Ah, summertime in northern New Mexico. A time to camp, fish and play basketball from sunrise to sundown.

Not so much anymore when it comes to the sport with the round ball.

While basketball still reigns as the sport of preference for many northern kids, football has made some impressive strides at schools north of I-40, particularly at St. Michael's and Las Vegas Robertson.

So much so that the southern schools in Class AAA no longer have a monopoly on state championship trophies.

St. Michael's and Robertson have won four of the last five AAA championships. St. Michael's won the 2007 and 2003 titles and was the runner-up in 2004 to Lovington. Robertson won back-to-back titles in 2005 and 2006 and finished as the state runner-up this past season, losing 27-6 to the Horsemen.

The progress made by northern AAA schools is reflected in the voting for the 2007 New Mexico High School Coaches Association All-State team. The team was selected on the basis of voting by AAA coaches statewide.

Southern schools for decades dominated Class AAA football. Artesia, Lovington, Goddard and Portales won state titles year in and year out. From 1978 through 1999, the only northern school to break the South's streak was St. Pius, which beat Artesia in the 1999 finals.

The trend continued when a fifth classification was added in 2000. Artesia, the overall leader in state football titles, moved up to Class AAAA under the new alignment, but Lovington remained in AAA and won back-to-back championships in 2000 and 2001. Ruidoso won in 2002 and Lovington won two years later.

But the playing field has leveled considerably for the northern schools in AAA, so much so that the four teams in this year's semifinal round of the playoffs were all from District 2AAA — St. Michael's, Robertson, Raton and Albuquerque Academy.

So what's behind the emergence of championship football in the North?

St. Michael's football coach Joey Fernandez attributes it to more northern schools putting in summer training and weightlifting programs and coaches in different sports being more willing to share athletes.

"In the past, the kids spent much of the time in the summer playing basketball. The successful ones (in football) now have strong summer programs," said Fernandez, who has led the Horsemen to the playoffs six straight years.

Fernandez said he and other coaches at northern schools encourage their athletes to go out for more than one sport. "We don't want them to devote all their time to one sport. We're trying to develop an all-sports attitude," he said.

Fernandez, who graduated from St. Michael's in 1988, played five sports in high school, four of them — football, basketball, baseball and track — his senior year. He has carried over that mentality to his football coaching and several of the Horsemen who made the All-State football team reflect that approach.

Senior Ryan Eustice, the first-team tight end, plays baseball. First team offensive lineman Phillip C de Vaca competes in track and wrestles. First-team offensive lineman Gabe Atencio is a three-sport athlete in football, wrestling and track. Quarterback Mark Manning, named to the second team All-State backfield, plays basketball and baseball.

"I stress to my kids that they should try different sports. It's good for them to get to work under different coaches," Fernandez said.

Raton, which had one of its best seasons in recent history, had wide receiver Gabe Olivas, offensive lineman Justin Dorrance and defensive lineman Dylan Trujillo selected to the All-State first team.

The first-team offensive backfield included Hatch Valley quarterback Alex Carson and running backs Sam Marrs of Albuquerque Academy, Cruz Villa of Hot Springs and Lalo Chavez of Bloomfield.

The rest of the first-team offense included wide receiver Jimmy Esparza of Hatch Valley, offensive linemen Grant Montgomery of Hot Springs, Jacob Brady of Portales and Casey Casaus of Bloomfield. Elon Cox of Cobre was named the top place-kicker.

Other first-team defensive players included linemen Luis Espino of Socorro, Tim Mathew of St. Michael's, Chris McKenzie of Albuquerque Academy and David Guzman of Lovington.

The first-team linebackers were Emil Mathews of Socorro, Ben Magnus of Albuquerque Academy and Josh Gallegos of St. Michael's. The defensive backfield is comprised of Dakoda Moorhead of Hatch Valley, Dawson Yarbrough of Hot Springs, Lance Dettmer of Ruidoso and Louie Eres of St. Michael's.

The coaches association All-State teams were sponsored by James Polk Stone National Bank of eastern New Mexico.