First round of the state soccer tournament begins today ...

The New Mexican will be out covering the Socorro-Santa Fe Prep match at 4 p.m. and we will also have a roundup of today's events.

Here is a quick handicap for today's boys events:
Class A-AAA
No. 10 Socorro at Prep, 4 p.m. - The Blue Griffins have played well after a 1-5 slide midway through the year. They have shown the ability to out shots on frame, but finishing has been a huge obstacle at times this year. They do have a 3-1 win over Socorro in September, and it was aided by two penalty kick. Expect Prep not to use the free kicks this time.
Blue Griffins 2, Warriors 0
No. 12 Desert Academy at No. 5 Hope Christian - The Wildcats are looking to make some noise this year, as opposed to being happy to be a part of the A-AAA bracket. Desert Academy's strength is its offense, but the defense has been generous at times. The Huskies area bit stingier in protecting their goal, and they do have the benefit of playing No. 1 Sandia Prep and No. 2 Bosque School in their district. That they have a pair of 1-0 losses to Bosque Scchool shows they can play with the top teams in the state.
Huskies 2, Wildcats 0
No. 9 Bloomfield at No. 8 Las Vegas Robertson - Perhaps the most even matchup of the tournament, which is not a surprise when it comes to 8-9 contests. The difference might be in the 4-hour drive for the Bobcats. Or how about the competition each has faced? Bloomfield has district champion Rehoboth (the No. 6 seed) in its district, with whom it split. Robertson had 10-10 Pojoaque, which didn't even make the state tournament.
Bobcats 3, Cardinals 1
Class AAAA
No. 9 Capital at No. 8 Piedra Vista - The Jaguars were 10 minutes away from a big win over a tough AAAA foe on Sept. 3, but then the Panthers scored to tie the match and won in a shootout. Piedra Vista has played competitively against Farmington, the No. 4 seed in the bracket, while Capital looked disorganized and intimidated against Los Alamos (the five-seed). But Capital also feels a bit disrespected about falling to a 9 seed, and that could be all the motivation needed to advance to Albuquerque.
Jaguars 2, Panthers 1
No. 12 Roswell Goddard at No. 5 Los Alamos - Here was how the Rockets' Saturday went: Oh no, we have to play Los Alamos.
Here's how today will go: Oh hey! Look at the snow!
Too bad they can't take it with them.
Hilltoppers 4, Rockets 1

And you thought Santa Fe High's 38-game losing streak was bad ..

Try being La Salle-Peru High, which had never beaten rival Geneseo. It's a streak that began .... Well, you read the story. Suffice it to say, Woodrow Wilson never thought the streak would last this long.

A story that needs to be read .... Over and over.

This is more than uplifting. It really cannot be summed up in words, although Orlando Sentinel's Mike Bianchi does a very admirable job of it. Shows you the buoyancy of the human spirit. Like Mia Hamm says in the story, Bree McMahon is my hero.

Here's the must-read link.

Washington football player dies after injury

Kind of a sad note, and if you google Drew Swank or go to CNN's Web site, you will see some live video of an interview with the family.
Makes you realize how dangerous a sport football can be.
RIP, Mr. Swank.

Story link: http://www.nwcn.com/statenews/washington/stories/NW_092809WAB-high-school-football-player-dies-LJ.1c4770752.html

Pojoaque vanishes

Here's the funny thing about polls. They really are the highest form of human error, because they reflect opinions. Sometimes, those opinions ring true. Sometimes ... You scratch your head and wonder, "What the ... ???"
And so after yesterday's football poll, I have but one question for the fine football coaches who voted in the Class AAA prep football poll. Where's the love for Pojoaque? And, yes, Elks head coach Quevin Redding (Coach Q, to most people), I include you.
I went back comparing the voting list of head coaches from last week, when the Elks received 16 points to finish just outside the Top 10, and the list revealed the absence of two coaches in this week's poll.
So much to my shock - and yes, I will say dismay - the Elks went from 16 to a big fat ZERO in the poll. How is that possible? To go from the 11th most popular team to not even being on the list? I can understand Redding not voting for his team (although I would think he would want to celebrate his team's success), because there are a few coaches out ther who refuse to do that.
But how can a team beat a AAAA team (albeit a bad Taos team) 31-8 and yet get the shaft in the poll?
Of course, we are talking about prep polls that once had Bernalillo's and Santa Fe High girls basketball team earning votes despite having losing records. So it goes to figure that human beings are fallible.
Or forgettable.

Prep soccer poll 09/21-26

Here it is again, for your eyes, the nmsoccer.com prep poll for this week. Click on the hypelink if you want to see more of what's going on in the soccer scene. First-place votes are in parenthesis:

Boys
Class AAAAA
1. Alb. La Cueva (5) 66
2. Alb. Sandia (1) 55
3. Alb. Eldorado 38
4. Rio Rancho 35
5. Las Cruces 33
6. L.C. Mayfield 32
7. Gadsden (1) 25
8. L.C. Oñate 17
9. Alb. Highland 16
10. Alb. Cibola 14
Class AAAA
1. Alb. Academy (3) 39
2. Alb. St. Pius X (1) 36
3. Roswell 27
4. Los Alamos 26
5. Farmington 25
6. Capital 20
7. Piedra Vista 17
8. Grants 12
9. Belen 11
10. Roswell Goddard 4
Class A-AAA
1. Alb. Sandia Prep (1) 73
2. Bosque School (7) 70
3. Ruidoso 63
4. St. Michael's 49
5. Alb. Hope Christian 48
6. Bloomfield 33
7. Rehoboth 32
8. Santa Fe Prep 23
9. Socorro 21
10. Las Vegas Robertson 11
Girls
1. Alb. Sandia (7) 70
2. Alb. La Cueva 59
3. Alb. Eldorado 44
4. Alb. Cibola 43
5. Rio Rancho Cleveland 40
6. Las Cruces 35
7. Rio Rancho 30
8. Carlsbad 24
9. L.C. Mayfield 17
10. Albuquerque High 9
Class AAAA
1. Los Alamos (2) 41
2. Alb. Academy (1) 36
3. Volcano Vista 35
4. Alb. St. Pius X 33
5. Alb. Del Norte 25
6. Piedra Vista 19
7. Farmington 17
8. Kirtland Central 10
9. Aztec 9
10. Taos 6
Class A-AAA
1. Alb. Sandia Prep 60
2. Bosque School 53
3. St. Michael's 49
4. Socorro 39
5. Alb. Hope Christian 36
6. Rehoboth 25
7. Portales 23
8. Miyamura 14
9. East Mountain 10
10. Santa Fe Prep 8

Observations on the prep scene 9-18-09

We are rapidly approaching the one-month mark of the fall season, and trends are slowly establishing themselves as habits and teams are making their mark or beginning to see the glimmer of hope fade like a distant sunset.
It also gives me time to pause for a Friday (imagine that? An off Friday!) and to reflect on what we have seen around the North:

Soccer (OR .. "Yes, this is my beat this year, so football takes a back seat on this blog")
We came in expecting the St. Michael's girls to be a contender in Class A-AAA. While they are still a contender, they have not established themselves as the team to beat. Nope, that recognition belongs to Albuquerque Sandia Preparatory, which explains my appearance at a 10-0 rainy-day blowout at Santa Fe Prep Thursday.
I wanted to see the Lady Sun Devils ... Wait, make that, I needed to see them. You hear from other coaches about the talent and skill Sandia Prep possesses, but it doesn't hit you upon first glance. The Lady Sun Devils look like a good solid club in warm-ups, but it gives you very little indication of what happens when the entire soccer field opens up and they get to spread out over it. Sandia Prep is the best team in the class, and it's easy to see how it beat La Cueva, Rio Grande and Mayfield this season. Those three schools are AAAAA quality and Sandia Prep meets that standard.
The Lady Sun Devils aren't indestructible and they have been known to fall short when it matters - that is why they have three straight red runner-up trophies in as many years. Their problem might be that they are too good and they lack challenges to keep them focused and ready into November. It could very well strike them again when they have to play three straight days of quality soccer.
On the boys side, I didn't see Capital High being as good as it has been, but ... the Jaguars are. But in the competitive world of Class AAAA soccer, it's hard to tell where they stand. Los Alamos plays a traditionally tough schedule, but it finished seventh at the Albuquerque Academy Invite and then got 1-0'ed by the Chargers on Tuesday. That puts the Hilltoppers at 5-4 this season, compared to Capital's 7-1. Now, let's use a very simple math property here (because we know people use this ALL the time).
It's the logical property of equality: If A=B, and B=C, then A=C.
So ...
Capital lost to Piedra Vista 2-1 two weeks ago.
Los Alamos beat the Panthers 4-3 on Aug. 29.
So are we to presume that Los Alamos is one goal better than Capital at this point? The answer to that question will be answered Oct. 6 at Los Alamos, then re-examined on Oct. 24 at Capital.
Still, what can't be ignored is that Capital is on the cusp - at least this season - of being a AAAA contender. A win over Los Alamos bolsters that argument, but no one will know until the state tournament commences.
Until then, Capital will be the team that a city roots for as the David among soccer's Goliaths.

Football
Well, St. Michael's is the team to beat, and not just in District 2AAA. Forgive my differences with the coaches poll release on Wednesday, but St. Michael's is the second-best team in the state (Sorry, Raton). The Horsemen have a defense reminiscent of the championship 2007 team, and as we have seen over the years, it gets better as the seasons progresses. What needs to be watched carefully is the progression of junior quarterback Michael Wiegel. He is a good leader and a great competitor that the offense can rally around. But ... What St. Michael's needs is for Wiegel to air out the passing game and keep defenses honest. By being able to use the receiving talents of Giovanni Coppola, Justin Smith and Brian Baca, it makes the running threat of Russell Disch and George Dominguez that much tougher.
Of course, you have injuries that play a factor every year, and the rest of the season will be a test of the Horsemen luck and conditioning to see how they fare. But I will say it here first. The Horsemen will play for the Class AAA state title this season.
And if the opponent is Lovington, the city of Santa Fe will host another championship game.
The other story of the season belongs in Española, where the McCurdy Bobcats have scored 173 points, which has led to a 3-0 start. Tonight, they will get their biggest test of the season when they play the Foxes of Fort Sumner. In the last three meetings, Fort Sumner has dominated to the tune of 164-0 - including a 55-0 and 60-0 pasting last year. If the Bobcats make this matchup close, then McCurdy is that much closer to placing itself among the top two or three in the 10-team Class A.

Volleyball
Class AAA looks like a District 2AAA party: Las Vegas Robertson, Pojoaque Valley, St. Michael's, and Santa Fe Indian School dominate the top half of the coaches poll, and this will make the district race that much more interesting. Having said that, Pojoaque has dominated the district regular season - the Elkettes have been undefeated in league play for the past three seasons. If they pull off that feat this year, it truly should be a special acheivement. Don't count on it, not with Robertson adding Jazmine Harge, daughter of New Mexico Highlands head men's basketball coach Joe Harge. Robertson has size and and skill, and that is why the Lady Cardinals have been ranked No. 1 for most of the season.
Then there is St. Michael's, with Aimee Geyer up front, and SFIS and LeKeshia Padilla. It might an 8-2 or 7-3 record to gain the top seed in the district. Oh, and that would likely sew up the top seed for the state tournament.