2023 Team Preview: Santa Fe Demons

Santa Fe 2023 Preview   Head Coach: Andrew Martinez                            Mascot: Demons                     Twitter: @demons_football; @IrishDemon1   Colors: Navy Blue and Santa Fe Gold                                 2022 Record: 1-9 (No Playoffs)                                      Overview: Last season was, to put it nicely, miserable for Santa Fe. An early season-ending injury to its starting quarterback sabotaged the offense and the defense couldn't overcome an abundance of inexperience. Nearly 12 months later, QB Michael Abeyta is healthy again and the Demons have arguably the state's fastest player in WR [player_tooltip player_id='615514' first='Bryce' last='Melton']. Defensively, Santa Fe hopes the valuable experience gained by several newcomers in 2022 pays dividends when the regular season gets underway Aug. 18.   Without Abeyta, the Demons offense flatlined – literally – in 2022. Over the final nine games, the Demons scored a meager 20 points. Abeyta showed during the recently concluded 7-on-7 season that his ability to throw the football will be a welcome addition to the Santa Fe offense. Especially when he throws in the direction of Melton, a 2025 prospect whose state championship winning speed will cause problems for  opposing defensive backs all season long. Juan Ortiz is the backup QB and he'll play WR as well.   Melton has been playing football for just two years - so he's still in the early stages of learning how to play the game - but his blazing speed and ability to stretch defenses is why Eastern New Mexico and New Mexico Highlands have already offered. Once Melton becomes consistently good in route running and catching the football, watch out.       Alex Mora and Julian Opetaia will be the primary running backs. Mora possesses good quickness and elusiveness, but he's fearless in running between the tackles.  Opetaia is taller with bigger strides. He'll be the Demons' change-of-pace back. The third running back is senior David Jones, who primarily played on defense in 2022.   Besides Melton, Josh Gallegos returns from last season to lead the WR corps. He possesses good size and could line up at tight end. Gallegos ranks among the strongest players on the team. Ortiz could play WR as well. Santiago Villasenor saw some action at QB last season but looks destined for slot WR this year. Six-foot-3, 205-pound TE Nathan Christensen is a big target.   Junior [player_tooltip player_id='268298' first='Cruz' last='Graham'] anchors the offensive line. [player_tooltip player_id='1258886' first='Jackson' last='Melton'] returns at guard. Leon Guerra is back as well. Both tackle spots are wide open. Defensively, Tomas Martinez and [player_tooltip player_id='590293' first='Mateo' last='Griego'] are the defensive ends. Griego played LB last season but is being moved to DE. Graham will play defensive tackle. Alongside athletic newcomer Alex Gardner, who's just a freshman. He played junior varsity as an 8th-grader in 2022.  Sophomore John Ticho returns at defensive tackle after starting as a freshman.   Junior Ramon Martinez spearheads the inside linebacker position after starting as a sophomore last season. Xavier Beacham moves to inside linebacker. Chris Griego will be one of the outside linebackers along with junior Max Encinias. In the secondary, junior Joaquin Lerma will be one of the cornerbacks. Opetaia and Villasenor will be there as well. Christenson and Gallegos are the safeties. Overall, the depth is better on defense.   2023 Schedule: Three trips to southern New Mexico highlight the 2023 slate for the Demons. Santa Fe will travel to Roswell, Silver and Lovington along with the annual rivalry game against St. Michael's. The Demons defense will be tested in the opener by West Mesa's potentially explosive offense. The district opener is Oct. 6 against Clovis.          Aug. 18 WEST MESA   Aug. 25 at Roswell   Sept. 1 ST. MICHAEL'S   Sept. 8 at Silver   Sept. 15 MANZANO   Sept. 22 Bye   Sept. 29 at Lovington   Oct. 6 CLOVIS*   Oct. 13 at Los Lunas*   Oct. 20 ALBUQUERQUE HIGH*   Oct. 27 at Capital*   * District Game        Coach's Comments: “Offensively, we're progressing every week. Michael has gotten a ton of reps and he's gaining the knowledge he needs. He's putting gin a ton of work. He's very smart. He's watched a lot of film and taken on a leadership role. He's doing his part. And he's a great athlete. He can run. It's good to have him back and healthy. We were excited about him last year even though he was green. We have some good skill players. We have good length, size and speed. We have an array of different skills guys that will help us. In terms of the athletes we have, I think we're in good shape. We've bolstered our offensive staff, which will definitely help us. . .We know what Bryce brings to the table in terms of his speed. But he has really good hands. Sometimes he's running before he catches the ball. That's the thing we're working on with him right now. He has the ability to open up a defense and make the defense think about loading the box and playing zero coverage” – Santa Fe head coach Andrew Martinez.   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/SportsPrimo/status/1671680334893817858 </div></figure>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/CruzGraham52/status/1669437983735402525 </div></figure>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/SportsPrimo/status/1666243733745201157 </div></figure>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/demons_football/status/1657435475660132352 </div></figure>

Santa Fe 2023 Preview