games inside the shelter provided by a pop-up canopy tent. The lineup of games for the day featured four matches between the four divisions of the
Taos Tigers and the Española Spartans.
The D1 (5-6 years) team won their matchup 18-12 against the Española Spartans.
The D2 (7-8 years) team coached by Dylan Etzel, Michael Marquez, Summer Maribal and Guillermo Atencio are undefeated in spite of losing their starting quarterback and defensive lineman due to injuries at the start of the season. The coaching staff have cultivated an ambush of hungry ferocious players who seek the ball and throw themselves into the ball carrier for emphatic tackles.
The D2 Española Spartans were steamrolled 37-0 by the Tigers. At one point, one of the Tigers did a front flip into the end zone after a long run for a touchdown.
On offense, the Spartans could not contain Aries, who delivered hits you could hear from afar. Like the astrological fire sign, Aries was all over the grid-iron, ramming into players for tackles or for blocks for his fellow teammates, such as on a long run by Jayden Mcmahan, where Aries was out in front looking to lead block.
After the victory, Coach Dylan Etzel asked his team a question. “Hey! How does it feel?” To which the young Tigers responded loudly, “Good!” Etzel then yelled “Undefeated, undefeated,” creating an uproar from the streak of ecstatic Tigers.
Etzel responded to a few questions in an interview with the Taos News on how the team has maintained their unbeaten streak. “I’d say hard work, dedication, learning
every single day, running practice five days a week. We focus on the game ahead of us,” he said.
One of the unintended consequences of the delayed construction of the new Taos Tigers football field is that the younger feeder program is also bereft of a home field to play on.
According to the president of the Taos Youth Football League, Adrianna Marquez, there is “nowhere for any football players to have a game. The middle school, as well as the Youth Football League, have nowhere to host home games because of the field conditions at the middle school football field. And, of course, the high school will not be ready in time for us to host a home game. It’s hard on parents traveling so much. We travel to Santa Fe every Saturday and might not be able to have a home game.”
On adjusting to the lack of home games, Etzel responded, “It’s rough, but we’ll do anything to play.”
The D3 (9-10 years) game featured more in the form of drama as both teams asserted themselves on the defensive end. The Tigers landed the first punch with a touchdown and an extra point that August Wood sent straight into the uprights. It would later turn out to be a game-winning extra point. The Española Spartans scored a touchdown after receiving favorable field position after forcing a fumble. The Spartans went for the 2-point attempt, but were met by the defense on the right flank.
Taos almost broke away with a long pass for a touchdown but a penalty offset it. Up by only one point, Christian Budd gave a speech to his team.
“If we want to win this game, we got to pick it up right now, all right. Not just one of us, not just
two of us — the whole team”
Christian then started to ask his Tigers a few questions “We’re a better team than them, right? (Yeah!) You guys are gonna go all out? Offensive line, you’re gonna block? Alright, keep being physical, keep being physical.”
He then demonstrated the proper way to carry the football, high and tight as opposed to low and loose.
The speech did no good as the Spartans forced another fumble in the third quarter. The Española quarterback was harassed on a majority of snaps. Española had possession of the ball a little under a minute to go after forcing a turnover on downs. After a couple of sacks, the Española quarterback in a fit of frustration called out his teammates, repeating the phrase “where’s my blockers?” The game ended with Dominic Garcia hitting the quarterback who threw a desperate pass into a crowd of players for an incompletion.
Budd gave a victory speech to his squad, “We’re gonna learn from those mistakes. Everything we did today that we could get better on. Let’s think about that. Think about it. So, at practice, we’ll get it right. We’ll show up next week, and we won’t make those same mistakes guys. That’s what we call learning points — everything we go through, we grow through — keep learning to keep fighting and keep playing Taos Tiger football.”
In the warmups for the D4 match, the Española coach instructed his players that if they adjusted any play calls, they would ride the bench. The other piece of advice he offered was to bring the heat unless the Tigers started to complete long passes.
The rain turned from light showers to torrential downpours. The play call for both teams was to rely strictly on the run and then to stop the run on defense. Española had more speed and physicality and won the game 24-0.