7×7 Recap/Video: Valley looks to peak after unexpected QB change

As a sophomore, 2022 Valley High QB <strong>Gabe Torres</strong> showed signs of becoming one of the top quarterbacks in the Albuquerque Metro Area. But, like everybody else, his junior season was shortened considerably by the pandemic. He won’t get a senior season. Torres suffered a torn ACL in the Valley’s third game of the spring, sidelining him for the entire 2021 fall campaign. As a result, Vikings coach Judge Chavez had to alter his plans for the quarterback position. Chavez moved rising junior (2023) running back <strong>Caeden Jojola</strong> to QB and redesigned the Valley offense to squarely fit his skill set, which means Valley will try to keep the ball in Jojola’s hands as much as possible with a variety of option and zone read plays in a run-dominated scheme. “Gabe would have been a three-year starter,” Chavez told Prep Redzone New Mexico Thursday after his team competed against Bernalillo in 7-on-7 at Highland High School in Albuquerque. “So we moved our best running back to play quarterback. “He’s probably our best player. What we’re going to do is start running the ball with the quarterback. We’ll do some bootlegs and try to get him outside and up the field. Right now, we have a lot of questions. We have about a month left o figure things out.” <strong>Ricky Henderson </strong>(2023), <strong>Ezekiel Ramos</strong> (2024) and <strong>Charles Lopez-Burton</strong> (2024) are young and talented offensive skill position players. Valley will utilize a wide receiver-by-committee approach. The offensive line is, you guessed it, young and inexperienced. Defensively, 2024 LB <strong>Justin Vigil</strong> and Henderson are the leaders. The Vikings played a lot of freshmen in prominent roles in the spring, and they hope that experience pays dividends in the fall. Valley finished 7-5 and reached the quarterfinals of the Class 5A playoffs in 2018, but fell back to 0-10 in 2019 before winning two of three games in the spring, giving rise to optimism for the fall. However,  Chavez’s biggest hurdle is numbers as the Vikings are scrambling to find players. “Our numbers are not real good,” Chavez said. “We knew that. I don’t know how many kids will come out when school starts. Normally, we have a bunch who do come out. We don’t have 200 kids in our program. We don’t have any superstars. Our kids that are here are working hard and doing what we ask of them. All we can do is coach the kids that are here. Hopefully, we’ll be able to win some games.” Valley opens the 2021 season on Thur., Aug. 19 against Sandia at Milne Stadium. In Weeks 2 and 3, they host Piedra Vista and St. Pius X, respectively. The Vikings compete in Class 5A District 5/6, which also includes Belen, Del Norte, Highland and Los Lunas. “We play teams on our schedule that are comparable to us,” Chavez said. “We’re going to have an opportunity to be successful. But when your numbers aren’t good, all it takes is one or two kids to go down and then you’re scrambling. I’ve been doing this for over 40 years. We have a lot of question marks right now, but I’m happy with the effort. I just wish we had more kids.” <strong>VALLEY 2021 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE</strong> Aug. 19 SANDIA (Thur.) Aug. 27 PIEDRA VISTA Sept. 4 ST. PIUS X (Sat.) Sept. 10 ATRISCO HERITAGE Sept. 17 at Deming Sept. 24 Bye Oct. 2 BELEN (Sat.) Oct. 8 at Highland Oct. 15 LOS LUNAS Oct. 22 at Rio Grande Oct. 29 at Del Norte <strong>VIDEO FROM THURSDAY NIGHT'S 7x7 ACTION</strong>: https://youtu.be/Gs5M_UZbejA https://youtu.be/rPFYgY2GCbI https://youtu.be/nkEZOxuLly8