Small town football

Even when the event I am covering is not football, the sport doesn't let me go.
As I prepared to watch the girls state high school cross country events Saturday afternoon, I stuck up a conversation with New Mexico Activities Associatiion boys athletic director Mario Martinez. He had returned from Hondo after the school recorded its first state title in six-man football since ... Well, not even Martinez, who has been a part of New Mexico's high school sports sceen for more 30 years, knew how long Hondo had been a high school. It was the first of its kind for the school, as well as the first time it had competed for a state title.
The closest it had come were semifinal appearances in the last two seasons in six-man (both ended by the New Mexico School for the Deaf) and a state basketball semfinal appearance in 1942 (against another Santa Fe school - St. Michael's).
But this one opportunity brought not just the current community of Hondo together, it attracted alumni who had been to the school in 20 or 30 years. They were greeted by cheerleaders who were grilling hamburgers and hot dogs just 25 yards from the field in a stadium that sits just a 100 yards from U.S. Highway 70 in a stretch of road between Ruidoso and Roswell. Martinez said the town is so small, the closest restaurant was Ruidoso, some 26 miles east.
Martinez told me this to emphasize the reasoning for the NMAA to have seven football classes and five classes overall - to give kids the chance to compete and play for a piece of glory. And in some cases, history. While the current system might feel watered down compared to the four-classification system that was abandoned just eight years ago, his point is well taken.
It makes moments like Friday, when Hondo beat San Jon for the title, worth it for these out of-the-way towns that are barely known within the borders of this state, much less recognized for its performance.