2022 Team Preview: St. Michael’s Horsemen

<strong>St. Michael’s 2022 Preview</strong> <strong>Head Coach</strong>: Joey Fernandez <strong>Mascot</strong>: Horsemen <strong>Twitter</strong>: @StMikesSports; @JKatko3; @TavenLozada <strong>Colors</strong>: Royal Blue and White <strong>2021 Record</strong>: 9-4 (Class 3A Championship Game) <strong>Overview</strong>: St. Michael’s fought through covid issues in 2021, utilizing multiple quarterbacks on the way to the finals. This summer <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="335455" first="Zach" last="Martinez"]</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="137922" first="Jacob" last="Katko"]</strong> are competing hard for the starting QB job. Both played last season. The battle is expected to last through the first week of preseason camp before Joey Fernandez makes his decision. St. Michael’s loses an important piece of last season’s impressive run to the title game: RB Daymon Lujan. He signed with Washington &amp; Lee University in Virginia. Who will replace him? Senior <strong>Marcus Leyba</strong> saw significant action at RB last season and heads into preseason camp as the Horsemen’s No. 1 RB. Senior <strong>Andy Dang</strong> is a tough-nosed ball carrier. St. Michael’s lost a very good WR in Devin Flores but the addition of 6-foot-5 TE/WR <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="269871" first="Taven" last="Lozada"]</strong> will soften the blow. Lozada transferred to St. Michael’s from Santa Fe High  before the 2021-22 academic year but his petition for immediate eligibility was denied by the NMAA even though his father is a Horsemen assistant. Lozada is such a tall and talented target that St. Michael’s will find ways to get him the ball. Eastern New Mexico has already offered even though he has yet to take a varsity snap with the Horsemen. Behind Lozada, St. Michael’s will go with a WR-by-committee approach until somebody emerges. Six-foot-4 tackle <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="270232" first="Dillon" last="Pacheco"]</strong> spearheads the offensive line. He camped at Oklahoma earlier this summer. Defensively, Lozada will play defensive end with returning starter <strong>Gage Bass</strong> on the other side. <strong>Mathias Duran</strong> will see playing time at DE as well. With his size, Pacheco will likely create havoc at DT. Dang, the MLB, leads the Horsemen’s LB corps with Martinez and Katko lining up at LB as well. <strong>Isaiah ‘Bubba’ Mossman</strong> returns from last season. In the secondary, senior safety <strong>Creed Chavez</strong> is one of the top DB in northern New Mexico. He will be expected to take on a greater leadership role in 2022. <strong>Cole Sandoval</strong> will play cornerback. <strong>Schedule</strong>: St. Michael’s opens the season with an intriguing game against Class 4A Taos before facing local rivals Capital and Santa Fe (both 6A schools) the following two weeks. The Horsemen again play in the toughest district in Class 3A. Two of their three games against West Las Vegas, Robertson and Raton will be played on the road. Aug. 20 TAOS (Sat.) Aug. 26 at Capital Sept. 2 SANTA FE (at Ivan Head Stadium) Sept. 10 LOS ALAMOS (Sat.) Sept. 16 Bye Sept. 23 at Aztec Sept. 30 at West Las Vegas* Oct. 8 ROBERTSON (Sat.)* Oct. 14 at Raton* Oct. 22 EL PASO (TX) CATHEDRAL (Sat.) Oct. 29 SANTA FE INDIAN (Sat.)* * District Game <strong>Top Storyline</strong>: Will St. Michael’s continue its stretch of success even though the Horsemen will be relying on a lot of unproven and inexperienced players? <strong>Final Thoughts</strong>: St. Michael’s is one of the most consistent programs in Class 3A, if not the entire state. Never count out the Horsemen. Since 2005 St. Michael’s has won 8 or more games 11 times. It happened against last season when St. Michael’s went 9-4 and reached the Class 3A state championship game after upsetting (and blanking) top seed Raton at home in the semifinals. With potentially dominant players such as [player_tooltip player_id="269871" first="Taven" last="Lozada"], don’t look for the Horsemen to step back this season. They’ll be right in the 3A championship mix again. <strong>Coach’s Comments</strong>: “Success builds success. We have a lot of inexperienced players this year, but many of them were around last year and were part of the run we made. Having them see what the older guys did on a day in and day out basis will help us a lot  in terms of our work ethic and just the things we do as far as leadership. We always try to make the expectations high every year. Our goal is the state championship and that has never changed. We try to plant that in the kids’ minds from Day 1. Our Horsemen Brotherhood, how close we are as a team, is important. With all of our inexperience, I’m interested to see how our guys react to the pressure when the games start.”  – St. Michael’s coach Joey Fernandez. https://twitter.com/TavenLozada/status/1534367151322288129 https://twitter.com/TavenLozada/status/1538527518826721280 https://twitter.com/JKatko3/status/1534359537788104705 https://twitter.com/Dillon_Pacheco1/status/1532480323237339142 https://twitter.com/Dillon_Pacheco1/status/1534354143413997568 &nbsp;