Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Jaguars make debut in varsity on Aug. 29

Duane Barbati News-Bulletin Staff Writer; dbarbati@news-bulletin.com

Tomé The pristine view from the parking lot of Valencia High School's new football field has no ghosts from the past.

Valencia will face the Los Lunas Tigers at 7 p.m. at LLHS on Aug. 29. It will be its first-ever varsity-level football game.

VHS football coach Ed Johnson said he is looking forward to the upcoming season.

"The first game is always going to be tough," Johnson said. "The Tigers game is going to be a big rivalry. I want it to be a great and good rivalry, where we have fun and compete hard. We'll shake hands, and we will be friends before and after the game."

The Jaguars are in District 5-4A with Del Norte and Moriarty (Albuquerque Academy will be in 5-4A in most sports, but not football). The New Mexico Activities Association recently realigned the districts to include Valencia and Volcano Vista into in most varsity sports for the 2008-09 school year.

The Jaguars will make history and memories by hosting their first-ever home varsity football game at 7 p.m. on Sept. 26 against Socorro on the new field, which was completed weeks ago.

"Of all the teams that we play, we really want to win the Los Lunas game," Johnson said. "We have also Del Norte and Moriarty in our district. They're going to be tough. It's going to be a tough district to go into, especially as young as we are."

Moriarty was seeded No. 9 in the Class 4A playoffs last year, and lost in the second round. Belen went to the state tournament but lost in the first round. St. Pius was seeded No. 4, and lost in the second round.

"Moriarty has a good coach," Johnson said. "They're tough. St. Pius is tough. I put the Sartans in because they run, the same as Moriarty. We got Belen; they're going to be another rivalry."

He said he believes the teams on his schedule will be looking forward to playing the Jaguars.

"I think we have a few surprises for the other teams," Johnson said. "I am really looking for our kids having fun, learning what the game is really about and having a great time playing football."

He said his squad is comprised mainly of juniors and sophomores.

"It's a challenge," Johnson said. "The one thing that we are missing is the senior leadership to teach the other kids. We do have sophomores and juniors helping out that are filling the leadership shoes. It does help to have a senior class, but these kids are doing well."

He said he has some players that are fast.

"We don't have the senior speed," Johnson said. "We do have some sophomores and juniors with quickness and speed."

He said he has one or two kids on the squad who are displaying ambition to be leaders.

"We've had some of the players really show some leadership during the summer," Johnson said. "We've got Lewis Lockhart and Juan Rodriguez on defense, quarterback Orey Feerer and Freddie Rendon as a backup quarterback."

He said he has a coaching philosophy of "defense wins games."

"Hopefully, our defense is the strongest thing, because you win close games and championships with good defense," Johnson said. "We like what we've been doing on our defense. We've been working on it for a while now. It's a great defense when you have the speed."

Johnson said if his team is going to win championships, the work starts on the practice field.

"I am a big believer that you have to first learn to practice," Johnson said. "We put a little more emphasis on that because we don't have that senior leadership."

Johnson was hired as the athletic coordinator and head football coach in the summer of 2007. He has worked in athletics in the past at Moriarty, Belen and Santa Fe High.

"This is only my second year working with the players," he said. "We teach them how to practice; then we teach them how to win that game. We're going to compete every game."

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