The game is football, but the lack of roster numbers has almost every Santa Fe Indian School player going both ways

Braves open season Thursday night at Cuba while its home field is being worked on and repaired after heavy rain brought a quagmire of floods in that area

By Arnie Leshin 

Numbers, it’s all about numbers when you speak of the Santa Fe Indian School football program.

It’s nothing new, even relates to the 11 years Ernie Rodriguez spent as head coach of the Braves. Now, under third-year head coach Carl Vigil, its been trying to install a culture of commitment of an unshakeable work ethic, of trusting the program both on and off the field.

Said Vigil: “Some of these guys have had traditional things going on in their lives, and a lot of times I’d hear about it the day before they’d disappear for a week, maybe more. There’s also tribal retreats and other get-aways that occur.”

This is one of the problems that affects the roster numbers. Vigil said he respects whatever reasons that the kids take off and disappear, but that he would like to try and do away with hearing about things at the last second.

“It’s hard to do something,” he said, “when one day you have your guys and the next day some of them are gone. If they can commit to a routine and be there when they have to be, we’ll be okay. We’re getting there.”

Vigil’s initial season brought a 2-8 record. He was upset to have a limited amount of players at practice, said it’s tough to put together plays when you don’t have the numbers.

Last year began with optimism. The Braves turned in four-straight wins despite a revolving door at quarterback. But they also finished with six defeats in a row and no chance of making the NMAA state tournament.

Now he’s dealing with district play. An independent the last few years, his team is now in 3A, and it figures to have a tougher schedule, one that includes schools that have state tournament experience.

Just a glance points that out. This 2-3A district has Las Vegas Robertson and St. Michael’s, as well as West Las Vegas and district newcomer Raton.

“The changes didn’t make things any easier,” said Vigil. “but I love the heart of this team, and that’s the same thing I like more than anything about this group. These guys, the ones who are here and showing up for practices almost every day, well they play with a sense of heart I think we haven’t had before.”

Not true. Under Rodriguez, the program lacked numbers, but always played with heart, always played hard, and did so with players going both ways. His son, Stephan, was the best player on the team, but he sometimes wore down when he had to return to the field to play defense.

But that was the case with about the entire roster of freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors. You want to be a Brave, you learned many different positions. Outnumbered yes, but Indian School also had to cope with the third and fourth quarters against teams that didn’t have all these two-way players.

And that’s going to happen when the Braves meet up with the likes of Robertson and St. Michael’s. They played both last season at home and the games ended earlier when the mercy rule was applied.

This time, they take to the road to tackle both of these teams, as well as opening at Cuba Thursday night, and also visiting Espanola McCurdy. They play their second game at home against non-district opponent Pojoaque Valley, than head for Zuni before hosting Thoreau.

Then comes the district – Robertson, St. Michael’s, Raton and West Las Vegas. Thus, Indian School will have a tougher time in this district over the contests versus the non district opponents.

The Braves will also add white helmets and all white uniforms on the road.

At home, they will suit up in garnet jerseys with white pants.

The opener against familiar foe Cuba was scheduled for Indian School, but heavy rains brought damaging floods in the area north of the football field. For the artificial turf, crews will add more rubber pellets to make the field softer.

Hopefully, said Vigil, the repairs will be done in time for the Pojoaque game on Aug. 30.

Otherwise, the coach is happy that his players really like the white helmets, as well as the logo that kind of props. They think it’s a good look, so that’s a plus.

But once again, the numbers have to improve. Year after year, there’s been maybe 15 to 25 players lining up.

It’s also a young group. All but one of the projected offensive line starters  are freshmen or sophomores, putting all the pressure on new starting junior quarterback Shaun Riley. But when you lack numbers, you have to fill some positions with underclassmen.

Andres Pecos returns as the starting running back, and will get the bulk of the carries. Riley, who came out for football for the first time last year, became quite versatile, playing almost everything but quarterback. He can also be a receiver, running back or cornerback, and contribute to the numbers by taking the field on defense at linebacker or defensive back.

But one can not forget players like Riley will have a lot of playing time. That’s Indian School. It comes to play, only lacks numbers.