After 18 months of selling the virtues a moribund football program, Ray Holladay and his Santa Fe High Demons are seeing a return.

The practice field is enjoying the dividends, with 85 players making Demons football their passion. The sheer numbers are an impressive sign for Holladay, the second-year head coach at the flagship public high school in the city.

"In Year 2, we're probably 20 kids ahead of where I thought we'd be," Holladay says.

Just what is Holladay selling?

Stability for one — much-needed stability.

Since the departure of Steve Baca in 1999, Santa Fe High has proffered five head coaches to the student body. None has met approval.

Only Bill Moon (2000-03) lasted more than two seasons. Twice, the head coach (Ed Johnson, Mike Ulibarri) has left in the summer, at perhaps the most crucial moment for the upcoming season. Mike Mares was a stopgap, one-season solution between Ulibarri and Holladay.

Holladay has made it to Year 2, but what about the future?

"We're back, and we don't plan on going anywhere," Holladay says.

With the coaches in place, the players had to go out and sell Santa Fe High football to their peers. It's hard to do when a program has suffered losing marks 21 times over the last 23 school years and not reached the postseason. It's harder still when the Demons are coming off an 0-10 record.

Junior Josh Roybal said that part wasn't as hard as it seems.

"All we had to do was convince them to come out one time," Roybal says. "Once they came during the summer, they loved it. That's all we had to do, Just come once."

Of course, the Demons might be benefiting from the loss of the stigma of being one of the smallest Class AAAAA schools in the state. They call AAAA their home now, and no longer to the visions of Albuquerque La Cueva Bears and Albuquerque Sandia Matadors haunt the football field.

"I think that gives everybody a huge boost in mentality, even there are some big teams out there," senior lineman Oscar Nova says. "But we know it's not so overly weighted toward them (the opponent)."

Strength in numbers signals a strong heartbeat for the program, but the biggest obstacle awaits Santa Fe High — putting results on the scoreboard. For the last 12 games — beginning with a 56-28 loss to Albuquerque Valley on Oct. 30, 2008 — the Demons have walked off the field on the wrong end of the final score.

Piedra Vista, a District 1AAAA school that struggled to a 2-8 record in 2009, is the first test to this new resolve. Holladay offered his scouting report — and maybe a forewarning to his team.

"They run the ball well — they run it really well," Holladay says. "They are a big physical team, and their quarterback is a hard runner. No ifs, ands or buts about it, they are going to run the ball."

Santa Fe High showed in last week's scrimmage against Valencia, the seventh-ranked team in the New Mexico High School Coaches Association preseason poll, it can move the ball and keep opposing offenses off the field. That is a far cry from last year, when quarterback Jason Fitzpatrick ran for his life behind an inadequate offensive line.

The offensive line looked solid against the Jaguars, as the first team scored on its first possession.

"I was most impressed with their communication for most of Friday night," Holladay says. "They picked up the blitzes and made the right checks. The knowledge part is there. It's down. They got to get it from between the ears to their feet. They have to be more instinctive."

If the line does its part, it will open up the offensive playbook, and Roybal feels the offseason of conditioning made the receivers and running backs stronger and faster.

"Most of the skill guys and some of the linemen would come work out with (assistant) coach (Bob) Galano," Roybal says. "We'd do explosion training — three times a week — run hills and stuff for speed. That's the kind of stuff we've been doing to get ready for the season."

Holladay feels the turn of the calendar was just as important.

"They're better because they're a year older, and that's the main reason why they're better," Holladay says.

The Demons are a year better. How much better? That remains to be seen.

But they are selling they are on the right path.

So far, that's been enough to make believers out of some.

Contact James Barron at 986-3045 or jbarron@sfnewmexican.com. Read his blog at thereadbarron.com.