THURSDAY, AUG. 30, 2012€¦ · fierro ol/dl 70 brandon leach ol/dl 69 trenton pierce ol/dl 68 tyler whitlock ol/dl 67 xzavion patterson ol/dl 89 mitch swuirez ... diaz ol/dl 38 seth

WWW.LCSUN-NEWS.COM THURSDAY, AUG. 30, 2012

Football 2012 2Thursday, Aug. 30, 2012Las Cruces Sun-Newswww.lcsun-news.comHIGH SCHOOLS

Publisher Frank Leto

Editor Jim Lawitz

Sports editor Teddy Feinberg

Design Pablo Villa

Sports reporter Jason Groves

Photographers Shari V. HillNiki Rhynes

Robin Zielinski

Online Jason GibbsLucas Peerman

Contributors Bill ArmendarizAnthony Esparza

Mark RudiDanny Udero

•Cover photo by RobinZielinski

•Special thanks to Estep Photography, Kim Jew Photography andRich Chavez Photography for high school football headshots

THE LINEUP

OTHER HIGH SCHOOLS SECTIONSTAFF

4 After reaching the statechampionship game in2011, the Mayfield Tro-jans replace key piecesthroughout their team.

Meet the 2012 MayfieldTrojans.5

10 The Las Cruces Bull-dawgs are a preseasonfavorite to win the 2012state championship.

Meet the 2012 LasCruces Bulldawgs.12

16 Can the Oñate Knightspush for a state playoffappearance in this beingYear 2 of the Caleb Hullcoaching era?

Meet the 2012 OñateKnights.18

20 The Centennial Hawksopen up their inauguralseason on the footballfield, led by head coachAaron Ocampo.

Meet the 2012Centennial Hawks.22

AlamogordoGadsden

Deming

Mesilla Valley ChristianSanta TeresaChaparral

CobreSilverHatch

COLLEGES31 Aggies enter critical sea-

son on football field.

Aggies’ key games.

Q&A with Aggie headcoach DeWayne Walker.

A look around the West-ern Athletic Conference.

Preview on UTEP, UNMand WNMU.

32

3435

26

27

28 29

30 Statewide look at NM high school football

Go to lcsun-news.com for:

•Check out our high schoolfootball trading cards fromMayfield, Las Cruces High,Oñate and Centennial.

•Videos on Mayfield, LasCruces High, Oñate, Centenni-

al and New Mexico State.

•Photo galleries from Augustfall practices, and throughoutthe football season.

•Get updated scores, statsand content throughout theyear.

ONLINE EXTRAS

•Alex Guzman and Andres Barunda: Guzmanwill team with An-dres Barunda onthe offensive line.Both senior guardswith the samebody type (stand-ing at about 5-

foot-9) as the Trojans build a new offensivefront-five.

•Seth Bayles: In-juredfor themajori-ty oflastseason,Bayless

steps in as a seniorlooking to fill the all-important “slash” rolein the Mayfield of-fense, replacing ChrisTrujillo.

•Elijah Perez: Perezwill doit all fortheTro-jans,seeingsome

time at perhaps quar-terback, cornerback,running back, andslash.


Ready toMayfield Trojans

reloadTrojans must replace

weapons from 2011 teamJason Groves

[email protected]

Mayfield quarterback AxtenFranzoy led the Trojans to twostate title games, winning one in2010. Franzoy, Ricky Milks, ChrisTrujillo, and the other eightstarters on offense graduated,whichwill leave theTrojans to re-build on offense while leaning onthedefensive sideof theball in theearly part of the 2012 schedule.Six defensive starters return for

Mayfield, led by defensive line-man Devonte Weeks and corner-back Marcus Inglemon. The Tro-jans defense didn’t record a sacklast year and gave up a number of

big plays.If Inglemon can equal or match

the production the team have en-joyed with Milks, the Trojanscould verywell be adangerous of-fensive attack once again.Mayfield always improves

throughout the course of the year.After being favorites the pastthree years, the Trojans enter thisyear slightly under the radar. Itcertainly won’t be that way comeplayoff time.“These kids have a lot of pride

and tradition behind them andthat pushes them in practice andgameday,” Mayfield head coachMichael Bradley said. “We knowwehave anuphill battle this year.”

•Coach: Michael Bradley

•District: 3-5A

•2011 record: 10-3, 4-0(Lost in state championshipgame)

Number of seniors whograduated after playing inlast year’s Class 5A statechampionship game.

Michael Bradley is 65-13 (winning percentage

of 83)with threestatechampi-onships asa headcoach at

Mayfield. The Trojanshave appeared in theClass 5A title game thepast three seasons, butthis could be Bradley’stoughest challenge todate.Not only do the Trojans

need to replace their en-tire offense from lastyear, but coaching legendJim Bradley will not beinvolved with the pro-gram as he recovers froma stroke suffered lastyear.

Team capsule

Inside the headset

7 key players

Telling number

34

BrandonTheland

•Marcus Inglemon:Ingle-monstepsin forRickyMilksat run-

ning back, while start-ing at cornerback onthe defensive side ofthe ball.

•Andrew Serna: At5-foot-8, Ser-na is arun-ori-entedquarter-back

who led the Trojans’junior varsity to a 8-1record last year. He isone of three playerscompeting for thequarterback job.

•Devonte Weeks:Weeksis amon-ster inthemiddleof the

Trojans defensive lineat 6-foot-3, 245pounds. Weeks alsoplays left tackle on theoffensive line.

•Brandon Theland:The-land isastrongathletewhostarts

at wide receiver andfree safety. Thelandwas measured with a36-inch vertical jumpat the NMPreps.com Elite Combine.

ROBIN ZIELINSKI/SUN-NEWS

Mayfield Trojans: Meet the team

7KAVIKAJOHNSONQB/DB6JOEL

ARNOLDWR/DB5 ISAAC

FIGUEROAQB/DB4BEN

TINGENQB/DB4ANDREW

SERNAQB/RB3MATT

ZERTUCHEWR/DB1MARCUS

INGLEMONRB/CB

12 ISAIAHCARRERARB/DB11ELIJAH

STOUTWR/DB10ORLANDO

SAENZRB/DB10CHRIS

ACOSTATE/DE9STEVEN

MANZANARESWR/DB8LARRY

BUSTAMANTEWR/DB8CATLIN

KELLERTE/DE

19RYANHAMMONDWR/DB18 ISAIAH

LERMANRB/DB17CASEY

PEACEWR/DB16PHILLIP

EHLYQB/DB15PAYSON

ROGERSRB/DB14ANDREW

FLORESQB/LB13ANGEL

AGUILERARB/DB

31CHRISMANUELTE/DE30JOAH

FRANZOYFB/LB29ROBERT

SANDOVALRB/DB28BRIAN

KELLYQB/DB25ROBERT

ZARATERB/DB23TRES

SANDOVALQB/DB22ELIJAH

PEREZRB/DB

34LORENZORAMIREZLB/WR33JOSEPH

ZONATARB/DB32JESSE

JIMINEZRB/DB

38SANTIAGOMIRANDAFB/LB36ADAM

RODRIGUEZTE/LB35FRANKIE

CORDOVAFB/DL


“I do want him (Jim Bradley) to be involved and wehope to get him to a couple of gamesbut right now, he is just not talkingfootball. I think the kids would go for it,like maybe a patch on the jersey or a JBsticker on the helmet. It’s somethingwe just haven’t talked about yet.”

Head coach Michael Bradley on if the Trojans willdedicate the season to his father, and legendary high

school coach, Jim Bradley

“Losing last year hurt but everybodyis more responsible this year. That’swhy there is so much tradition here atMayfield.”

Defensive lineman Devonte Weekson what the Trojans learned after losing

to Cleveland in the state title game

“I’m more of a running quarterback.It’s coming along pretty good, just try-ing to gel with the rest of the guys.”

Quarterback Andrew Sernaon how the Trojans offense

is coming together

“It’s big shoes to fill. I’m kind ofmeasured by Ricky but we both cameinto the program the same way.”

Running back Marcus Inglemon onreplacing last year’s starter

Ricky Milks

Aug. 30 @ El Dorado (El Paso) 7 p.m.Sept. 6 @ Franklin (El Paso) 7 p.m.Sept. 14 Carlsbad 7 p.m.Sept. 21 Manzano 7 p.m.Sept. 29 @ Eldorado 1 p.m.Oct. 6 Volcano Vista 1 p.m.Oct. 12 @ Gadsden* 7 p.m.Oct. 19 BYEOct. 26 Oñate* 7 p.m.Nov. 2 @ Alamogordo* 7 p.m.Nov. 9 Las Cruces* 7 p.m.

* District 3-5A game

2012 schedule

What they’re saying

Q What has it been like sofar without your broth-

er (former QB Axten Fran-zoy) around?

A It’s a lot different. He’smy brother and I was al-

ways used to him being here.

Q Is the defense astrength of the team

entering the season?

A We are going hard onboth sides of the ball.

Hopefully theoffense canget going andwe can have agood season.

Q What isyour role

on offense this season?

A The slash is a cross be-tween receiver and run-

ning back. It’s somethingthat I want to do to help fillin because we do need peo-

ple on offense. I think it’s go-ing to be a challenge playingboth ways.

Q How does Mayfield getback to the state title

game?

A We really have to im-prove on both sides of

the ball. The line is lookinggood and it all starts upfront. We might struggle thefirst couple games becausewe have a tough schedule.

Q&A | Joah Franzoy, LB/Slash

Mayfield Trojans: Meet the team

49RUBENBOLANOSFB/LB48NARCISO

GONZALEZFB/DE47JOE

AGBUELLOTE/DE45EVAN

FUCHSOL/DL44EDUARD

PURPULILB/TE43SETH

BAYLESRB/DB43RYAN

ESCALERAFB/LB42MITCHELL

MATHEISONRB/DE41JERRY

PINONManager39JOSHUA

SLAPPEYFB/DL

51ANDREWCONTRERASOL/LB56RAYMOND

CARRILLOOL/DL55DEVONTE

WEEKSOL/DL55BRYAN

MARTINEZOL/DL53ELIGIO

OLIVASOL/DL52MARTIN

TARANGOOL/DL61GARRETT

DOZIEROL/DL51MATTHEW

LUCEROOL/DL50DAVID

DELGADOOL/DL50ALEX

GUZMANOL/DL

65GREGDE LA TORREOL/DL66ANDRES

BARUNDAOL/DL65JEREMY

TINGENOL/DL63JUSTIN

GONZALESOL/DL62JORDAN

ZUNIGAOL/DL62ESTEVAN

NELSONOL/DL60ANDREW

BOLANOSOL/DL59ANDREW

LOPEZOL/DL58DOMONIK

TRUJILLOOL/DL57JESUS

MERASOL/DL

79ZACHARYBUSTILLOSOL/DL78SHANE

TIEMANNOL/DL77JOSEPTH

LUJANOL/DL76KYLE

OWENOL/DL73CAMERON

MILLSOL/DL72RAYMOND

FIERROOL/DL70BRANDON

LEACHOL/DL69TRENTON

PIERCEOL/DL68TYLER

WHITLOCKOL/DL67XZAVION

PATTERSONOL/DL

89MITCHSWUIREZTE/DE89BRETT

KOWALSKITE/DL87COLE

EMERYWR/DB86CHRISTOPHER

SERNAWR/DB84ANTHONY

SOTOWR/DB83DOMINIC

CARROSCOTE/DE82BRANDON

THELANDWR/DB82BEN

MONSIVAIZTE/DE80CHAD

FAUBIONTE/DE



ChampionshipLas Cruces Bulldawgs

mettleBulldawgs have dangerouslook going into 2012

By Jason [email protected]

Las Cruces should be a favorite inDistrict 3-5A this season, but thereare some question marks going into2012.Bulldawgs fans clamored for

Jonathan Joy to start at quarterbackdown the stretch last season, butLCHS stuck with Devin Perez, astrong runner but limited in thepass-ing game. The offense should openup with Joy under center, but the 6-foot, 210-pound signal caller hasn’tstarted a meaningful game in his

prep career to this point.While the Bulldawgs have a lack of

experience at the skill positions, LasCruces has more size on both sidesof theball thanheadcoach JimMillerhas ever had in his 16 seasons at theschool. Jacob Banegas is one of fourreturning starters on the offensiveline and 6-foot-3, 290-pound defen-sive end Taylor Tisby could have abig year on defense.The Bulldawgs enter the season as

a state-title contender, but a numberof unproven players need to step in-to larger roles for them to do justthat.

•Coach: Jim Miller

•District: 3-5A

•2011 record: 8-3, 3-1(Lost in state quarterfinals)

Number of players listed onthe Bulldawgs roster whoweigh at least 220 poundsor more

Jim Miller enters his16th season at Las

CrucesHigh.Like

Bulldawgsfans,Miller ishungry for

another state champi-onship, something thathasn’t happened since2008. Meanwhile, May-field has appeared in thelast three state titlegames.The Bulldawgs have

more size than they haveever had under Miller,and the head coach — afine offensive mind — fig-ures to have moreweaponry to work with in2012.

Team capsule

Inside the headset

7 key players

Telling number

17

•Jonathan Joy: Joy bal-ances theoffensemore thanPerez didlast sea-son. Hehas a

strong arm and is athleticenough to make playswith his feet. Look for theBulldawgs’ offense to besimilar to when former QBJeremy Buurma was undercenter, with a more verti-cal passing game in place.

•Kamryn Dixon: On ateam full ofathletes,the 6-foot-5 Dixonstands out.Dixon pro-vides a tar-

get with size down themiddle of the field at thetight end position whilesetting the outside edge orpressuring the quarterbackfrom defensive end.

•Sam Denmark: A po-tentialbreakoutplayer forthe Bull-dawgs.Denmark isa 6-foot,

210-pound junior who willplay opposite Dixon on of-fense at tight end and willstart at linebacker. Den-mark is more of a proto-typical linebacker than thenorm at LCHS in terms ofsize.

•Jalen Bishop: Bull-dawgscoachesbelievethey havea solid re-ceivingcorps and

Bishop is one of them.Standing at 5-foot-7, thesenior also starts defen-sively at cornerback.

•Michael Holguin: Hol-guin does itall for theBulldawgs— a starterat receiverand safetywhile re-

turning punts as well.

•AJ Lucero: Lucero andJJ Grena-dos will dotheir bestto replacethree-yearstarterXavier Hall

at the running back posi-tion. While Lucero looksto break off the big play,Grenados is more of apounder between the tack-les.

•Taylor Tisby: Tisby is amonster forNew Mexi-co highschool foot-ball stan-dards at 6-foot-3 and

290 pounds. He will seetime on both the offensiveand defensive lines thisyear. Tisby bench pressed300 pounds at the EliteCombine over the sum-mer.

JJGrenados

Aug. 31 Chapin (El Paso) 7 p.m.Sept. 7 Eldorado 7 p.m.Sept. 15 @ Cibola 1 p.m.Sept. 21 @ Rio Rancho 7 p.m.Sept. 28 La Cueva 7 p.m.Oct. 5 @ Artesia 7 p.m.Oct. 12 @ Oñate* 7 p.m.Oct. 18 Alamogordo* 7 p.m.Oct. 19 BYENov. 2 Gadsden* 7 p.m.Nov. 9 @ Mayfield* 7 p.m.


2012 schedule


Q What does LasCruces have to do

to win the state title?

A Just work hard andfinish off games. We

havesize onbothsides ofthe balland wehave alot of

guys coming back.

Q How are you differ-ent from (former

running back) XavierHall?

A We are both powerrunning backs. I

learned a lot about theway he ran the ball.

Q What did you learnfrom Xavier?

A He just told me thatit doesn’t come easy.

It’s a big step becominga starting running back.

Q What is it like as arunning back run-

ning behind a line withthis kind of size?

A It’s great. We havenever had this much

size so it should help usa lot, not only running,but passing as well.

Q Favorite NFL playerand why?

A Adrian Peterson. Ilike the way he runs

the ball. He is just pow-erful.

Q&A | JJ Grenados, RB


Las Cruces Bulldawgs: Meet the team

4GARRETTSALOPEKQB/DE 8ALLEN

GARCIAWR/DB7JONATHAN

JOYQB/DB6EAN

SMITHTE/DE5NICK

GUERRERORB/LB1KAMERON

MILLERQB/DB

16MICHAELHOLGUINWR/DB15J.R.

HERNANDEZWR/DB14ANDREW

THATCHERWR/DB13JOSEPH

MONTOYARB/LB12ADRIAN

LUCERORB/DB11DYLAN

PEREZWR/DB

10JAVIERARROYOWR/DB

“When you play the kind ofschedule thatwe have, thereis going to bea little bit ofpressure to behitting on allcylinders each

and every week.”

Head coach Jim Miller on theBulldawgs schedule

“We still have some big boysup front so wehave our poweroffense with anew passinggame. Joy is ataller quarter-back and a

good passer but we will al-ways have our power game.”

Offensive lineman TaylorLadd on how the offense will

be different with Joy atquarterback

“We played well last year,but not to ourpotential. Thisyear we knowwhat to do.Coaches tell usthat talking isnot going to

get (it) done.”

Defensive end Kamryn Dixonon the Bulldawgs’ defensive

front five

“I think we all have to stepup since weplay a toughschedule. Weare filling in forsome big shoesbut I think wecan do it.”

Running back AJ Lucero onreplacing the Bulldawgs’

skill-position players fromlast year




22 ISAIAHMCINTYREWR/DB21JUNSHIRO

MOLINAROL/DL20JJ

GRANADOSRB/LB19ANDREW

HOLGUINWR/DB18CHRIS

ROJASWR/DB17MICHAEL

CALZADAWR/DB

30REGANCADENAWR/DB29ANDRES

ALVAREZTE/DE28STEVEN

DE LA ROSAWR/DB27JUAN

DORADORB/DB25KENNY

GROTEFENDTE/DE23JALEN

BISHOPWR/DB


43RICKYGARCIARB/DL42ANDRE

DUBOISTE/DE41DAVID

RAMIREZTE/DE40STEELE

BLUEWR/DB39JEREMY

DIAZOL/DL38SETH

BALLRB/LB36SAM

DENMARKTE/LB35AENEAS

REYNOLDSWR/DB32AUSTIN

SALASRB/LB31A.J.

MARTINEZWR/DB

54XAVIERARMENDARIZOL/DL53TAYLOR

LADDOL/DL52ADRIAN

CAMPOSOL/DL51FRANKIE

GONZALESOL/DL50JESSE

OLSONOL/DL49DIEGO

GARCIARB/DL47LUIS

ZAMARRIPAOL/DL46JESUS

MARTINEZTE/DE45AARON

WATSONTE/LB44KAMRYN

DIXONTE/DE

64SIMONVALDEZOL/DL63OSCAR

GUZMANOL/DL62ASLEI

MORALEZOL/DL61GABRIEL

MEDINAOL/DL60BOBBY

TODDOL/DL59A.J.

KOVACHOL/DL58ANGEL

ZAPATAOL/DL57CALEB

ENGLEHARTOL/DE56PAUL

AGUIRRERB/LB55ANDREW

GUERREROTE/DE

76FRANCISCODOMINGUEZOL/DL75RUDY

GUERRAOL/DE73CARLOS

CAMPOSOL/DE72ALEJANDRO

GOMEZOL/DE71CONNOR

STRINGMANOL/DL70LANE

CUMMINGSOL/DL69ANDREW

LEWENDYOL/DE68DANIEL

ONTIVEROSOL/DE66MARTIN

RODRIGUEZOL/DE65STEPHEN

MONTOYAOL/DL

91ANGELMARTINEZOL/DL89ADRIAN

REZAWR/DB88SCOTT

APODACAWR/DE86TYLER

EATONWR/DB81CISCO

CHACONWR/DB80SAM

READTE/DE79STEFANO

HERNANDEZOL/DE78JACOB

BANEGASOL/DE77TAYLOR

TISBYOL/DE



BouncingOñate Knights

backKnightshope to

stay healthyfor chanceat playoffs

By Jason [email protected]

The Knights took a beatinglast year early and could neverget their heads above water un-der first-year coach CalebHull.Oñate’s schedule this sea-son ismuchmoremanage-able for a team that wasshort on depth and confi-dence last year, whilesuffering a string of in-juries certainly didn’t

help matters. If senior

quarterback Curtis Hynes canstay healthy, the Knights willput points on the board.Hull wants to two-platoon his

team this season— having spe-cific players for offense and de-fense as opposed to athletestaking the field both ways —which brings the team’s depthinto question. It could also,however, keep the team freshfor district games late in theyear against Gadsden andAlamogordo, which could verywell be for entrance into thestate playoffs.

•Coach: Caleb Hull

•District: 3-5A

•2011 record: 1-9, 1-3

Years since the Knights lastmade the playoffs.

Caleb Hull went througha learning curve last year

as a first-year headcoach.Three

quarter-backs suf-fered vari-

ous injuries for the Knightslast year, making mattersworse.Offensively, the Knights

were decent, but the de-fense could have been bet-ter — way better, actually.Defense is in Hull’s coach-ing background, so if theKnights want to make thepostseason, they need tobe better on that side ofthe ball.Hull has a solid staff

that has now been togeth-er for an entire year.

Team capsule

Inside the headset

7 key players

Telling number

2

•Curtis Hynes: Hynes israil thin,but he hasa tough-ness tohim tomatch adecent

arm. The quarterbackbroke his leg last seasonscoring a touchdown. Hewas back in the gym inJanuary, and was a start-ing outfielder for the OHSbaseball team this pastspring.

•Geoffrey Smelser:SmelserwasOñate’sbest defen-sive playerlast year atthe line-

backer position. A leaderon and off the field,Smelser should receivemore help this seasonfrom a better supportingcast.

•Isaiah Fielder: The jun-ior runningbackaddednearly 40pounds tohis 5-foot-7 frame,

and will enter the seasonat 180 pounds. Theadded muscle will helpthe Knights, as Fielderprovides the team withrunning game betweenthe tackles.

•Rhyan Araiza: One of ahandful ofsopho-mores tocrack theKnightsstartinglineup this

season, Araiza will fill therole left vacated by CesarChavez. Araiza will look toprovide speed to the out-side, as the team utilizeshim on toss-sweeps andas a target from the slot-receiver position.

•Miguel Hernandez:Hernandezwas a jun-ior-varsityreceiverlast year.Standing at6-foot-2,

he should provide a bigtarget for Hynes on theoutside.

•Josh Kitt: One of 20seniors onthe OHSroster thisyear, Kittwill line upat one ofthe outside

linebacker positions in2012.

•Kevin Blenda: Blendais a 5-foot-9 seniortight end.He alsoplayedlinebackerlast year,

but will see more time onthe offensive side of theball this season.

IsaiahFielder

Aug. 31 @ Bel Air (El Paso) 7 p.m.Sept. 6 Socorro (Texas) 7 p.m.Sept. 15 Cleveland 1 p.m.Sept. 21 @ Hobbs 7 p.m.Sept. 28 @ Volcano Vista 7 p.m.Oct. 5 West Mesa 7 p.m.Oct. 12 Las Cruces* 7 p.m.Oct. 19 Gadsden* 7 p.m.Oct. 26 @ Mayfield* 7 p.m.Nov. 2 BYENov. 9 @ Alamogordo* 7 p.m.


2012 schedule

SHARI V. HILL/SUN-NEWS


Q What are your ex-pectations for your

senior year?

A Personally, I think wecan make the play-

offs.

Q Does this team haveenough depth to

two-platoon?

A I don’t think depthwill be an issue.

Even if we have sopho-mores who are starting,we have juniors and sen-iors (that) can go too.

Q Why linebacker?

A I was a defensiveend going into my

sophomore year, but Iguess my speed in-creased. I am also incontrol of the defense

during agame.

Q Whatgame

are youlooking

forward to the most?

A Mayfield is alwaysgood, but they have

lost a lot of players fromlast year.

Q Who is a teammatewho can have a

breakout season?

A I would have to say(sophomore running

back) Rhyan Araiza. Heis just as good as (formerrunning back) CesarChavez, if not better. Hejust needs to gain somepounds and he will begood.

Q&A | Geoffrey Smelser, LBOñate Knights: Meet the team

12FABIANREYESQB11 IVAN

CARRILLODB8TRAVIS

JOHNSONQB6AARON

SALASDL4BRANDON

LOPEZWR2JONATHAN

APRICIOLB

23DUSTINSCHNEIDERDB22 ISAIAH

FIELDERRB21JULIAN

YUVIENCODB20MATHEW

GUERRARB19CURTIS

HYNESQB18ANDRE

SATCHERDB

17CHRISSILVADB


“It’s doing good. We are tak-ing our timeand getting theyounger guysto our level. Ithink it will bea good seasonfor our offen-

sive line and the offense.”

Offensive guard Luis Velascoon the Knights’ O-line

“Last year we learned thatwe have toovercome ad-versity and fo-cus harder andput more heartinto it.”

Defensive tackle IsaiahPolansky on what the teamlearned from last season

“He told me to avoid thosebig linebackersand to use myspeed to myadvantage.”

Running backRhyan Araiza on what

he learned from former slotCesar Chavez

“Last year there were a lotof mistakes toovercome sinceit was a newsystem. (Thisyear) we havemeshed to-gether well on

defense.”

Defensive end Anthony Gar-cia on the Knights defense

as a whole

What they’re sayingOñate Knights: Meet the team

33BRANDONLOPEZWR32GABE

BENAVIDEZDB31CHRISTIAN

ARMENDARIZDB30KEVIN

BENDATE27ZACK

FRELINOWR26SETH

SILERRB25JOSE

HERNANDEZLB24RHYAN

ARAIZARB

41TIMOTHYPATRICKLB40MARIO

PACHECOTE39JOSH

KITTDL38GARRETT

HERNANDEZTE37GABE

LUNADB36JAMES

GONZALEZDB35RICARDO

HERNANDEZDB34ANTHONY

GARCIADL

57 IANLUNAOL/DL56LUIS

VELASCOOL54ANTONIO

GUZMANDL53GEOFFREY

SMELSERLB52DANIEL

MARTINEZOL50RICHARD

ENRIQUEZ JR.LB46JAVIER

CORRALOL/DL45TREY

DENNISDB

76JOSHVILLALOBOSOL75NATHANIEL

TREVIZODL74DANIEL

SIDWELLOL73DAVID

TABULLOOL72VICTOR

PENAOL69 ISAIAH

POLANSKYDL66CARLOS

JIMINEZOL/DL58DARREN

JACKSONDL

97DOMINICKDONEZDL96ANDREW

GARCIADL94AUSTIN

HALESDL92JOSE

BUSTILLOLB82MIGUEL

HERNANDEZWR81 ISMAEL

FELIXWR78JONATHAN

ROSALESOL77SONNY

BATTLEOL


New birdsCentennial Hawks

have landedHawks open inauguralseason on football field

By James [email protected]

“You’re going to struggle.”Those are the blunt words Cen-

tennial High football coachAaronOcampo received when he askedKirk Potter about starting a newprogram.Potter, the former Las Cruces

High coach, established the pro-gram for Rio Rancho’s ClevelandHigh, lifting theStorm to a state ti-tle in its third year before retiring.Potter’s prediction for Ocam-

po’sHawksmaybevalid—on topof learning a new system fromnew coaches, Centennial’s play-ers are light on experience andphysical maturity, all typical for

first-year programs.That doesn’t mean it’s an ex-

cuse.“Is our chance to win more

games, is it better? No,” said theever-confident Ocampo, who hasa varsity roster composed mostlyof sophomores and juniors. “Whowould think that without seniorsyou’re going to win more games.... Everyone’s going to saywecan’tbe good because we don’t haveseniors — just do your job. Itdoesn’t take a senior to do a job, ittakes a player to do a job. We gotplayers.”Ocampo expects his green

Hawks to be competitive formuch of the year if they focus oneach play, each assignment.

•Coach: Aaron Ocampo

•District: 3-4A

•2011 record: N/A

Seniors on the Hawks ros-ter for their first season.

A former University ofNew Mexico offensive line-

man, AaronOcampo’sascensionup thecoachingladder wasquick. He

was an assistant coach atthree schools in three yearsbefore being named interimhead coach at Manzano in2001. Ocampo, a second-generation coach from afootball family, kept the jobafter leading the Monarchsinto the playoffs his firstyear. By the end of hisManzano career, the Mon-archs were a consistentClass 5A title contender,advancing to at least thesemifinals each of the pastthree years. He is respectedby peers around the statefor his offensive prowess.Ocampo calls all the playsin his versatile, often elec-tric, no-huddle offense.

Team capsule

Inside the headset

Telling number

0

•Quevin Redding II:The trans-fer, dou-ble-threatquarter-back fromChaparralHigh will

be looked at for on-fieldoffensive leadership. As ajunior, he is one of Cen-tennial’s best athletes andbrightest players.

•Daniel Conklin: Knownfor histoughnessandstrength,the juniorrunning

back/defensive back is oneof a handful of Centennialplayers that transferredfrom outside the city. Heplayed in Silver City last

fall. •Adrien Garcia: At 5-foot-11,186pounds,this sopho-more line-backer al-ready has

good size. His leadershipstands out on the defen-sive end for the Hawks 3-4.

•Nicholas Rosales: Thesophomoredefensiveend playsthe gamewith greatpassion.He has a

fire to become a goodfootball player.

•John Castillo: Thework ethicand drivestand outin Castillo.He has thefeistinessyou want

to see in a linebacker.

•Andres Chavez: One ofCentenni-al’s mostathleticplayers, hehas achance todevelop in-

to big-play threat, espe-cially in the explosive andversatile offense that theHawks want to run.

QuevinRedding

Aug. 30 Americas JV (El Paso) 7 p.m.Sept. 6 @ El Paso High 7 p.m.Sept. 14 @ Atrisco Heritage 7 p.m.Sept. 20 Fabens (EL PASO) 7 p.m.Sept. 28 BYEOct. 5 @ Hatch 7 p.m.Oct. 12 @ Truth or Consequence7 p.m.Oct. 19 @ Socorro 7 p.m.Oct. 25 Santa Teresa* 7 p.m.Nov. 2 @ Chaparral* 7 p.m.Nov. 8 Deming* 7 p.m.


2012 schedule

7 key players

NIKI RHYNES/FOR THE SUN-NEWS


Q Why did you opt for Cen-tennial?

A One, I was in the district.Two, I was at Mayfield,

and I just wanted to trysomething new. ... They’regreat coaches and everything,but I don’t think I got enoughreps there. They’re prettydeep.

Q What are you most excit-ed about?

A Every-thing. A newcoach. He’sfrom Albu-querque, soit’s a totallydifferent play-

ing style.

Q Why did you choose yournumber?

A I was going to be 53 be-cause of (former NFL

standout) Bill Romanowski,but 51 was my freshmannumber so that’s why I gotthat.

Q What’s it mean to bepart of Centennial’s first

football team?

A It’s a really good feeling,just to be the first ones

ever to come play here.

Q&A | Arturo Torres, OT

“I feel like I’m a competitorand I love chal-lenges. And alot of peoplesaid, ‘Whywould you dothat? They haveCruces and

Mayfield down there.’ And thatis why I want to come here.Because I want to say, ‘Theysaid we couldn’t do it, andwe’re doing it.’”

— Centennial head coachAaron Ocampo on coaching in

a city with two of the besthigh school football programs

in New Mexico

“If someone comes out thereand just beats our butt, thething that we have (to say) is,‘Guys, they have seniors, thoseguys are going to graduate.We’re going to come back andwe’re going to learn from this

experience. We’re going tohave an offseason. We’re goingto get tougher and strongerand a year older.’”

— Head coach AaronOcampo, on the future

“It’s been fun because of thechance tocoach. We’recoaching everyday. We’recoaching ourkids hard andthe kids are ac-

cepting the coaching. We don’thave a lot of attitudes. Ourkids are just wonderful and ac-cepting the coaching.”

— Quevin Redding,Centennial’s offensive

coordinator and father ofteam’s QB, on the challenge

of coaching such a young andinexperienced group

“I think we really needed it,as a team. Be-fore then wewere separatedin little groupsand stuff. Ithink we’remore of a team

now. ... It was pretty bad. Itwas like Army boot camp.”

— Offensive lineman ArturoTorres, talking about The RockChallenge, a mental and phys-

ical conditioning part of theHawks’ offeseason; it entailed

hiking ‘A’ Mountain with arock and completing exercises

What they’re saying Centennial Hawks: Meet the team

4BRANDONGOMEZOL/DL3STEVEN

ROJASOL/DL3FRANKIE

GONZALEZOL/DL2QUEVIN

REDDINGOL/DL1DANIEL

CONKLINOL/DL

11MARCOFERNANDEZOL/DL10MATT

ALVAREZOL/DL9YSMAEL

GOMEZOL/DL7ANDRES

CHAVEZOL/DL4JONAH

GALLEGOSOL/DL

18MARCSOTELOOL/DL16JOHNATHAN

CASTILLOOL/DL15WINSTON

RASMUSSENOL/DL13MICHAEL

AGUIRREOL/DL12THOMAS

LOPEZOL/DL

27ERICBERARDOL/DL25CRISTIAN

BARRERAOL/DL24RICARDO

MONTOYAOL/DL23CHRISTIAN

CEDANOOL/DL22JARED

CREDEUROL/DL


Centennial Hawks: Meet the team

52ADRIENGARCIAOL/DL51ARTURO

TORRESOL/DL50CHASE

AUSTINOL/DL43DIEGO

LEONOL/DL42JOE

SANDOVALOL/DL40STEPHEN

GARCIAOL/DL34VINCENT

CEPEDAOL/DL32FRANK

MARTINEZOL/DL31NICK

BRAVOOL/DL30JOSH

KENNEDYOL/DL

67JOAQUINMELENDEZOL/DL63NICHOLAS

ROSALESOL/DL62ANTONIO

OLIVARESOL/DL60CARSON

BUKOWSKIOL/DL59CAMERON

BURKLEYOL/DL58LUIS

GURROLAOL/DL57CHRIS

CASTILLOOL/DL56DYLAN

HOFFMANOL/DL55GERARDO

BERMUDEZOL/DL54PARKER

LANCASTEROL/DL

74LEONELOLIVASOL/DL73GEORGE

NINOOL/DL72SANTIAGO

SOSAOL/DL71DANIEL

JIMENEZOL/DL68FABIAN

LOPEZOL/DL

84LUCCIANOLAMBERTIOL/DL80TOM

RICHARDSOL/DL78AUSTEN

SAXTONOL/DL77DOMINIC

GALINDOOL/DL76JUSTIN

MAULDINOL/DL

91JUSTINGILLETTEOL/DL


•Looking back: Jim Hite’stenure at Gadsden ended in awinless season. The Pantherswere competitive in a handful ofgames, losing two three-pointgames to Hobbs and El Paso Jef-ferson to open the season. SantaTeresa beat Gadsden 14-13 andthe Panthers were simply over-matched in District 3-5A play.•Looking forward:New coachRoy Gerela said there were 124players signed up for footballwhen school started.“We have been trying to get

bigger, stronger and faster,”Gerela said. “That’s what theyneed. There is still a long waysto go.”Gerela said the Panthers of-

fense will feature two runningbacks, as well as different varia-

tions of the spread offense. De-fensively, the Panthers will usemultiple fronts.“We have to create things that

our people can do and executewell,” Gerela said.•Key players: Aaron Gomezwill take over as quarterback.“He’s football savvy but a little

on the short side,” Gerela said.

“He’s quick and has a pretty de-cent arm.”Running backs Isaac Montes

and Kevin Loera will be the pri-mary weapons on offense.

Jason Groves

Aug. 31 Hobbs 7 p.m.Sept. 7 Rio Rancho 7 p.m.Sept. 14 Eastwood (El Paso) 7 p.m.Sept. 20 @ Santa Teresa 7 p.m.Sept. 27 @ Chaparral 7 p.m.Oct. 5 Roswell 7 p.m.Oct. 12 Mayfield* 7 p.m.Oct. 18 @ Oñate* 7 p.m.Oct. 26 Alamogordo* 7 p.m.Nov. 1 @ Las Cruces* 7 p.m.


2012 schedule

•Coach: Roy Gerela

•2011 record: 0-10, 0-4

•District: 3-5A

Team capsuleGadsden Panthers

New coach says Panthersstill face ‘a long way to go’


GADSDEN DEFENSIVELINEMAN Fred Martinezworks on practice drills.

•Looking back: Alamogordotook a step forward in the 2011season by returning to the play-offs for the first time in twoyears. The Tigers switched tothe veer offense last season andmoved the ball very effectivelyon ground last season. Alam-ogordo averaged 350 rushingyards and 40 points per gameduring one point last season.The Tigers finished the regu-

lar season 5-5 andwere selectedas the No. 12 seed, and finalteam in, for the Class 5A play-offs, losing to No. 5 Rio Rancho56-34 in the first round.The Tigers also had a number

of young players that emergedas key contributors on the 2011squad.•Looking forward:Alamogor-do will look to keep improvingfrom last season, but will havemany changes on both sides ofthe ball. Michael Luna — whorushed for 1,006 yards and 12touchdowns in 2011— and line-backer Nate Martin, a key play-er on defense, graduated afterlast season and the Tigers havelost five starters that would

have come back this season.One of those being junior quar-terback Tyler Shumard, who isout the entire 2012 season forundisclosed health reasons.Shumard, a sophomore lastyear, emerged as an effectiveplayer for the offense. Alam-ogordo also lost runningback/defensive back NathanHernandez and lineman JustinPhillips, who have both trans-ferred out of Alamogordo.•Key players:TheTigers havea number of players back fromlast season. Senior tightend/defensive end Tanner Gra-

ham has been a two-year starterand Alamogordo will look torunning backs Jayson Westfalland John Matzke in the back-field. Westfall had a breakoutgame against Gadsden last sea-son as a junior, rushing for 134yards and a TD in a 48-15 winover the Panthers, and Matzkerushed for 98 yards and TDagainst Valley last season as asophomore.Senior Conrad Collins, who

started at free safety last season,will replace Shumard at thequarterback spot this season.Collins was the backup QB lastseason and saw some time inthat spot.Also returning for Alamogor-

do is junior cornerback AndrewDominguez, who lead the teamwith 42 tackles last season.

Mark Rudi

Sept. 7 Los Lunas 7 p.m.Sept. 14 West Mesa 7 p.m.Sept. 21 @ Carlsbad 7 p.m.Sept. 29 @ Socorro (Texas) 7 p.m.Oct. 5 Hobbs 7 p.m.Oct. 12 @ Deming 7 p.m.Oct. 18 @ Las Cruces High* 7 p.m.Oct. 26 @ Gadsden* 7 p.m.Nov. 2 Mayfield* 7 p.m.Nov. 9 Oñate* 7 p.m.

*—District 3-5A game

2012 schedule•Coach: Tommy Standefer

•2011 record: 5-6, 2-2(Lost in first round of playoffs)

•District: 3-5A

Team capsule

Alamogordo Tigers

JOHN BEAR/ALAMOGORDO DAILY NEWS

AS ALAMOGORDO COACH Tony Jaramillo, left, looks on, two Tiger football playersparticipate in a tackling drill earlier this month during practice at the high school.

Tigers hope to build off lastyear’s playoff appearance


•Looking back: Deming en-tered the 2011 season with tal-ent at the skill positions and abend-but-don’t-break mindseton defense.Led by senior quarterback

Anthony Ramirez, theWildcatsstumbled through a 2-3 non-district portion of its regularseason before stringing togeth-er five-straight victories to winthe school’s first district foot-ball championship in 20 years,and the first as a Class 4Amem-ber.Ramirez collected over 2,000

all-purpose yards, and whenleading rusher Jerome San-doval was lost at midseason toinjury, Ismail Garrett steppedup and carried the load.•Looking forward: The skillpositions are loaded and 14 sen-iors return to defend the Dis-

trict 3-4A football crown.Junior David Padron (6-foot-

0, 165 pounds) steps in behindcenter and will quarterback theteam after a successful junior-varsity stint as a sophomore.“He has a strong arm and has

improved his footwork,” saidCoach Holguin.Junior running backs Jerome

Sandoval (5-9, 165) and IsmailGarrett (5-10, 180) return as thebackfield tandem.Sharing time in the backfield

will be juniors Isaac Sifuentes(5-6, 160) and Elijah Ballinas (5-10, 190). This should give theWildcats a deep backfield, withplenty of run/pass options.Senior Richard Regalado (6-1,

180) and juniors Graham Bor-den (5-9, 180) and Austin Lath-am (5-10, 160) will keep the de-fense honest in Deming’s ball-

control passing game.“We have a spread look, with

twin backs and will go with apower-I,” Holguin said. “Thedefense will be 11 hats to theball.”•Key players: Sandoval re-turns as the leading rusher forthe ’Cats, with added power,

speed and quickness. He also isa threat in the passing game.Garrett was featured as the

power back, but can also hurtyou on the corners.Linebackers Almanza and

Borden will be joined by seniorDerek Gannaway (5-10, 165) tokey the Wildcat defense.

Both sides of the line will beanchored by senior Tyler Horn(5-10, 195).“Winning the district last

year means nothing enteringthis year,” said coach Holguin.“We know there is a target onour backs.”

Billy Armendariz

Aug. 31 BelenSept. 7 at Hot SpringsSept. 14 Santa FeSept. 21 at ArtesiaSept. 28 BYEOct. 5 SilverOct. 12 AlamogordoOct. 19 at Cathedral (El Paso)Oct. 26 *ChaparralNov. 2 at *Santa TeresaNov. 8 at *Centennial

*District 3-4A game

2012 schedule

•Coach: Fernie Holguin

•2011 record: 7-4 (Lost infirst round of playoffs)

•District: 3-4A

Team capsule

Deming Wildcats

Wildcats carry District 3-4A bullseye

BILLY ARMENDARIZ/DEMING HEADLIGHT

DEMING HIGH football coach Fernie Holguin keeps a sharp focus on a shadow drillfor the Wildcat defense.

•Looking back: In its thirdyear of existance, MVCS wonthe Class A state title game,beating Fort Sumner 41-6 in thechampionship.The SonBlazers went 10-3 on

the year under head coachCharles Gleghorn.•Looking forward: FormerMayfield coach Mike Draper re-placed Gleghorn, who took hisrun-and-shoot offense to Hobbs,taking over as Eagles head coach.“We are still going to be a

spread offense but wemight notthrow as much,” Draper said.“The strength of the team is theoffensive line and the runningbacks.”Defensively, Draper said he

will play a 4-2 front.“It’s a little different thanwhat

they have done,” Draper said.“We don’t have a lot of line-backers so we will try to use thesecondary to help us out.”After winning a Class A title,

MVCS will move to Class 2A.“It’s one of the tougher divi-

sions in the state, next to 5A,”Draper said. “It’s a big chal-lenge.”

•Key players: This team hadjust 18 players at one point dur-ing fall camp. Draper is confi-dent in his running backs, whileIsaiah Avalos (QB/LB) andChaz Glines (OL) could alsocould help.

JasonGroves

Aug. 31 @ Anthony (Texas) 7 p.m.Sept. 7 @ Tornillo 7 p.m.Sept. 21 Mt. View (El Paso) 7 p.m.Sept. 28 NMMI 7 p.m.Oc.t 5 @ Hot Springs 7 p.m.Oct. 19 Cobre* 7 p.m.Oct. 26 @ Tularosa* 7 p.m.Nov. 2 Lordsburg* 7 p.m.Nov. 9 @ Hatch Valley* 7 p.m.


•Coach: Mike Draper

•2011 record: 10-3, 3-0(Won Class A state champi-onship)

•District: 3-2A

Team capsule

Mesilla Valley Christian SonBlazers

Chaparral LobosAnew coach takes overstate championship team

•Looking back: The first stepfor the CHS football programwas getting in the win column.The next step is picking up anelusive first district win.Head coach Tom Smith took

over a program three years agothat was 0-29. The Lobos hadthree wins in the first year andfour wins in the second year, butthey have been 0-2 in districtplay the past two years.“We had three games that we

lost by a combined four points,”Smith said. “In our opening dis-trict game, we lost to Deming byseven points and it was tied with1:30 left.”The highlight of last season

was beatingGadsden for the firsttime in school history.“We have grown as a program

but we still have a lot of work todo,” Smith said.•Looking forward: The Lobosreturn three starters on offenseand four on the defensive side ofthe ball.The Lobos are replacing a

number of positions or shufflingplayers throughout the lineup.Senior John Marquez replaces

Centennial transfer Quevin Red-ding at quarterback. Marquezwas a standout receiver last yearand backup quarterback.

“I think he is going to be an im-provement for us,which I amex-cited about,” Smith said. “He’s aleader and a 4.0 student. That isthe kind of kid you always wantat quarterback.”Smith said the Lobos are un-

dersized up front, but the teamwill rely on speed.•Key players: Senior runningback Chris Urquidi replaces

Aaron Gurrola in the offensivebackfield. Senior receiver/freesafety Christian Ramos, senioroffensive tackle/defensive tackleMarco Ceniceros, junior line-backer/offensive guard Alex Ge-nis and sophomore receiv-er/defensive back Michael Vegaare all expected to fill large rolesfor the Lobos in 2012.

JasonGroves

Aug. 31 @ San Elizario 7 p.m.Sept. 7 @ Irvin (El Paso) 7 p.m.Sept. 14 Jefferson (El Paso) N/ASept. 21 Roswell 7 p.m.Sept. 28 Gadsden 7 p.m.Oct. 5 @ Mt. View (El Paso) 7 p.m.Oct. 12 @ Cathedral (El Paso) 7 p.m.Oct. 26 Deming* 7 p.m.Nov. 2 Cetennial* 7 p.m.Nov. 9 @ Santa Teresa* 7 p.m.


2012 schedule

•Coach: Tom Smith

•2011 record: 4-5, 0-2

•District: 3-4A

Team capsule

Lobos seek 1st districtwin in program history

NIKI RHYNES/FOR THE SUN-NEWS

JOSEPH ZIELINSKI hands off to John Jung during SonBlaz-ers practice. The team moves to Class 2A this year.


CHAPARRAL QUARTERBACK ROY LOPEZ, left, fakes ahand off to running back Chris Urquidi during an Augustscrimmage vs. Hatch Valley.

Santa Teresa Desert Warriors

•Looking back: Deming beatSanta Teresa 31-27 for the dis-trict championship in a gameSTHS led in the fourth quarter.Santa Teresa missed the play-offs after digging itself 1-4 holeto start the season. QuarterbackAlex Sedillo struggled early inthe year picking up the offense,but he passed for 403 yards andrushed for 325 yards in districtplay to close the schedule.“He came into his own at the

end of the year,” Santa Teresacoach Shae Vierra said. “We arehoping he can pick up where heleft off.”•Looking forward: Demingand Santa Teresa should battlefor thedistrict title again, but theaddition of Centennial could

make things interesting.Vierra expects 25 seniors this

year, with nine returningstarters on offense and 10 on de-fense.“If we stay healthy ... I think

we will be in a good position,”Vierra said.•Key players: Senior runningback John Unger led the teamwith 461 yards rushing last year.SantaTeresahasapairof6-foot-2 senior receivers in JuliusAdams and Manuel Zermeno,who played on the Santa Teresastate championship basketballteam. On defense, safety EricHerrera, linebacker Joseph Del-gado, and junior lineman DavidAldama make up the core unit.

Jason Groves

Aug. 31 @ Fabens 7 p.m.Sept. 6 @ EP Austin 7 p.m.Sept. 14 EP Irvin 7 p.m.Sept. 21 Gadsden 7 p.m.Sept. 29 @ Roswell 7 p.m.Oct. 5 EP Cathedral 7 p.m.Oct. 19 Silver 7 p.m.Oct. 25 @ Centennial* 7 p.m.Nov. 2 @ Deming* 7 p.m.Nov. 9 Chaparral* 7 p.m.


2012 schedule

•Coach: Shae Vierra

•2011 record: 4-6, 1-1

•District: 3-4A

Team capsule


SANTA TERESA QUARTER-BACK ALEX SEDILLO looksto throw a pass during a re-cent practice.

After ’11 near miss, DesertWarriors look to break out


2012 schedule

Cobre Indians

•Looking back: JerryMartineztook over the helm last year af-ter BrianMiller called it quits af-ter more than a decade with theIndians. Cobre won only onegame last year — a 13-12 home-coming affair against AcademiaJuarez. The Indians are also go-ing into a new classification anda new district, and the challengeis still going tobe there for them.“Just because we went into

Class 2A doesn’t mean its goingto be any easier,” Martinez said.•Looking forward: The Indi-ans are lacking numbers, but al-ready saw an increase of playerscoming out for the team thisyear.“We have 40 players out for

our program and that’s 10 morethan last year,” Martinez said.“We are real thin with juniorsand seniors, but our freshmenand sophomore groups havegood numbers, so we think thestudents are buying into or pro-gram.”The missing link is the depth

and lack of a true quarterbackon the team. Sophomore CavinRoberson is back under center,but he is still young, and work-

ing on improving every day.Cobre will already have to

start the season without an im-portant member of its team.Senior Michael Redwine wentdown with a torn ACL.Martinez said that he expects

around nine seniors on the teamto come out, and was still wait-ing for a few players to start af-ter school began. Nick Salas —

who started at quarterback fromthe midpoint last year — hadn’tcommitted himself yet, and Dal-lis Udero also was undecidedbecause of injury.•Key players: Sophomorequarterback Cavin Robersonhas been with Martinez bothyears. He started the season lastyear, and then gave way to NickSalas. He has been in the weightroom and has worked on histhrowing skills. Senior running

back Oliver Perrault returns af-ter leading the Indians with theground game last year. He alsoplays outside linebacker on de-fense. Another senior returningis Alexis Cornidez. He has greathands at wide receiver and willalso play on one of the cornerson defense. Junior Andy Gomezwill anchor the line. He is thestarting center on offense andwill play on the line on defense.

Danny Udero

Aug. 31 Silver 7 p.m.Sept. 7 @ Anthony (Texas) 7 p.m.Sept. 14 Academia Juárez 7 p.m.Sept. 21 @ Thatcher (Ariz.) 7 p.m.Sept. 28 Hot Springs 7 p.m.Oct. 5 @ Zuni 7 p.m.Oct. 12 @ Lordsburg* 7 p.m.Oct. 19 @ Mesilla Valley* 7 p.m.Nov. 2 Hatch* 7 p.m.Nov. 9 Tularosa* 7 p.m.


2012 schedule

•Coach: Jerry Martinez

•2011 record: 1-9 overall,0-4 district

•District: 3-2A

Team capsule

After one win, Indiansmove down to Class 2A

DANNY UDERO/SUN-NEWS

COBRE SENIOR OLIVER PERRAULT, wearing grey shirt,walks with coaches Scott Roberson, far left, and R.J.Dominguez during practice. Perrault returns to Cobre’sbackfield and was a force to be reckoned with last year.

Hatch Valley Bears

•Looking back: For the firsttime under head coach JackCisco, the Bears did not reachthe Class 3A playoffs in 2011.“We were in every game ex-

cept for two against Silver andSocorro,” Cisco said. “We com-peted with a really younggroup.”A lack of experience translat-

ed to a lack of wins last year forHatch.“We knew going in that it

was going to be tough,” Ciscosaid.

•Looking forward: HatchValley dropped from Class 3Ato Class 2A in a move thatshould even the playing fieldand balance the competition.The Bears will compete in

District 3-2A against Cobre,Lordsburg, Mesilla ValleyChristian School and Tularosa.“Now everyone we play

when it counts are in the sameboat as we are,” Cisco said.•Key players: QuarterbackChase Carson was a skinnysophomore last year but is get-

ting bigger — Carson hasgrown to 6-feet tall, 175 pounds.“We expect him to do more

things,” Cisco said. “We putmore pressure on him to runthe ball. We didn’t do that lastyear because we were afraid ofgetting him hurt.”Senior Marcus Moyers an-

chors the Bears’ secondary,while tight end/linebackerAlex Salazar and offensivelineman Willy Herrera shouldplay big roles this year.

JasonGroves

Aug. 31 @ NMMI 7 p.m.Sept. 7 Estancia 7 p.m.Sept. 21 Magdalena 7 p.m.Sept. 28 @ Ruidoso 7 p.m.Oct. 5 Centennial 7 p.m.Oct. 12 Tularosa* 7 p.m.Oct. 19 @ Hot Springs 7 p.m.Oct. 26 Lordsburg* 7 p.m.Nov. 2 @ Cobre* 7 p.m.Nov. 9 Mesilla Valley Christian* 7 p.m.


2012 schedule

•Coach: Jack Cisco

•2011 record: 2-8, 1-3

•District: 3-2A

Team capsuleBears looking to reboundafter missing playoffs in 2011


•Looking back: Silver beat So-corro, 35-7, to claim the District3-3A championship a seasonago. That victory catapulted theColts into a win over Robertsonin the state playoffs. But a run ata state title endedwith a 5-0 losson a very windy afternoon inLovington. The weather, alongwith some key personnel losseson offense contributed to thepoor showing on the road.•Looking forward: Silver re-turns junior quarterback DerekSalas. Last year he showcased animpressive run at a state title.With the loss of Cobre and

Hatch Valley in the district, Sil-ver was left with just two oppo-nents, and thus forced to find afew games before district begins.St. Michael’s will be added to theschedule right before district be-gins with Socorro, and a gamewith Hope Christian was alsoadded early on. It seems like theDistrict 3-3A title might be de-cided in the first district game ofthe year, but don’t count HotSprings out. They have been asleeper that has slowly tried toawaken in the district.•Key players: Brothers Dako-

ta and Nevada Bencomo areback in the lineup and shouldprovide a one-two punch in thebackfield for theColts. They areseniors and Nevada was theleading scorer and rusher forSilver last year. After getting in-jured, he seems healthy againthis year.

Danny Udero

Aug. 31 @ Cobre 7 p.m.Sept. 15 Hope Christian 2 p.m.Sept. 21 @ Tularosa 7 p.m.Sept. 28 Grants 7 p.m.Oct. 5 @ Deming 7 p.m.Oct. 12 Ruidoso 7 p.m.Oct. 19 @ Santa Teresa 7 p.m.Oct. 26 St. Michael’s 7 p.m.Nov. 2 @ Socorro* 7 p.m.Nov. 9 Hot Springs* 7 p.m.


•Coach: Butch Branson

•2011 record: 10-2 overall4-0 district (lost in state quar-terfinals)

•District: 3-3A

Team capsule

Silver Fighting Colts

Silver looks to defend3-3A championship


NEVADA BENCOMO works on his running game duringa Colts practice.

2012 schedule


1 Las Cruces: Our preseason No. 1team in New Mexico because of

their massive offensive linemen. LaneCummings, Rudy Guerra and JacobBenegaswill pave theway for a runningback unit that looks to fill the shoes ofXavier Hall. On defense watch for Tay-lor Tisby and linebacker SamDenmark.

2 Cleveland: The defending statechamps are riding a 13-game win-

ning streak. Junior Kian Homme willtake over at QB and 100M 5A ChampRomell Jordan returns as one of the toprunning backs in the state.

3 Mayfield:TheTrojanswill be led bylinebacker Joah Franzoy along with

6-foot-2, 255 pound lineman DevanteWeaks. On offense, watch for DavidStookey and Marcus Ingleman.

4 Eldorado: The Golden Eagles aregoing to be loaded. Head coach

Charlie Dotson has some giants in thetrenches. We like Austin French andMatt Clarke leading theway. ZachGen-try takes over at quarterback.

5 Rio Rancho: The Rams have DallinBrady in the secondary.He is one of

the state’s best. Watch for Ullises As-torga at running back to have a break-out senior season.

6 La Cueva: The Bears are led by 6-foot-6, 240-poundArizona tight end

commit Calvin Allen and 6-foot-2, 247-pound offensive lineman JT Boone.This group should be in the mix undersecond-year head coach Ed Lucero.

7 Clovis:Clovis went 6-6 last year, butthey also won another district title

under head coach Eric Roanhaus. Clo-vis returns Kamal Cass at running back,6-foot-4MarshallWinn at tight end andDijon Ford, their 267-pound defensiveend.

8 Manzano: The Monarchs lost headcoachAaronOcampo,who took the

Centennial High School head coachingjob. Manzano will be under new direc-tion of Chad Adcox. Skyler Walker re-turns at receiver and Angel Gonzaleswill carry the torch at quarterback.

9 Carlsbad: The Cavemen return 6-foot-4, 200 pound quarterback Rod-

neyHolcomb and 225-pound linebackerBobbey Mattet. Carlsbad is going tocompete for the District 4-5A title.

10 Sandia: Aaron Smith along withCraig Coffman will handle duties

at quarterback, Buck Walden at defen-sive end is 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds,while Tyler Ireland at linebacker is atwo-year starter.

Class 4A

1. Goddard2. Aztec3. Artesia4. Los Lunas5. St. Pius6. Valencia7. Roswell8. Farmington9. Miyamura10. Deming

Class 3A

1. Lovington2. St. Michaels3. Hope Christian4. Silver5. Ruidoso6. AlbuquerqueAcademy7. Socorro8. Robertson9. Portales10. Raton

Class 2A

1. Santa Rosa2. Tularosa3. Eunice4. Laguna Acoma5. Mesilla ValleyChristian6. New Mexico Mili-tary Institute7. Texico8. Loving9. Tucumcari10. Lordsburg

Class A

1. Fort Sumner2. Mccurdy3. Jal4. Capitan5. Escalante6. Hagerman7. Magdalena8. Mescalero Apache9. Questa10. Mora

Las Cruces High has look of state’s finest in 2012By Kyle HendersonFOR THE SUN-NEWS

NMPreps.com is a website dedicated to high school athletics throughout NewMexico. Every year, NMPreps provides full and comprehensive coverage of prepfootball on all levels throughout the state, including this yearwith their top-10 pollscovering all classes. An in-depth look at the Class 5A pre-season poll.

State top 10 polls

RomellJordan

PHOTO COURTESYOF ALBUQUERQUEJOURNAL

Football 2012 31Thursday, Aug. 30, 2012Las Cruces Sun-Newswww.lcsun-news.comCOLLEGES

By Teddy [email protected]

LASCRUCES—The talent level appears higher, and theschedule more user friendly, for the NewMexico State Ag-gies heading into 2012.

Will it translate into a bowl game when it’s all said and done?That’s what fans and followers of the team are hoping for, in a

season of critical importance for the program.

As of now the Aggies donot have a conference affili-ation following this year,and a winning season in thepresent would seem betterthan the alternative.Still, it won’t be an easy task.

This is an NMSU football teamthat hasn’t gone to a bowl gamesince 1960, and has just four win-ning seasons since then.In head coach DeWayne Walk-

er’s fourth year with the program,the Aggies still seem headed in theright direction, however, and willneed some things to break theirway to achieve this campaign’sgoals.A look at the team, with the 2012

season set to kick off.

OffenseQuarterback

A huge key for to the Aggies sea-son will be production offensively,andwith that being said, protectingquarterback Andrew Manley fig-ures to play a major factor. Lastyear sawManleygethurt at theend of the Aggies Week 3game against UTEP — hewas knocked out for the sea-son with a full tear of the ACLand partial tear of the MCL in his

NMSU Aggies

We estimate the key contests forNMSU football this season:

1 Sept. 15, @ UTEP: If the Aggieswant to be a bowl team this year,

sweeping their rivals — that beingNew Mexico and UTEP — wouldseem like a logical first step. The Min-ers have had NMSU’s number in re-cent years — last season the Aggiesreally could have beaten UTEP, but agoal-line fumble and special teamsblunders were the difference. The Min-

ers were somewhat in rebuilding modea season ago and should be ready togo this year at the Sun Bowl, in a ri-valry game that can go either way.

2 Oct. 6, @ Idaho: A key swinggame in the standings between

two teams that figure to be desperatefor wins in 2012. The Vandals werean awful team last year althoughhope to be improved — last seasonIdaho was beaten by NMSU andfreshman quarterback Travaughn Col-

well 31-24 on a last-second goal-linestand by the Aggies. Things are nevereasy for New Mexico State in the Kib-bie Dome, and this one figures to bea must-win for both sides.

3 Oct. 20 @ Utah State; Oct. 27vs. Louisiana Tech; Nov. 10 vs.

San Jose State: We know, we know,we’re clumping three games into onehere. But the reason is simple —we’re going to look at it as a block. IfNMSU can win two of these three

contests, they should be a bowl teamin 2012. Going to Logan to play UtahState is going to be a tough one, aswill hosting Louisiana Tech, the pre-season favorites in the WAC. That,and San Jose State figures to be animproved team once again. Even ifthe Aggies can take one of thesegames, they can at least keep theirpostseason hopes alive.

4 Dec. 12, @ Texas State: This isa scary game to be ending the

season with for NMSU — althoughone the team figures to win. Still,consider: The Bobcats could besearching for one of their few wins onthe year, and perhaps the lone con-ference victory to close out theirschedule. Perhaps NMSU will beplaying for their postseason hopes, orworse yet, nothing at all. The bottomline? Texas State is going to comeout hard in the season finale athome, and won’t lie down for the op-position.

Teddy Feinberg

KEY GAMES | Contests that will set the tone for the Aggies

STEPPING UPAggies mission: to produce first bowl bid since 1960

Please see NMSU, Page 33

TigerPowell

AustinFranklin




NMSU Aggies

Q How has the offense respondedto new offensive coordinator Jer-

ry McManus and the schemes he istrying to install?

A Much better. I think in the spring,the players had to get acclimated

to him. He has a different personalitythan (last year’s coordinator DougMartin). Coach (McManus) is a littlebit more fiery, a little bit more talka-tive and a little more chatty. Dougwas more mellow and didn’t say awhole lot, so I think our players hadto get used to that. I think their start-ing to gel, understand each other andreally respect the different personali-ties.

Q Is the inexperience on the offen-sive side of the ball a concern

heading into the season opener?

A I think at any position, whetheryou have veterans or whether you

have young guys, you don’t reallyknow until you play the games. WhenI was at UCLA, we beat USC in 2006and stopped them from going to the

national title game. We had our de-fense back in 2007, and the first twoor three games we kind of struggled alittle bit. I just think at the end of theday, what you see is what you get, sowe’ll find out on Aug. 30th.

Q On the other side of the ball, thedefense lost a handful of key

players from last year’s team. How-ever, there seems to be a lot ofhealthy competition for playing timeheading into this year. How has thedefense looked to you?

A Good. Obviously I think they’restill gelling, but I think we’re mak-

ing progress. Sometimes it’s a goodthing when you replace players withbetter players, so hopefully that’s thedirection that we’re headed and I’mlooking forward to seeing these guysget through more practices.

Q How would you compare theteam’s energy and intensity this

fall to your previous three fall campsat NMSU?

A I think we have better players,and I think my philosophy is in-

tact. When you come in with guysthat you didn’t recruit, it takes time totry to get those guys out of your pro-gram so to speak. I think now, theguys that were here, they understandwhat I want and the guys that we’verecruited are my guys now. So I thinkthat has a lot to do with buying intowhat we’re trying to accomplish.

Q Making a bowl game is some-thing that has been brought up

during the offseason. Is that some-thing the coaches and players talkabout and use as extra motivation?

A Yeah, behind closed doors we talkabout a lot of stuff but we just

keep everything in-house. We discussthings, we don’t bring it out (to) thefield and we don’t bring it out (into)the community. We just kind of keepit in-house and work hard, and hope-fully we can accomplish the goalsthat we’ve set for ourselves.

Anthony EsparzaFor the Sun-News

“Our team is more motivatedthis year. We want it more, Ibelieve. Last year, we were outhere just going through themotions. I feel like this year weactually want it and we’re go-ing to actually go for it thisyear.”

Andrew Manley, redshirtsophomore quarterback

“Everybody is focused andeverybody has a purpose thisyear. Everybody is coming outwith a positive mindset tocompete and be better thanwe were in the past. That’s thegoal, so we have to go outthere and do it, and it starts onthe practice field.”

Donte Savage, redshirt seniordefensive lineman

“We’re just looking forward togood things happening. We’vegot a lot of good recruits thathave come in that are goodplayers, and our scheme isgood this year. We’re just go-ing to stay within ourselves,play within our scheme andjust believe in ourselves and bepositive the whole waythrough.”

Robert Clay,senior running back

“You never want to take a stepback, so each year the bar getshigher and higher. CoachWalker has brought in more in-coming players that can playand buy into what he wants,so he has to raise the stakes.”

Kemonte Bateman,senior wide receiver

“We’re all under one mindsetand one goal: we want to be alot better than we were lastyear. That’s why, in order todo that, we’ve got to workhard and come out with thatsame energy every single dayor try to match it at least andjust try to outdo ourselves. Ifwe do better than what we didthe day before personally, thenthe whole defense as a unitwill get better.”

Bryan Bonilla,junior linebacker

“Right now we’re just workinghard, and going out there everyday. Everybody is pushingeach other and just trying toget each other better.”

Jerrel Brown,junior wide receiver


Q&A | NMSU coach DeWayne Walker

SHARI V. HILL/SUN-NEWS

NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY head football coach DeWayneWalker looks to guide his team to a winning record in 2012.

Aggies have ‘better players’ this year


right knee. Manley remains a sopho-more — he was granted a medical red-shirt—and, if given the time, has shownhe can be a differencemaker. That’s thekey though — providing him adequateprotection — as last year NMSU putManley in too many seven-step dropsearly in the season, and the offensiveline struggled to hold up protecting thedrop-back thrower, albeit with limitedmobility. With that being said, Manleycould also do himself a favor by im-proving his decision making, and get-ting rid of the ball faster. BehindManleyis junior college transfer Andrew Mc-Donald, along with sophomoreTravaughn Colwell. McDonald put upgood numbers at Santa Ana College,and could be in the mold of last year’sstarting QB Matt Christian. Colwellshowed promise a season ago, althoughis also a player who could be a redshirtcandidate in 2012 if things unfold ac-cordingly.

Running backs

Can the Aggies run the football effec-tively in a downhill rushing attack?They do have numbers at the positionand figure to try and establish theground game more this year. RobertClay returns for his senior season, andthe team is high on incoming junior col-lege transfer Tiger Powell — essential-ly, a bigger version of Clay. AkeelieMustafa has goodmoves and a nice pairof hands—while hemight not bring thesame production asKennyTurner did aseasonago, hehopes toprovidebig-playpotential outside the tackles. After sit-ting out last season with a foot injury,Germi Morrison is expected to suit upfor NMSU, a year after coming to LasCruces from LA Valley College.

Wide receivers

The teamdoes bring back twoplayersfrom a productive unit last year —Austin Franklin, coming off a breakoutfreshman year, could develop goodchemistry with Manley and has the po-tential for a big season; and KemonteBateman, a junior college transfer in2011, has big-play potential after catch-ing four touchdownpassesa seasonago.Jerrel Brown was a walk-on last yearwho showed flashes, and could developbehind the two incumbents.The team ishigh on Joseph Mathews who stands at6-foot-2 and could be a target over themiddle. Kevan Walker (son of the Ag-

gies head coach), suffered a knee injuryduring fall camp, one he will try andplay on during this season. At tight end,NMSU has numbers — senior TrevorWalls catches most balls in his vicinity,while junior college transfer PerrisScoggins looks the part physically (6-foot-3, 250 pounds). Add in DavidQuiroga to the position, and the teamhas some flexibility here. Can the Ag-gies replaceoneof last year’s truegame-breakers in wide receiver TaveonRogers? That would seem a tall order,but, if Franklin and Bateman remainhealthy, this unit should be OK.

Offensive line

The No. 1 factor on how the Aggie of-fense performs this year could verywellcome down to the line, a group that un-der-achieved at the outset of last yearbut also got better as things movedalong. The entire right side of last year’sunit is gone, although one player whodoes return is left tackle Davonte Wal-lace, a perennial All-WAC performer.The team should also be OK at center,where sophomore Valerian Ume-Ezeoke returns after starting last seasonon the line’s interior.Red-shirt freshman

Andy Cunningham could be a surpriseplayer at guard, while Andrew Kersten,a starter last season, returns at the otherguard position. Right tackle does appearto be a question mark, where junior col-lege transfer Dada Richards was gettingsnapsat theoutsetof fall camp,whilebe-ing spelled by redshirt freshman FaisonMcKinnis and freshman Peter Foreman.This position will need to be solidified,and overall the Aggies appear to be lighton depth, meaning the starter’s up frontwill need to remain healthy going for-ward.

DefenseDefensive line

There are some pieces here to workwith. Donte Savage is back after beingacademically ineligible last year andhas looked very good — in a class byhimself as a very quick pass rusherfrom the weakside. Walton Taumoe-peau had a good second half of the sea-son in 2011 and is quick — a good ath-lete standing at 6-foot-3, 300 pounds.The teammoved Alexander Lavoy— amiddle linebacker last year— to defen-

sive end, while a handful of junior col-lege transfers—Kalvin Cruz, Nick Oli-va, andKevin Laudermill— could pushfor time. Redshirt freshman Matt Ra-mondo—aMayfieldHigh School alumwho transferred to NMSU fromMichi-ganState this offseason—was awaitingword from theNCAAon being granteda hardship waiver, which would havegotten him on the field immediately.His appeal was denied, however, justprior to the season.

Linebackers

Junior college transfer TrashaunNixon looks to be a player, performingvery well at weakside linebacker thispast spring. Senior B.J. Adolpho is back,as is Bryan Bonilla, who had a steady, ifnot surprising year in 2011, at outsidelinebacker. While LaVoy was moved tothe defensive line during the spring, hecouldbeused situationally at linebackeras well. Overall, the NMSU front seven—defensive linemenand linebackers—look to be a team strength heading into2012.

Secondary

This unit has a brand-new look, and in

that respect, is the defense’s biggestquestion mark entering the 2012 cam-paign. Last year, NMSU’s defensivebackfield had a pile of good players —Jonte Green, Courtney Viney, DonyaeColeman and Ben Bradley all startedand played well. All are gone, however,andmust be replacedbyholdovers suchas Darien Johnson, Jeremy Harris andJustin Smith. With that being said, tra-ditionally during the DeWayne Walkerera, the defensive backfield has been awell-coached unit at NMSU, one whichfigures to improve as this season rollsalong. If the secondary comes along, thedefense should be better from a seasonago.

Special teams

The team is hoping for a bounce-back season from kicker Tyler Stam-pler, whowas very solid two years agobefore falling off badly last season. Hewill be a senior in 2012. The Aggies al-so brought in junior college transferCayle Chapman-Brown this past off-season and he figures to be the team’sstarting punter this season. Last yearthe Aggies were largely down on spe-cial teams outside of Rogers, a stand-out kick returner. His big-play abilitycould be sorely missed this timearound.

Coaching

AsWalker enters his fourth season atNMSU, the general consensus is thathe’s a good coach working a very toughjob. Last year the Aggies took a big stepforward—perhaps two—as theyweremuch more competitive, entertaining,and won four games. This year figuresto be vital, however, with NMSU’s con-ference affiliation hanging in limbo —the team will likely be playing inde-pendent football in 2013 — and Walkertrying toput a stamponhis tenure at theschool, and on his head coaching careeras a whole. NMSU hired defensive co-ordinator David Elson this past offsea-son to replaceDale Lindsey and the unitshould look different, which won’t nec-essarily be abad thing.On theother sideof the ball, Jerry McManus comes in toreplace last year’s offensive coordinatorDoug Martin, who did a fine job coach-ing the Aggies through injuries, evolv-ing lineups, and scheme changes. NM-SU lost a lot on that side of the ball, andproducing at a close-to or similar levelwould figure to play a major key in theupcoming season.

Teddy Feinberg can be reached at (575)541-5455. Follow him on Twitter@TeddyFeinberg

NMSUCONTINUED FROMPAGE 31


VALERIAN UME-EZEOKE is a returning starter along the Aggie offensive line. The sophomore center playedpredominantly at guard during the 2011 season. NMSU kicks their 2012 schedule off today, when it hostsSacramento State at 6 p.m.


We take a look at theWestern Athletic Con-ference entering the

2012 season. Teams are orderedbased off where they were select-ed in the preseason coaches poll.

1. LOUISIANA TECH BULLDOGS•Head coach: Sonny Dykes(third season)•Last year: 8-5 overall, 6-1 inWAC (league champions). Lost inPoinsettia Bowl to TCU 31-24.•The rundown: It’s tough notthe put the Bulldogs atop thepoll, simply because the defend-ing WAC champions return thebest team on paper, with the topoverall talent. Quarterback ColbyCameron played very well downthe stretch for Louisiana Techlast year and will have to do soagain — this time for a wholeseason, while remaining healthy— as last year’s promising fresh-man Nick Isham has since trans-ferred to the University of Ari-zona. The Bulldogs seem sure ofthemselves and will likely be atopthe official preseason polls —such an attitude that can alsolead to overconfidence, however,and a potential danger.

2. UTAH STATE AGGIES•Head coach: Gary Anderson(fourth season)•Last year: 7-6 overall, 5-2 inWAC. Lost in Famous Idaho Po-tato Bowl to Ohio 24-23.•The rundown: The UtAgs hada crazy season last year — theylet a handful of games slip awayearly in the year, lost their starfreshman quarterback ChuckieKeeton to injury, and then rippedoff five-straight wins to close outWAC play and go to a bowlgame. The team did lose somefirepower this offseason — twospecial running backs in RobertTurbin and Michael Smith, alongwith middle linebacker BobbyWagner, a threesome that wereall selected in the NFL Draft.Still, Keeton is back, and runningback Kerwynn Williams is noslouch himself — both haveWAC Offensive Player of the Yearpotential — while head coachGary Anderson has done a nicejob here. Similar to LouisianaTech, USU’s QB’s health — in

this case Keeton’s — will be akey factor in their attempted runto the top of the WAC.

3. SAN JOSE STATE SPARTANS•Head coach: Mike MacIntyre(third season)•Last year: 5-7 overall, 3-4 inWAC•The rundown: Although con-ventional wisdom has the WAC’stop teams as Louisiana Tech andUtah State, the Spartans canmake a push for second-place inthe league. Mike MacIntyre hasdone a good job at SJSU — theWAC has its fair-share of goodhead coaches — and schedulingis on their side, as the Spartanshost both Louisiana Tech andUtah State this year, which ishuge. In general, San Jose Statehas the potential to be a scaryprogram. Why with their geo-graphic location — the bay area,where population, and talent, arenearby, SJSU doesn’t have tosearch far for players, and can at-tract castoffs from nearby BCSprograms such as Cal and Stan-ford. An improved team last year,and one to be wary of in 2012.

4. NEW MEXICO STATE AGGIES•Head coach: DeWayne Walker(fourth season)•Last year: 4-9 overall, 2-5 inWAC•The rundown: Tough to put theAggies here, who need to put awinner on the field in 2012. Butlet the facts remain, this is a teamthat lost a great deal from a sea-son ago in terms of talent andleadership — Matt Christian, Ken-ny Turner, Taveon Rogers, threestarters on the offensive line, andan entire starting secondary thatwas filled with good players. Thatand offensive coordinator DougMartin did a wonderful job lastyear, and is now gone. A big keyto the Aggies season will be pro-tecting their sophomore quarter-back Andrew Manley — last yearhe took too many seven-step dropsand was knocked out for the sea-son in the third game of the year.That, and look no further thantheir schedule: if NMSU cansweep its rivals — UTEP and theUniversity of New Mexico —and/or take two of three games

against the threesome of LouisianaTech, Utah State and San JoseState, then a bowl game should begranted. Such tasks won’t be easy,though.

5. IDAHO VANDALS•Head coach: Robb Akey (sixthseason)•Last year: 2-10 overall, 1-6 inWAC•The rundown: The Vandalswere awful last season, althoughhead coach Robb Akey returnssome players from a season agoand Idaho could surprise. TheVandals and Aggies will lockhorns on Oct. 6 in Moscow —another key contest on theschedule, and a possible swinggame in the standings for twoteams desperate for a bowl berth.

6. TEXAS STATE BOBCATS•Head coach: Dennis Fran-chione (fourth season)•Last year: 6-6 overall as amember of the FCS•The rundown: Dennis Fran-chione could be building some-thing here, and there is some tal-ent. Still, the Bobcats are theequivalent of an expansion team.Once again, when they meetNMSU it will appear to be a biggame, and possibly a scary one,for the Aggies. In the final weekof the season, Dec. 1, in SanMarcos, Texas State won’t liedown for the opposition.

7. TEXAS-SAN ANTONIOROADRUNNERS

•Head coach: Larry Coker (sec-ond season)•Last year: 4-6 overall as amember of the FCS•The rundown: This teamcould get out of the gates quickly— just look at the schedule,which begins at South Alabama,vs. Texas A&M-Commerce, atGeorgia State, and then vs.Northwest Oklahoma State. Still,while their future potential is evi-dent, they’re a young and inexpe-rienced team — just eight seniorsmake up the roster — and are insimilar style to Texas State interms of being a first-year pro-gram on the FBS level in 2012.

Teddy Feinberg

No. Player Size Pos. Cls.

1 Travaughn Colwell 6-3, 185 QB So.1 Jeremy Harris 6-2, 185 CB Sr.2 Trashaun Nixon 6-1, 225 LB Jr.3 Cameron Fuller 5-11, 175 CB Jr.4 Austin Franklin 6-2, 180 WR So.4 Darien Johnson 5-9, 180 CB Jr.5 George Callender 6-1, 195 SS Jr.5 Joseph Matthews 6-2, 190 WR So.6 Joshua Bowen 5-10, 170 WR RFr.6 Dele Junaid 6-1, 200 DB Jr.7 Cayle Chapman-Brown 6-5, 235 P Jr.7 Kevan Walker 6-0, 195 WR Sr.8 Andrew Manley 6-3, 225 QB RSo.8 Justin Smith 6-2, 200 FS Jr.9 Alexander LaVoy 6-2, 230 DL Sr.9 Darrius Preston 6-1, 170 WR Sr.10 Kedeem Thomas-Davis 5-10, 170 CB RFr.10 Marcus Williams 6-3, 200 WR RSr.12 Bryan Bonilla 6-1, 220 LB Jr.12 Andrew McDonald 6-2, 210 QB Jr.13 Kemonte Bateman 6-1, 185 WR Sr.13 Anthony Smith 6-1, 230 DL Sr.14 Matthew Heard 6-2, 210 LB RFr.14 Matt Jaramillo 6-5, 245 TE RFr.15 Trevor Walls 6-5, 245 TE Sr.16 Adam Shapiro 6-0, 180 WR So.17 Jerrel Brown 6-0, 180 WR Jr.18 Nick Carey 6-3, 210 QB Jr.18 Tyler Stampler 5-10, 190 K Sr.19 Jordan Addison 6-2, 180 CB RJr.20 Samuel Oyenuga 5-11, 180 CB RFr.20 Tiger Powell 5-11, 215 RB Jr.21 Brandon Betancourt 5-10, 180 RB/WR So.21 Anthony Edwards 6-0, 190 SS RJr.22 David Quiroga 6-1, 220 TE Sr.23 Akeelie Mustafa 5-10, 180 RB So.24 Josh Smith 6-2, 195 LB Jr.25 Germi Morrison 6-0, 195 RB RJr.26 Deontae Ragas 5-11, 200 LB RFr.28 Robert Clay 5-10, 195 RB Sr.29 Dominique Love 6-1, 180 DB Fr.

No. Player Size Pos. Cls.

31 Davis Cazares 5-11, 190 FS Jr.32 Dylan Davis 6-0, 230 LB Jr.34 Jesse Forte 5-11, 195 RB So.35 Zachery Baker 6-1, 200 SS So.36 B.J. Adolpho 5-11, 225 LB Sr.37 Jeremy Fielder 5-7, 180 WR Jr.40 Robert Wagner 6-2, 225 LB Fr.41 Brock Baca 5-10, 215 PK RFr.42 Jake Capraro 6-1, 210 P Jr.44 Mike Kaiser 6-1, 220 OL/DS Jr.52 Donte Savage 6-2, 250 DL RSr.55 Valerian Ume-Ezeoke 6-2, 275 OL So.56 Kevin Laudermill 6-2, 295 DL Jr.60 Chance Roberts 6-5, 245 DL Jr.62 Isaiah Folasa-Lutui 6-3, 335 OL Fr.65 Ryan Arbelaez 6-1, 280 DL So.66 Dada Richards 6-3, 315 OL Jr.68 Anthony Joyner 6-2, 235 LB RSo.69 Alexander Trujillo 6-2, 280 OL RFr.70 Andy Cunningham 6-4, 300 OL RFr.72 Peter Foreman 6-4, 310 OL Fr.73 Faison McKinnis 6-6, 300 OL RFr.74 Davonte Wallace 6-4, 290 OL Jr.77 Houston Clemente 6-2, 285 OL RFr.78 Andrew Kersten 6-5, 305 OL Sr.80 Perris Scoggins 6-3, 250 TE Jr.81 Brennon Shay 6-2, 205 WR Jr.82 Thomas Shepard 6-4, 225 DL Fr.83 Gary Issacson 6-0, 180 WR Fr.84 Zach Jones 6-4, 245 TE Fr.87 Desmond Anaya 6-3, 245 DL Sr.88 Joe Cordova 6-8, 240 WR Jr.89 Andrew Dean 6-3, 235 TE So.90 Nick Oliva 6-4, 245 DL Jr.91 Kalvin Cruz 6-2, 275 DL Jr.92 Walton Taumoepeau 6-3, 300 DL Sr.93 Matt Ramondo 6-4, 320 DL RFr.94 Abram Holland 6-2, 275 DL Fr.95 Inuka Rhaheed 6-2, 305 DL Fr.97 Mark Brown 6-0, 290 DL So.99 Stephen Meredith 6-4, 240 DL So.

NMSU roster

Schedules WAC capsules

Date Opponent Time

Aug. 30 Sacramento State 6 p.m.Sept. 8 at Ohio 5 p.m.Sept. 15 at UTEP 6 p.m.Sept. 22 New Mexico 6 p.m.Sept. 29 UT-San Antonio* 6 p.mOct. 6 at Idaho* 3 p.m.Oct. 20 at Utah State* 1 p.m.Oct. 27 Louisiana Tech* 6 p.m.Nov. 3 at Auburn TBANov. 10 San Jose State* 1:30 p.m.Nov. 24 BYU 1:30 p.m.Dec. 1 at Texas State* 1:30 p.m.

* Western Athletic Conference game

Date Opponent Time

Sept. 1 at Sul Ross State NoonSept. 8 at San Diego 7 p.m.Sept. 15 CSU Pueblo* NoonSept. 22 Fort Lewis* NoonSept. 29 at Colorado School of Mines*NoonOct. 6 Colorado Mesa* 1:30 p.m.Oct. 13 at Western State* 1 p.m.Oct. 20 Adams State* NoonOct. 27 at Chadron State* 1:30 p.m.Nov. 3 Black Hills State* NoonNov. 12 at New Mexico Highlands* Noon

* Rocky Mountain Conference game

NMSU Aggies Western New Mexico Mustangs


By Danny [email protected]

The Western New MexicoUniversity Mustangs werepicked to finish sixth in theRocky Mountain Athletic Con-ference — tied with rival NewMexico Highlands University—in a conference preseason poll.The Mustangs finished fifth lastyear, and head coach AdamClark is a little upset about thepick.“I thought wewould earn a lit-

tle more respect than that afterfinishing fifth last year, but itdoesn’t matter,” Clark said. “Itdoesn’t have any affect on whatwe are going to do this year.”The Mustangs finished 5-6

overall and 4-5 in the RMAC lastyear, and Clark said that thisyear’s squad has more experi-ence, more strength and moredepth than in previous years.“I think we have more of

everything this year,” Clark said.“That means the talent pool ishuge and there is better compe-tition for starting spots. Wethink we are strong every-

where.”Although Western is looking

for a starting quarterback afterthe loss of David Ingram fromlast year, Clark has three playersfighting for the starting position.Antoine Young, Mitch Glas-

mann and JustinButler havehadgood spring practices, but Clarksaid the one that comes throughcamp the best will get the nod.“I am very confident in all

three of them,” Clark said. “Wewill look at training camp to seewho is the better starter. But,there is a chance that more thanone of them will play.”On the offensive line,Western

will haveDavidVasquez andSu-nia Vatia back. Both are starterswith a lot of experience.Markis Sumpter will also be

back. The senior was an All-RMAC selection and named tothe preseason All-RMACOffen-sive Preseason Team.“He’s a guy that’s beenhere for

a while,” Clark said of Sumpter.“He’s a senior that has workedreally hard, and he does a goodjob with leadership. He can runandmake plays.We hope he be-

comes a dominant player for usthis year.”BernardWilliams also returns.

He was a second team All-RMAC Defense selection lastyear, and earned a spot on theAll-RMAC Defensive PreseasonTeam.“Bernard had a good year last

year, and we hope that he be-comes the lock down corner-back that we know he can be forus this year,” Clark said. “He hastaken some time to get used toour scheme and his techniquewas raw. He has a lot of ability,and we expect him to do greatthings for us this year.”Clark said the start of the sea-

sonwill be very important, as hewould like to be 2-0 before fac-ing Colorado State University-Pueblo — last year’s conferencechampion.“All the games have to start

well for us,” Clark said. “Acrossthe board, we are a young teamand someof our kids are still try-ing to figure out how to be col-lege football players, but we area lot further than we have beenin the past.”


WNMU FOOTBALL PLAYERS work on some drills during football camp in August. TheMustangs were picked to finish sixth in the conference, tied with rival New MexicoHighlands University.

Western New Mexico Mustangs

New Mexico Lobos

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ALBUQUERQUE — Comingoff three consecutive one-winseasons and a turbulent era un-der Mike Locksley that saw thefirst-timehead coach fired in themiddle of last season,NewMex-ico is a football program strug-gling to make progress.Former Notre Dame coach

Bob Davie has been brought into restore some Lobos luster,but he last walked the sidelinesa decade ago, spending the timesince as an analyst with ESPN.And Davie acknowledged

things are far from glowing asNew Mexico prepares for theupcoming season.“I’m sure every team we play,

they’re looking at that scheduleand saying, ‘We’re going to beatNewMexico,’ “ he said.

This despite returning 16starters on both sides of the ball,among themost in theMountainWest.“We don’t care how many

players we have back,” Daviesaid. “Because they haven’twon,so I don’t know that thatmattersawhole lot.We’re really startingover.”The makeover starts with the

offense, which will be employ-ing a hybrid, shotgun/optionpackage.“We’re a pistol by formation

in that the quarterback is in theshotgun,” Davie said. “Primarilythere will be a tailback, singleback lined up behind the quar-terback. We’re going to be anoption team.”Running the option out of the

shotgun should also help theteam pass well, he said, which

will maximize the team’s abilityto move the ball.The offense should lend itself

to somebig plays, said senior re-ceiver Lamaar Thomas.“I’ve never run this type of of-

fense before but I like it,” hesaid. “It doesn’t seem very re-ceiver happy but once things getrolling, as we saw at the end ofspring, a lot of receivers startedto make big plays. It’s not likegetting a bunch of catches butwhen we do get the opportuni-ties, we have to take advantageof it.”Senior quarterback B.R. Hol-

brookwill be the triggerman forthe offense and Davie is opti-mistic about his chance to suc-ceed.“He’s pretty balanced” Davie

said. “He can run, he really can.And he can throw.”

Lobos hopeDavie’s arrival brings turnaround

By Bret BloomquistEL PASO TIMES

Last season, Nick Lamaisonarrived at UTEP from MountSan Antonio College, won overhis teammates, learned a newoffense, earned the starting joband put up big enough num-bers to make him the top re-turning quarterback in Confer-ence USA.This year, Lamaison marked

the beginning of his senior sea-son with a creative new word.“The comfortability is great,”

he said. “I know the guys andthey know me. I know the of-fense better. We’re way aheadof where we were last year.”Football teams often end up

in cycles and right now, UTEPis out of step with the rest ofConference USA. Last year,when the league was definedby veteran star quarterbacks,the Miners were breaking in ajunior college transfer.This year, UTEP goes in with

the steady veteran while al-

most everyone else starts over,and what that means for UTEPis becoming obvious.“Anytime you have a return-

ing QBwho has played in somegames, you feel more confi-dent,” quarterbacks coachAaron Price said. “When wewere here last fall, we had noclue what was going to happen.“It’s night and day. He’s

learned the offense, he knowsthe ins and outs. He directstraffic, he helps other guys getlined up. He stopped thinkingabout what he needs to so.. It’sall become natural for him.”What he was most natural at

last season was winning overthe locker room.“He did a great job last spring

and summer gaining the confi-dence of the team,” AaronPrice said. “But a year of beingaround people is a huge deal.Having that time, peopleknowing what he’s put in, he’searned that respect.”Tight end Kevin Perry feels

the difference.

“He’s a lot more confident.He knows the playbook. He hasgood decision-making ability,”he said. “It takes a lot of ques-tion marks and doubts youhave as a receiver out, knowingwe can count on him in thefourth quarter.”As one would expect of a

good leader, Lamaison takes allthe questions about himself anddirects them back to the team.“We all have a lot more fo-

cus, more leaders,” he said.“This teamhas great players onthe field who are good guys offthe field, too, and love thegame of football. Everyoneseems really invested in theseason. Everyone is more fo-cused.”Having a veteran quarter-

back certainly helps direct thatfocus.

Bret Bloomquist may be reachedat bbloomquist@

elpasotimes.com; 546-6359.Follow him on Twitter

@bretbloomquist.

C-USA’s best quarterback is in El PasoUTEP Miners

After sub-.500 season,Mustangsready to take charge this season

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THURSDAY, AUG. 30, 2012€¦ · fierro ol/dl 70 brandon leach ol/dl 69 trenton pierce ol/dl 68 tyler whitlock ol/dl 67 xzavion patterson ol/dl 89 mitch swuirez ... diaz ol/dl 38 seth