Excitement builds as preseason camps open around the state

Santa Fe head coach Andrew Martinez spoke for a lot of coaches and players around the state of New Mexico on Monday when he happily welcomed the return of two-a-days. The Demons worked out twice at Ivan Head Stadium, just as many other teams did in the Land of Enchantment. Yes, football is back. “It was nice to come out here in a normal environment and not have to play in four days,” Martinez told reporters Monday afternoon. “It’s a good feeling and we got some good work done today. We’ve also made some big strides in the weight room. Bigger than I thought we would make. This is probably the strongest team I’ve had since I’ve been here.” Just like nearly every team in New Mexico, the Demons played a limited schedule in the spring due to covid. In fact, they played just two games before the pandemic shut them down, not unlike many other New Mexico high school teams who battled through adverse conditions the best they could. However, the abbreviated off-season meant teams had to transition from the spring schedule to summer workouts as quickly as possible. “Working in the weight room never stopped,” Martinez said. “Today we focused more on fundamental work rather than conditioning. Our team is pretty well conditioned from the summer.” Under new rules, players and coaches must wear masks indoors but outside they don’t. “Luckily, we’re an outdoor sport,” Martinez said. “Hopefully (not having the wear masks outside) will continue. The players don’t really care about having to wear masks inside. They just don’t want to play with them. Anything that feel like a sense of normalcy is going to feel good to them.” Demons running back/safety <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="26265" first="Martell" last="Mora"]</strong>, who attended several camps this summer and earned an invitation to December’s Blue-Grey All-America Bowl in Dallas, is optimistic about Santa Fe’s chances this fall to make some noise in Class 6A. “We have very high expectations,” Mora said. “Probably the highest they have ever been. The chemistry is a lot better. The team is coming together. We’re a lot closer. We’re playing for each other now rather than just as a group of individuals.” Mora has communicated with Eastern New Mexico after running the 40 in 4.49 seconds at ENMU’s camp in Rio Rancho on July 20. “They have spoken with me and said they are really interested,” Mora said. “They told me they are going to recruit me more heavily. They want to see how the season goes. If everything goes well, they said they will probably offer. They see me playing safety. We’ll see where that goes. I definitely want to play at the next level." Santa Fe, the lone Class 6A program in northern New Mexico, has an intriguing opener against Class 3A power Robertson on Aug. 20. Because the Las Vegas school district opted out of the spring season, the Cardinals haven’t played a game in nearly two years. “Anytime you play Robertson, you know they’re going to be well coached, you know they’re going to be tough and hard-nosed,” Martinez said. “With those guys, you have to be prepared. They have played in a lot of state championship games. We know what we’re going to get with those games.” Two years ago, Robertson beat Santa Fe, 6-0, in a slobberknocker, hard-hitting affair dominated by the defenses. The Demons host a jamboree Friday, Aug. 13 with Belen, Grants, West Las Vegas, Capital and Pojoaque Valley slated to make the trip to Ivan Head Stadium. https://twitter.com/HobbsAthletics/status/1422351567127199746 https://twitter.com/GadsdenPanthers/status/1422247010493734912 https://twitter.com/SportsPrimo/status/1422166676582195204 https://twitter.com/PrepRedzoneNM/status/1422287691211673613 https://twitter.com/WysongBeth/status/1422187122224631811 &nbsp;