Powersports: Should Valencia County feel “roasted” about football trophy?

The scene looked eerily familiar: ecstatic young men, surrounded by a mob of supporters, carrying a trophy around a football field after a victory over their biggest rival. Where had I seen that before? In particular, where had I seen that trophy before?

That was the image Saturday at University Stadium in Albuquerque, as the University of New Mexico Lobos celebrated their impressive 38-20 win over New Mexico State. The trophy was the recently created “Roaster,” as in chile roaster.

Wait a minute. The name and the trophy itself, are almost identical to the award first-given to the victor of the Los Lunas-Belen football showdown in 2002 — 23 years earlier. The original “Chile Roaster Trophy” was the brainchild of the Valencia County News-Bulletin, specifically David Puddu, former publisher, and T.S. Last, former sports editor.

When I first heard that students at both UNM and NMSU had collaborated on the “Roaster,” my stomach tightened. Even though the collaboration is pretty cool, I was a bit protective of my current employer and local football fans. These are well educated scholars, attending universities that do plenty of research. Couldn’t somebody have checked to see if the idea was already being used?

To educate myself more about how the original trophy came to be, I reached out to both Puddu and Last. Did they share my angst about the Johnny-come-lately? No, they didn’t, although Puddu jokingly suggested he would forget any claims to the new trophy for “$50,000 in small marked bills in a Burritos Alinstante bag.”

The VCNB “Chile Roaster” trophy came about to celebrate the 50th football game between BHS and LLHS, known as the Valencia Bowl. The idea for this locally-traveling trophy was generated by Last, while Puddu suggested using a chile roaster as the centerpiece.

“We talked about doing something that would encourage sportsmanship and goodwill in the community,” Puddu said. “We thought that would be a positive thing to do.”

“I have an appreciation for history and I thought a trophy would be a good way to mark what had occurred in the past and then to celebrate it in the future,” said Last.

Other ideas were kicked around for the prize. Perhaps a Nambe design. Maybe an homage to the region’s railroad history, complete with tracks and a locomotive? What about honoring the significance of agriculture in the county? That was the winner.

“It naturally morphed over to chile,” Puddu recalled.

From there, Last checked with officials at both schools, including Rex Hennington, for their blessing.

“He was the perfect guy,” said Last about Hennington. “He was a star at BHS but now was the athletic director at LLHS. He was supportive of it.”

With that, Puddu used a small roaster from Sisneros Brothers Manufacturing in Belen and the skills of a Los Lunas cabinet maker to complete the project.

“It started out as a basic chile roaster but then we dressed it up real nice to make it look trophy-like,” Puddu said, with plaques and engraving donated by area businesses. “It seemed like a good idea for a community paper to get involved with.”

It also had the possibility of generating some revenue for VCNB, with the sports editor spearheading a special section to highlight the 50th Valencia Bowl.

“I did a synopsis of 49 previous games. It was kind of a big deal,” Last recalled about the buildup to the milestone contest.

At its unveiling, the Chile Roaster was driven on a Gator around the track circling the field in Los Lunas, letting fans take a glimpse.

“I think it was terrific,” Puddu said of the response. “Everybody really enjoyed it.”

The game was played on a September night in 2002 — Friday the 13th. The date may have been a bad omen for Belen, which lost 58-14.

“That’s a pretty neat trophy,” Los Lunas head coach Avilio Chavez told Last following the game. “Hopefully, we’ll have it for a while.”

The hardware did exchange hands regularly after that, but remains in the possession of Los Lunas High School. It will stay at LLHS for the foreseeable future, perhaps in perpetuity. That’s because the series between the Tigers and Eagles, with Belen holding an overall 41-32-1 edge, has been on hiatus since the 2023 game.

Both schools agreed to suspend the rivalry after recent dominance by Los Lunas, who moved up to 6A, which holds a significant enrollment advantage.

It seems the only time the chile roaster is out in public now is when it is used during football games to hold tickets for the 50-50 drawing.

However, the VCNB chile roaster could return for its intended purpose, to be hoisted upon the shoulders of a celebrating mob. The New Mexico Activities Association realigns schools for classification purposes based on enrollment every two years. Recently, enrollment boundaries were adjusted by Los Lunas Schools, which could shrink LLHS, making it possible for the Tigers and Eagles to eventually be in the same athletic classification.

As for UNM-NMSU playing for a traveling trophy, I’m all for it. As Lobos coach Jason Eck said, a rivalry that is one of the oldest in the country, dating back to 1894, deserves no less. Yet, couldn’t it have been an original idea?

As T.S. Last speculated, this college version may have sprouted from graduates of Valencia County schools, who may have surmised the trophy was now fair game with the Valencia Bowl on ice.

“Imitation is the highest form of flattery, I guess,” opined Puddu, adding that “We will certainly remind folks that we came up with it first.”

Last added that a roaster is “an obvious traveling trophy” for UNM and NMSU.

Still, it bothers me a bit. If the series between the Tigers and Eagles returns, is the VCNB Chile Roaster Trophy scrapped because it was appropriated by the Lobos and Aggies? Despite not being very creative, I have a thought that UNM and NMSU might ponder.

Since the football game is dubbed the Rio Grande Rivalry, sculpt images of the Sandia Mountains, representing Albuquerque and the Organ Mountains for Las Cruces, at opposite ends on a pedestal. Then, connect the two with, wait for it, a likeness of the Rio Grande flowing between them. No charge.