The Daily Times 2013 Football Fall Preview

7/30/2019 The Daily Times 2013 Football Fall Preview

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2 FALL SPORTS PREVIEW THE DAILY TIMES

FARMINGTON Navajo

Prep is a football team on therise, and it has set high expecta-tions heading into the 2013 sea-son.

The Eagles are coming off a6-5 season in which they wonthe District 5-2A title.

This year, Prep has its sightson repeating as district champsand making a run in the stateplayoffs.

I think well do pretty goodthis year. I expect well get pastthe first round, said 2012District Player of the Year MikaMauga.

Prep ran into trouble in theopening playoff round last sea-son, losing to Clayton 52-6, butthe Eagles say they havelearned from the experienceand will be better prepared forthe postseason this year.

I think we were a little inshock last year in the playoffs.

This year, well be more ready,Mauga said.Junior Tyler Sorensen, who

returns as the Eagles startingquarterback, said he haslearned a lot from last seasonand thinks hes ready to leadPrep to a playoff victory.

Last year, I wasnt able tomake a lot of reads and I wasjust playing off of what openedup. This year, everything hasslowed down and Im able to

pick it up, Sorensen said. Our

goal is to win state, and we feellike we have a chance with a lotof returning players.

The Eagles lost only five sen-iors and Prep head coach RodDenetso has seen an increase inthe returning players motiva-tion after the success in 2012.

Theyre hungry. Weve beenhungry since Clayton beat us,Denetso said. The guys havebeen in the weight room, andthe team showed up in shape.The kids are ready. We have alot of speed and some size, sowere ready to go.

The Prep offense piled uppoints last season, averaging alittle more than 35 per game,and similar results can beexpected in 2013 with the hiresof five former Aztec assistantcoaches Mike Kovacs, ChrisKovacs, Ernie Kovacs, BrettAlexander and Jose Santistevan

and the implementation ofthe Tigers spread offense.They have a lot of returners

that were very successful. Itsexciting to see that, said MikeKovacs, who will run theoffense. I think Tyler Sorensen,the quarterback, has a live armand bringing over that spreadoffense we ran at Aztec will beexciting. Its a young bunch, butits exciting to watch themgrow.

NAVAJO PREP EAGLES

Jon Austria/The Daily Times

ABOVE: Navajo Preps Mika

Mauga (22) runs the ball in agame against the Wingate

Bears during the 2012 season.

RIGHT: Navajo Prep

quarterback Tyler Sorensenthrows a pass to an open

receiver during footballpractice on Aug. 22 at Navajo

Preparatory School in Farm-ington.


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3FALL SPORTS PREVIEWTHE DAILY TIMES


Navajo Prep football assistant coaches confer with each other during football practice on Aug. 22 at Navajo Preparatory School in Farmington.

FARMINGTON NavajoPrep will have a new offense,but a familiar look to footballfans around San Juan County.

The Eagles and head coach

Rod Denetso added five for-mer Aztec High coaches to thestaff in the hopes of improvingfrom last seasons district title.

Mike Kovacs, his brother,Chris Kovacs, and father,Ernie Kovacs, along with BrettAlexander and JoseSantistevan, joined Prep in theoffseason and will install thesame spread offense thathelped to make Aztec success-ful over the past few seasons.

I got a call from (Mike)Kovacs saying they had someguys who wanted to come andhelp out. They wanted to take

on this challenge, Denetsosaid of the hiring.

Mike Kovacs, who willserve as the Prep offensivecoordinator, said the five

coaches were looking for anew way to get involved withfootball in the area, and theyfound that chance with coach-ing the Eagles.

I think theres a lot of tal-ent here, and were excited tosee the opportunity in 2A andget our feet wet in anotherarea of competitive football inthe state of New Mexico, hesaid.

This will be the first time in

Denetsos three years as headcoach that the Eagles have hada full coaching staff.

They bring a lot of experi-

ence. Last year, we didnt havea line coach. That gotaddressed, Denetso said.We didnt have somebody inthe box. Individual positions

werent being addressed, sonow we have all of that.Anytime you go down southand play those teams, youneed that experience.

Mike Kovacs also noticedthe small staff Denetso had inthe past and thinks the newaddition will be able toimprove the team.

One thing that Rod didnthave last year was enoughcoaches, he said. Its hard to

work with so many position.With more coaches, well beable to isolate and do moreindividual work.

Many of the players havebeen practicing during the off-season and think the Eaglesoffense, which averaged morethan 35 points per game last

year, will be more explosivethis year.Most of our receivers and

skill players live around hereand know it pretty wellbecause weve been running itall summer, said MikaMauga, who won the District5-2A Player of the Year in2012. This new offense is a lotbetter. I think were lookingpretty good.

Despite the staff having

fewer players to work with at2A Navajo Prep compared to4A Aztec, Alexander, who isworking with the wide

receivers and defensive backs,said they havent had to scaleback or water down the sys-tem. And the Eagles will berunning the exact same offense

that the Tigers had last year.These kids picked thingsup pretty quick, he said.Theyre hungry after they gota little taste of the playoffs lastyear, and theyre hardwork-ing, just like we had in Aztec.

Denetso has alreadynoticed the difference the newcoaches have brought andcant wait to see how the restof the season unfolds.

Weve seen it already. Kids

cant take plays off and cantget away with stuff, he said.Everything is now verydetailed oriented.

Navajo Prep beefs up coaching staff


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Bloomfield running back Adrian Vigil breaks through the Piedra Vista defense during a scrimmage game on Aug. 23 at Hutchison Stadium in Farmington.


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BLOOMFIELD The

Bloomfield Bobcats have highhopes for the 2013 football cam-paign, and a good draw fromthe 3A state tournament selec-tion committee will largelydepend on the Bobcats per-formance on the opening nightof the season.

Led by third-year seniorquarterback Bobby Lyon, theBobcats will host the defendingchampion St. MichaelsHorsemen in Week 1. ThoughBloomfield has a solid non-dis-trict schedule with 4A competi-tion, a lot will ride on the firstgame against the Horsemen inthe eyes of the seeding commit-tee due to the lack of strength inBloomfields District 1-3Aschedule.

We are treating it like thestate title game, Lyon said.We are going in with every-thing we have got.

A week out from the seasonopener, Bloomfield scrim-maged Piedra Vista and LosAlamos, both of which are 4Aschools. Every player on theBloomfield sideline was moti-vated for the St. Mikes game,saying the team was already instate tournament mode.

They are the defendingstate champs and have been 25-1 the last two years, saidBloomfield head coach BruceHatch. It would be a big winfor us. Like anything, we havegot to win as many games aswe possibly can, but we defi-nitely have to have a goodshowing in that game. We haveto have a good record comingout of our non-district and dis-trict schedules and hope for thebest with the seeding commit-tee. Every game counts, butthat one is huge.

Lyon emerged during hisjunior season as a solid threatafter suffering through grow-ing pains as a sophomore first-

year starter. Bloomfield glidedto a district championship butsuffered losses to Grants,Miyamura, Farmington and St.Mikes in the regular season, allof which are back on the sched-ule for 2013.

Bloomfield earned a No. 4seed in the tournament and abye in the first round of theplayoffs, but No. 5 Lovingtonwent into Bobcat Stadium andtook a 21-8 win in the statequarterfinals to endBloomfields season.

With a few new pieces and a

dynamic weapon in AdrianVigil, Lyon is looking to makethe next step in his final season.

I went to a lot of camps

over the summer and feel realconfident with my abilitiesgoing into this season, Lyonsaid. Adrian Vigil is a reallyfast guy. With him, I know wewill be alright.

A good group of widereceivers will help keepBloomfields offense balanced,and an experienced offensiveline will help Lyon stay on hisfeet in the pocket and allowhim to be creative with his feetwhen plays break down.

Our receivers and ouroffensive line have gotten a lot

better since last year, Lyonsaid. The guys are all pickingup their blocks, and our insidereceivers are catching about

everything I throw to them. Icouldnt ask for much more.

Josh Archibeque producednearly 1,200 yards of offense forBloomfield in 2012, and Hatchis hoping Vigil can make up forthat this year since Archibequehas graduated.

We think Vigil can fill thatrole, but we do have someother guys we can mix in, too. Itis hard to replace Joshs speedand quickness because he wassuch a fast kid, but Vigil is upthere, too, he said.

While the Bobcats plan on

scoring a lot of points, as longas they control the football andlimit turnovers, the fate ofBloomfields season will large-

ly rest in the hands of itsdefense.

We are young on defense.Not age-wise, but experience-wise, Hatch said. We arelooking to hopefully get betteras the season goes and hit ourstride mid to late November.

What has impressed Hatchand Lyon the most this offsea-son is the way the team hasgelled through all the workouts.

It is almost like the guyscan read each others minds.They know what the other isgoing to do, and everyone can

rely on each other to do thejob, Hatch said. We have aton of good kids who all getalong. It has been really great.

BLOOMFIELD BOBCATS


Bobby Lyon prepares to throw to a receiver during a scrimmage game against Piedra Vista High School on Aug. 23 at Hutchison Sta-dium in Farmington.


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SHIPROCKCHIEFTAINS

SHIPROCK Shiprockfootball is going through a

transitional phase.The Chieftains enter theseason with a new coach anda new quarterback as theyattempt to return to the play-offs for the first time in threeyears.

First-year head coachStorm Tallbull is evaluatingthe players to see which sys-tem will work best for theChieftains. Tallbull took thecoaching job from Don Story

after Story was promoted toShiprocks athletic directorafter a 5-5 season last year.

Were not set into one

offense, and were not set intoone defense. Its all based on

our talent, Tallbull said.Defensively, if I need to run athree man front, then well run athree man front if were athleticenough. We havent set in stonewhat were going to do onoffense or defense. Its justbased on what the boys arecapable of doing and what kindof athletes we have.

With the loss of last yearssenior quarterback AdamBegaye, the Chieftains are

working out three sopho-mores at the spot to try to finda replacement.

Were very young at the

quarterback spot. Right now,we have Ryan Nez, Arjay

Miller and Irwin Holidaycompeting for the spot,Tallbull said. Were just try-ing to find out whos the bestquarterback and design ouroffense around that.

Tallbull likes bringing in ayoung guy who he can moldinto the system in his firstyear.

If you have a young guy,you can teach them right offthe bat, he said. Being

around the coaches in our firstseason will really help us nextyear, because theyll under-stand what we want to do and

come in and do it.Despite having a young

team, a few leaders among theseniors have stepped up andhelped Tallbull ease into thejob.

Cory Dayish is reallybringing out some leadership.He really busted his butt inthe weight room all summerlong, Tallbull said. NathanSmart will be a game changerat linebacker. Raygen Charleyhas been a big help for us, andhell be in at linebacker and

running back.Dayish is hopeful that

the Chieftains will be ableto get to the postseason in

his senior year.I believe we need to get to

the state playoffs. Thats where Iwant to be and thats where theteam wants to be, he said. Wehave a great team and can makea run for it.

Shiprock fell short of theDistrict 1-3A title, losing toBloomfield in the final gameof the regular season, butSmart thinks that if theChieftain defense steps up,theyll have a better chanceagainst the Bobcats this year.

We just have to work hardand push each other if wewant to get that district, hesaid.

Shiprock quarterback Ryan Nez throws a pass during a recent practice. Shiprock players warm up before practice.

Shiprock quarterback Arjay Miller looks onduring a practice.


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2013 FOOTBALL SCHEDULES

FARMINGTO

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PIEDRAV

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AZT

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KIRT

LAND

CEN

TRAL

BLO

OMFIELD

NAVAJOP

REP

SHIPROCK

Aug. 30 Gallup 7 p.m. AwaySept. 6 Los Alamos 7 p.m. Away

Sept. 13 Miyamura 7 p.m. HomeSept. 19 Durango 7 p.m. HomeSept. 27 Valencia 7 p.m. AwayOct. 4 St. Pius X * 7 p.m. HomeOct. 11 Bloomfield 7 p.m. HomeOct. 25 Aztec 7 p.m. AwayNov. 1 Kirtland Central 7 p.m. HomeNov. 8 Piedra Vista 7 p.m. Away

Home games played at Hutchison Stadium *Denotes Homecoming game

Aug. 30 Miyamura 7 p.m. HomeSept. 6 Grants 7 p.m. HomeSept. 13 Durango 7 p.m. AwaySept. 20 Santa Fe 7 p.m. HomeSept. 27 Moriarty 7 p.m. AwayOct. 4 Bernalillo 7 p.m. AwayOct. 19 St. Pius X 7 p.m. Away (Milne)Oct. 25 Kirtland* 7 p.m. HomeNov. 1 Aztec 7 p.m. AwayNov. 8 Farmington 7 p.m. Home

Home games played at Hutchison Stadium *Denotes Homecoming game

Aug. 30 Los Lunas 7 p.m. AwaySept. 6 Goddard 7 p.m. HomeSept. 13 Raton 7 p.m. AwaySept. 20 Miyamura 7 p.m. AwaySept. 27 Manzano* 7 p.m. Home

Oct. 4 Del Norte 7 p.m. Away (Milne)Oct. 11 St. Pius X 7 p.m. Away (UNM)Oct. 25 Farmington 7 p.m. HomeNov. 1 Piedra Vista 7 p.m. HomeNov. 8 Kirtland 7 p.m. AwayHome games played at Fred Cook Memorial Stadium *Denotes Homecoming game

Aug. 30 Bayfield 7 p.m. HomeSept. 6 Durango 7 p.m. HomeSept. 20 Los Alamos 7 p.m. HomeSept. 27 Espanola * 7 p.m. HomeOct. 4 Gallup 7 p.m. AwayOct. 11 Capital 7 p.m. Away

Oct. 18 Bloomfield 7 p.m. AwayOct. 25 Piedra Vista 7 p.m. AwayNov. 1 Farmington 7 p.m. AwayNov. 8 Aztec 7 p.m. Home

Home games played at Bronco Stadium *Denotes Homecoming game

Aug. 30 St. Michael's 7 p.m. HomeSept. 6 Pojoaque Valley 7 p.m. AwaySept. 13 Grants 7 p.m. HomeSept. 28 Hope Christian TBD AwayOct. 4 Miyamura* 7 p.m. HomeOct. 11 Farmington 7 p.m. AwayOct. 18 Kirtland Central 7 p.m. HomeOct. 25 Thoreau 7 p.m. AwayNov. 1 Wingate 7 p.m. HomeNov. 8 Shiprock 7 p.m. Away

Home games played at Bobcat Stadium *Denotes Homecoming game

Aug. 30 Estancia 7 p.m. HomeSept. 6 Zuni 7 p.m. Home

Sept. 13 Monument Valley 7 p.m. AwaySept. 20 Pojoaque Valley 6 p.m. AwaySept. 27 Dulce 7 p.m. AwayOct. 11 Navajo Prep 7 p.m. AwayOct. 18 Escalante* 6 p.m. HomeOct. 25 Wingate 7 p.m. AwayNov. 1 Thoreau 7 p.m. HomeNov. 8 Bloomfield 7 p.m. Home

Home games played at Chieftain Stadium *Denotes Homecoming game

Aug. 30 Thoreau 7 p.m. AwaySept. 6 Wingate 7 p.m. AwaySept. 13 Crownpoint 7 p.m. HomeSept. 20 Escalante 7 p.m. AwaySept. 27 Santa Fe Indian 7 p.m. HomeOct. 11 Shiprock* 7 p.m. HomeOct. 18 Newcomb 7 p.m. AwayOct. 26 Cuba TBD AwayNov. 1 Navajo Pine 7 p.m. HomeNov. 8 Dulce 7 p.m. Away

Home games played at Navajo Prep *Denotes Homecoming game


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FARMINGTON A strong

core of 14 seniors plan to leadthe Farmington HighScorpions to another state tour-nament appearance in 2013.

The Scorpions will crank uptheir potent defense and formi-dable rushing attack again thisseason as head coach GaryBradley aims to improve on a7-5 campaign in 2012 in whichthe Scorps went 2-1 and fin-ished third in District 1-4A viaa tiebreaker with Aztec and

Piedra Vista. A season ago,Farmington fell in the firstround of the state tournament45-20 on the road at Moriarty.

Our maturity level is upthere. All of the seniors playeda lot of varsity football lastyear, whether they started ornot, Bradley said. Wehavent had to push the guysor threaten them or rewardthem just to be there and to

work hard. They have done iton their own. When you haveleaders like that, the youngones tend to follow them. Thatis what we are most pleasedwith going into the early sea-son.

Farmington returns a lot oftalent on defense, losing justtwo starting linebackers from aseason ago.

We replaced everybodyand moved around the corner-backs some. I think we willhave a very strong D becausewe have a lot of experience,said senior wide receiver andball hawking defensive backKyle Reynolds. Last year, wedid really good getting a lot ofturnovers and setting up ouroffense with good field posi-tion. I think we can force evenmore turnovers this year.

A solid offensive line that

features depth has Bradleyexcited about this years rush-ing attack, which will be led bysenior running backs Brian

Farley and Austin Foutz andsenior quarterback JacobLucas.

Brian Farley has greatspeed and hits the hole hard.Foutz has fantastic vision andis very quick, Lucas said of histop two backs. We also have alot of running backs who did-nt play a whole lot last year,like Tyler Blades and ChaytonSalcido.

With Reynolds as a valuablethreat at wide receiver,Farmington has the tools to

open up the passing gamemore in Lucas senior season.Jacob and I have been

throwing a lot and practicing

quite a bit, Reynolds said. Ithink it is going to be a reallygood year for us being a duel-

threat offense because (Lucas)can run a lot, but, with hisexperience and our experienceon the offensive line, I think wecan start passing.

Bradley said the team willgo as far as the offensive linetakes them.

That is not pressure onthem, but reality, he said.They know it and appreciateit and embrace it. That is why I

love linemen. We havent hadthe depth there like we do thisyear in my time here, and all ofthose guys want that running

play to be called behind themon 4th-and-1 or 2nd-and-goal.

Bradley said the biggest keyto the early season is determin-ing whether some kids have toplay on both sides of the ball orwhether he has enough depthin all positions to allow kids torest more.

We are looking at what ismost important. Sure, wehave returning starters whowent two ways, but do wewant them to play both everygame, or do we have guys

there that we can fit in therethat are just as good goingjust one way? We are tryingto fit all the puzzle pieces

together, Bradley said.Farmington High opens

with two road games at Gallupand at Los Alamos beforereturning home to faceMiyamura and Durango. Aftera middle-of-the-season roadgame at Valencia, a home gameagainst St. Pius X will test theScorpions before gamesagainst San Juan County com-petition.

We are taking it all one dayat a time. We cant look at thedistrict schedule yet or state.

We are all doing a good jobgoing one day, one game, onepractice at a time, Reynoldssaid.


Farmington High School quarterback Jacob Lucas throws the ball to

an open receiver during a scrimmage game against Los Lunas onAug. 16 at Hutchison Stadium at Farmington High School.


Jon Austria/The Daily TimesBrian Farley (30) carries the ball against Los Lunas during ascrimmage game on Aug. 16 at Hutchison Stadium at FarmingtonHigh School.


Farmington High School's Austin Foutz (6) moves around a LosLunas player during a scrimmage game on Aug. 16 at Hutchison

Stadium at Farmington High School in Farmington.

FARMINGTON SCORPIONS


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FARMINGTON A yearremoved from their most suc-cessful season since 2006,Piedra Vista is aiming to takethe next step toward a districtchampionship.

The Panthers lost severalvaluable players from their 9-3campaign in 2012 that ended

with a state quarterfinal loss.A retooled offensive line willlead the way as seniors IsaiahValdez and Beau Clafton try tolead PV back to the state play-offs.

We have a good nucleus ofguys coming back who havehad a lot of playing time, saidPV head coach Jared Howell.I am impressed, as every-body is, by Beau Clafton.

Isaiah Valdez has adjusted realwell to the changes aroundhim at quarterback, and hehas had to become a more

vocal leader.Clafton emerged during the

2012 season as a dynamicthreat, taking sweep tossesand running routes as a widereceiver. Along with Aztecrunning back Ryanel Lewis-Adams, Clafton will be one ofthe most dynamic players in

District 1-4A.Ryneal is a great football

and track athlete. He andClafton are kind of the samekids, Howell said. They arevery explosive. Beau wasfourth in the 100-yard dashlast year on a pulled ham-string running 80 percent. Hewas our district champ in the100. When he gets daylight,nobody is catching him unless

they have some kind of greatangle on him.Clafton is only asking his

offensive line for four seconds

of solid blocking, and he planson being in the open field.

I am extremely confidentwith the new line coming up.They have shown me that Ican count on them. I amextremely impressed, Claftonsaid. Last year, we started tobuild a winning program, and

now we can see that with theguys coming up. All of theguys are motivated and every-one is working hard.

Howell is also confidentemerging stars are among theranks of the PV team.

Storm Avendano is a kidwho is going to make hismark. Grayson Tracy at cor-nerback on defense will, too,Howell said. Nick Varley is

another guy who will be onboth sides making an impact.We already have a good full-back with Ryan Rino, but

Varley can run it a bit there aswell.

Valdez is going from hav-ing an explosive group ofwide receivers to smaller guyswho have good hands, Howellsaid.

Us seniors have to teachup the young kids and prepare

them for what the state play-offs are like now that we haveexperienced it, Valdez said.We have a bunch of guyswho are going to step up forthe guys we lost like BrysonMartinez and Wyatt Hardy.But other seniors like Storm,Philiciano (Castiana) andDylan (Puhuyaoma), they canall step up.

Clafton, Howell and Valdez

all pointed to the teams workethic when asked why theybelieve the Panthers will winthe District 1-4A title.

We are not necessarily themost talented, but we havegreat guys out here, and weare coming at it with a lot ofintensity and playing harderthan we normally have,Clafton said.

Howell said offseasons aregetting shorter in high school

football, and he believes PVhas put in the work to reachthat stage again since falling inlast years state quarterfinals.

We have got it done in ath-letic hour getting in the weightroom and putting in the work.That is what you have to dothese days, he said. When Igrew up, there was an offsea-son. There is not much of thatanymore. There is a change of

seasons, but the big factor isgetting bigger and stronger inthe weight room out of seasonnow.


PIEDRA VISTAPANTHERS


Piedra Vista High School quarterback Isaiah Valdez scrambles to find an open receiverduring a scrimmage game against Bloomfield High School on Aug. 23 at Hutchison

Stadium in Farmington.


Piedra Vista Panther Beau Clafton (22) carries the ball during a game against theMoriarty Pintos on Sept. 9, 2012, at Hutchison Stadium in Farmington.


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The Daily Times 2013 Football Fall Preview

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