2022 Team Preview: St. Michael’s Horsemen
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St. Michael’s 2022 Preview Head Coach: Joey Fernandez Mascot: Horsemen Twitter: @StMikesSports; @JKatko3; @TavenLozada Colors: Royal Blue and White 2021 Record: 9-4 (Class 3A Championship Game) Overview: St. Michael’s fought through covid issues in 2021, utilizing multiple quarterbacks on the…
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Continue ReadingSt. Michael’s 2022 Preview
Head Coach: Joey Fernandez
Mascot: Horsemen
Twitter: @StMikesSports; @JKatko3; @TavenLozada
Colors: Royal Blue and White
2021 Record: 9-4 (Class 3A Championship Game)
Overview: St. Michael’s fought through covid issues in 2021, utilizing multiple quarterbacks on the way to the finals. This summer Zach Martinez Zach Martinez 6'0" | 175 lbs | QB St. Michael's | 2023 State NM and Jacob Katko Jacob Katko 5'11" | 160 lbs | QB St. Michael's | 2023 State NM 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 & Lee University in Virginia. Who will replace him? Senior Marcus Leyba saw significant action at RB last season and heads into preseason camp as the Horsemen’s No. 1 RB. Senior Andy Dang 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 Taven Lozada Taven Lozada 6'4" | 220 lbs | TE St. Michael's | 2023 State NM 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 Dillon Pacheco Dillon Pacheco 6'4" | 245 lbs | OL St. Michael's | 2023 State NM spearheads the offensive line. He camped at Oklahoma earlier this summer.
Defensively, Lozada will play defensive end with returning starter Gage Bass on the other side. Mathias Duran 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. Isaiah ‘Bubba’ Mossman returns from last season. In the secondary, senior safety Creed Chavez is one of the top DB in northern New Mexico. He will be expected to take on a greater leadership role in 2022. Cole Sandoval will play cornerback.
Schedule: 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
Top Storyline: Will St. Michael’s continue its stretch of success even though the Horsemen will be relying on a lot of unproven and inexperienced players?
Final Thoughts: 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 Taven Lozada Taven Lozada 6'4" | 220 lbs | TE St. Michael's | 2023 State NM , don’t look for the Horsemen to step back this season. They’ll be right in the 3A championship mix again.
Coach’s Comments: “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.
Had a great day competing and had a good learning experience at camp today with @CoachBisch @CoachE_ENMU @JKatko3 @Dillon_Pacheco1 @PrepRedzoneNM @nmpreps @BroncoSportsFB @ENMUFootball pic.twitter.com/Z87uk4zV0O
— Taven Lozada (@TavenLozada) June 8, 2022
A few pics from OD All American game in Memphis🤘🏼@ODFootballCamps @PrepRedzoneNM @ODNewMexico pic.twitter.com/aAE817a6zM
— Taven Lozada (@TavenLozada) June 19, 2022
Had a great day at camp. Thankful for the great learning experience and chance to compete with some great talent @ENMUFootball @HiattENMU @CoachBisch @PrepRedzoneNM @NMrecruits pic.twitter.com/SI8JvCt9YK
— Jacob Katko (@JKatko3) June 8, 2022
Finished Camp at OU!!! #Finished #camp #Oklahoma @PrepRedzoneNM @OU_Football @NMrecruits pic.twitter.com/8IKU4ZQxSU
— Dillon Pacheco (@Dillon_Pacheco1) June 2, 2022
Great day of camp with @ENMUFootball. @CoachBisch @MasonPosa @CoachLewisENMU @HiattENMU @PrepRedzoneNM @TavenLozada @JKatko3 @NMrecruits #recrutement #footballcamp #nmsports #football pic.twitter.com/ngTXQXthr3
— Dillon Pacheco (@Dillon_Pacheco1) June 8, 2022