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Thursday, July 31, 2008

'We're Hungry for It'

By Harold Smith
Mountain View Telegraph
      RIO RANCHO — The Moriarty High football team is the hands-down favorite to win the District 5-4A title this year.
    "There's no excuse for not winning district this year," said the Pintos' 6-foot-1, 190-pound senior-to-be running back, Taylor Allcorn, after a voluntary workout at Rio Rancho High on July 23. "We should win district. If we don't, it's going to be disappointing."
    That might sound overly confident given that formal practices don't start until Aug. 11. But if there ever was a year that it could be flat-out said that the Pintos should be victorious in their district race, it's the current one.
    "We're hungry for it," said Moriarty rising senior Pat Corr, a 6-4, 186-pound wideout and outside linebacker.
    Coach Bob Allcorn will commence his sixth season at the Pintos' helm. Moriarty was 7-5, 3-1 as the district runners-up during 2007, and they advanced to the state Class 4A quarterfinals before falling 47-27 to eventual champion Artesia in a blizzard at the Bulldog Bowl on Nov. 24.
    The Pintos last earned a district crown in 2006. That year, they were 10-0, 4-0 in the regular season before losing 49-14 at home to Roswell Goddard in the quarterfinals.
    "I have great expectations for us," said Colton Troop, a 5-11, 185-pound tight end and outside linebacker. "The one thing we need to work on to make sure we win district is leadership. As seniors, we need to step up."
    The Pintos will also be helped by the district's new alignment for the two-year period from 2008 to 2009. Perennial power St. Pius, the district champion last year, is now in newly formed District 6-4A along with former 5-4A members Belen and Grants and a new Albuquerque school, Volcano Vista.
    That leaves District 5-4A with a three-school lineup that includes Moriarty and Del Norte, both of which were in 5-4A last year, and Los Lunas Valencia, another new school. Valencia's Jaguars, who will be playing their first year of varsity ball, are coached by Ed Johnson, the Pintos' former athletic director.
    Valencia was 6-3 in 2007 against junior-varsity competition, according to the New Mexico Activities Association Web site.
    So, even at this early stage, the most neophyte gridiron observer can ascertain that Moriarty's most important game of the upcoming regular season will be against Del Norte's Knights at Wilson Stadium on Nov. 7.
    "Right now, we're pretty solid with 14, 15 seniors on the team," Bob Allcorn said. "We're at the point now where we have kids that want to work, want to play hard. It didn't use to be that way. We do get some kids (that come out as freshmen) who drop out early because the work is too hard. But now, only the hard workers stay."
    Allcorn said he didn't know much about Del Norte's status at this point. But this is known: the Knights were 1-3 in district last year, and they lost 35-0 to the Pintos at Wilson on Oct. 27.
    On the other hand, Allcorn isn't one to count his chickens before they hatch. Plus, the Pintos' pre-district foes, are no pushovers.
    Moriarty starts off with a preseason scrimmage at home against Santa Fe St. Michael's, the reigning state Class 3A champion, on Aug. 22. Kickoff is at 4 p.m.
    Then on Aug. 30, the Pintos travel to Milne Stadium to play St. Pius for their season opener.
    "We used to play (the Sartans) in an early-season (nondistrict) game when we were in the southern District (4-4A)," Allcorn said. "Then, we started playing Valley or another APS (Albuquerque Public Schools) team for the opener, but they're doing something else (APS East-West matchups), and we did still want to keep playing St. Pius."
    Moriarty's first home game is against Santa Fe Capital on Sept. 5. Homecoming is scheduled for Oct. 10 versus Belen.
    The Pintos will also host Artesia in what should be a tough game on Oct. 24.
    "We're basically going to use the same plays, do the same things we've done in the past," Allcorn said. "But we'll probably throw the ball more."
    Besides the seven-on-seven work, which included head-to-head play versus Eldorado, at Rio Rancho last week, Moriarty also ran some seven-on-seven, noncontact, padless plays at Estancia on July 22.
    "We're really starting to get more depth," said the Pintos' 5-7, 165-pound senior-to-be Alex Griego, who will mostly concentrate on offense as a fullback.
    Moriarty quarterback Nick Gonzales took a good many of the snaps at Estancia and Rio Rancho. He came into his own — he replaced injured quarterback Derrick Christian — during last year's 37-0 state playoff first-round victory at Los Alamos on Nov. 16.
    "Our offense is with a tight end on the side, two wingbacks and a fullback," said Gonzales, an athletically feisty but diminutive 5-6, 145-pound junior-to-be. "We'll have a wideout on the opposite side of the tight end. I think we'll pass the ball more this year. But I think we're still basically a running team."
    Each year's team has its own collective personality.
    "There's some really funny guys on this team this year," Griego said. "There's a lot of closeness. And there's not of lot of teasing of the younger kids with this year's team."
   

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