Karen Boehler
CCSR writer/editor
While Little League baseball players were taking their swings in Dexter, football players from across New Mexico were getting an early-season workout at the Bronco 7-on-7 passing tournament at New Mexico Military Institute Friday.
Teams competed in one of three pools in the morning, then went into bracket play for the final few hours.
In the big school division, Clovis defeated Manzano. In AAA, it was Lovington over Hatch while Fort Summer topped Texico in the small school division.
Three local teams — Roswell, Dexter and Lake Arthur — all competed in the tourney, and coaches from each school were happy with what they saw.
The Coyotes competed in the big school division, going 2-3 in pool play with wins over Artesia (25-0) and Las Vegas Robertson, and losses to Alamogordo, Manzano and Clovis.
In the first bracketed game, the Bulldogs came back against Roswell, winning by six point.
Still, coach Robert Arreola was pleased with what he saw.
“We got some good work here,” he said. “That’s what this is all about, trying to get guys in, playing different positions, so whenever we put them in a ballgame we can feel comfortable and confident they can go in and get the job done. So it’s a good practice for us.”
And he likes the chance to get an early look at his players.
“That’s why we enjoy coming here,” he said. “NMMI does a great job of putting this together and taking care of us, so we’re going to continue to come to it as long as they continue to invite us.”
Playing in the small schools division, Dexter had the best finish of the day for the local crowd, making it to the semifinals of bracketed play before falling to Fort Summer.
For new Dexter head coach Frank Sandoval, this was the first time seeing his players on the field.
“We had a boot camp, so to speak, where we just did conditioning, but we didn’t take a football out until Monday of this week,” he said. “The kids did great. We hadn’t even taken a football out until Monday.”
So, what did he see?
“I think we can throw it a little bit,” he said. “I think we’ll get better at catching it and those parts of the game. Obviously it’s 7-on-7 so you don’t run the ball, and I think that’s one of the things we’re looking forward to seeing: if our offensive line will be able to match up with our competition, the level of competition we have to play.”
And while he would have liked to finish higher, he said the players improved as they went along.
“Obviously, we would have liked to done a little better,” Sandoval said. “I think some of the teams that play these 7-on-7s, they had a little more experience. For us, the first three games, we were kind of tentative, to describe how we played the first two or three games. After the second or third game we got our feet on the ground and played a little bit better football.”
Defending six-man state champ Lake Arthur also went out in the first round, but only lost to Texico by six after going 3-3 in pool play.
Plus, they were playing teams more used to 11-man football, and, as the team’s first workout this season, coach Jose Porras was impressed.
“We did good. We competed,” he said, “and saw some good things. Saw some good looks from a few players we didn’t expect to. Just good signs for the coming year.”
And, he said, it’s a good way to get ready for what’s coming — which ,for the Panthers, is nine straight weeks of games without any byes.
“The main thing right now, we’ve got a month as of today to two-a-days, so they have a month to work on their weights,” he said. “Just building, getting stronger for the season, that way they come into the season healthy and well prepared.”
Bronco head coach said the camp went “real well” with a good turnout.
“It went pretty smooth,” he said. “Had great weather. It was cloudy all day. It was nice and cool so it went real well.”
And for Lynn, the tourney is a chance to get some early looks at players he just might want to see on his squad down the road.
“There were some good kids, and that’s one of the reasons we do this is we try to get as many of these kids on our campus as we can so when it comes to recruiting in the next year, then we have an opportunity to maybe have a relationship with those kids,” he said. ‘And they’ve already seen our campus and so it’s just a good recruiting tool for us.”
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