Your kids are getting taken care of. If you’ve been to a high school football game this fall, you may have noticed a pop-up tent on the sidelines at Capital, St. Michael’s and Santa Fe High.
They’re medical exam tents, the same kind you see on the sidelines at NFL and college games every weekend.
Provided by Christus St. Vincent’s Sports Medicine and Therapy Services and Orthopedic Specialty Clinic, the tents even come in color-friendly looks — royal blue for St. Mike’s, black for Capital and navy blue for the Demons — while providing a private space for injured players to get examined during games.
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Change is the name of the game in the Pecos League. The first ripples of a new-look 2023 season are already spreading.
Last week, the league announced the addition of an expansion team while quietly eliminating two teams familiar to Santa Fe Fuego fans. The Fuego will return next season along with seven other teams in what is, for now, the Mountain Division.
The league added the Blackwell FlyCatchers in Oklahoma to the division while moving the Tucson Saguaros from the Pacific to the Mountain. Gone are 2022 clubs Colorado Springs and Weimar, teams that struggled to last-place finishes this summer.
The FlyCatchers will wear predominantly brown uniforms with tan and white highlights. They become the first team from Oklahoma to join the league, which now has teams in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas and Kansas.
The Pacific Division will consist of eight teams but, as of last week, only six were listed on the league’s website. All of them are from California. One of the missing teams is Tucson, which switched divisions. The other is the Wasco Reserve, which finished with a league-worst 7-40 record this summer.
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Don’t look now, but the Española Valley Sundevils football team is 3-2 after downing Gallup 38-6 for their third straight victory. That win total matches the number the program has produced over the three previous season. It is also the first time the Sundevils are above .500 since their magical 2015 season when they started 7-0 and finished 9-2 with a District 2-5A title.
Against the Bengals, Española ran for 389 yards, with junior Alex Chavez gaining 144 yards with a touchdown.
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Santa Fe Indian School’s girls cross-country team came away with the varsity division title at the Rio Rancho Jamboree on Saturday morning. The Lady Braves beat Pojoaque Valley 27-64 as they placed three runners in the top 10. SFIS was paced by a pair of Destinys — Chino won the race in 21 minutes, 38.30 seconds, while Marquez was runner-up in 21:55.30.
On the boys side, Pojoaque took the varsity boys title with a low score of 87 points, thanks to four runners placing in the first 22 team-scoring spots.
Benjamin Duran finished eight for the Elks and was the second-highest placing Northern runner. Taos freshman Judah Daffron finished third in the race at 18:07.80.
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The Ron Hudson era at New Mexico Highlands is officially up and running, now that the new coach has gotten his first Gatorade bath.
Promoted in the offseason to head coach, Hudson led the Cowboys to a 27-3 win over Fort Lewis on Saturday at Sanchez Family Stadium. Highlands (1-1 overall, 1-0 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) spotted the Skyhawks an early 3-0 lead before scoring 20 unanswered points in the second half. The Pokes rolled up 242 yards rushing behind Malakai Rango’s 132 yards and a touchdown.
Former Santa Fe High player Zach Russell had one catch for 30 yards for Fort Lewis (0-2, 0-1).
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Condolences to the family of Organ Mountain senior football player Abraham Romero, who died Saturday evening from a head injury sustained during an Aug. 26 game. Romero had been in a coma but took a turn for the worse last week.
On Thursday, Romero was named the school’s homecoming king during its game against Anthony Gadsden.
The program is guided by former Capital head coach Steve Castille, who is in his fourth season.
