2024 Look Ahead: Rio Grande Ravens

Many of Christopher Smalls' friends in the coaching business probably thought he was crazy when he applied for the head coaching position at Rio Grande in early 2023.   After all, if there is one job that's perceived as a ‘black hole' in the Albuquerque Metro Region, it's probably Rio Grande, which has experienced little success over the past two decades. Last time the Ravens won more than four games? 2006. Between 2014 and 2018, Rio Grande lost 45 straight games, a disheartening streak that finally ended late in the 2018 season. In 2021, the Ravens were 0-9 as the offense scored just 19 points all season long.   Smalls' first task at Rio Grande is simple: make the Ravens relevant in football again. The fact he's returned for a second year as head coach is an encouraging start.   When he took the job in 2023 after briefly serving as an assistant at Del Norte, Smalls, who played for New Mexico as a defensive linemen from 2012-15 and graduated from UNM with a bachelor's degree in political science, became Rio Grande's third different head coach in three seasons.   Reality soon hit back, though. Just nine to 12 players regularly participated in summer workouts in 2023. Today, 20 to 30 players are consistently attending workouts.   It's a start.   “If there's a will, there's a way,” Smalls told Prep Redzone New Mexico. “We've seen a big change. There's been a lot of growth. I want to turn the program around. It's been a source of motivation for me. We're striving to create something new at Rio Grande. We haven't had a JV team in about seven to 10 years. Right now, getting 20 to 30 kids out for workouts is huge for us. Everybody is dialed in.”       The Ravens took another important step towards revitalizing the football program when they joined Class 5A as part of the NMAA's latest realignment last December, ending six years as an independent. As a result, Rio Grande will start competing for district and state championships again. They're in District 5A-1 along with Belen, Capital, Del Norte, Highland, Los Alamos, Miyamura and Valley.   “Being in a district where we can compete is important,” Smalls said. “Most of the other schools in our district are obviously more established. But I  think we can catch up over time. Highland had been in the same boat as us, but now they're doing great. In fact, most of the programs in our district have at one time been in the same boat as us. Maybe not as bad, but same situation. They crawled out of it. We can do the same thing. It starts with us. Right now, we're building the foundation.”   As always, the road back for Rio Grande begins at quarterback. Junior [player_tooltip player_id='1751640' first='Angel' last='Montelongo'], who quarterbacked the Ravens to a victory over Shiprock last season, and sophomore Ethan Krantz are competing for the starting job.   “Right now, Angel has the edge because he definitely has a stronger arm,” Smalls said. “I would describe him as an ‘on the run' thrower. He can extend plays with rollouts.  Ethan is a lefty, so he makes defenses do things a little differently. I like the competition. We're competing every day.”   Senior Diego Quintana, who didn't play football last year, and senior Alejandro Quintana (no relation) are set to be the Raven running backs. The latter Quintana missed last season with an injury.   “We definitely have to establish the run,” Smalls said.   Sumo Peralta, Isaac Toledo and Nicholas Cochran are slated to be the top three wide receivers. Lorenzo Martinez and [player_tooltip player_id='1751655' first='Max' last='Allen'] are the tight ends. Seniors Erio Solis, Moises Balderrama and Angel Arevalos are the offensive line anchors.   Obviously, due to numbers, Rio Grande's defense will be led by a large number of two way players. Most of the offensive line will also play along the defensive front. Balderrama has stood out in summer workouts.   Diego Quintana headlines the LB corps with sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='1790803' first='Sammy' last='Padilla']. Lorenzo Martinez and Josiah Lujan join them on the second level. The secondary is led by junior Giovon Grant. Alejandro Quintana and Sumo Peralta provide help on the third level. Rio Grande could rely upon some freshmen and sophomores to fill out the secondary. Ruben Montoya is a promising sophomore.         2024 RIO GRANDE FOOTBALL SCHEDULE:   Aug. 23 at Aztec (7 p.m.)   Aug. 30 at Manzano (7 p.m.)   Sept. 7 ATRISCO HERITAGE (Sat., 6 p.m.)   Sept. 13 at Miyamura (7 p.m.)*   Sept. 20 at Highland (7 p.m.)*   Sept. 27 CAPITAL (7 p.m.)*   Oct. 4 at Del Norte (7 p.m.)*   Oct. 11 Bye   Oct. 19 LOS ALAMOS (Sat., 11 a.m.)*   Oct. 25 at Belen (7 p.m.)*   Oct. 31 at Valley (Thur., 7 p.m.)*   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://youtu.be/6IW9l4yWMsI?si=jkfEDZT6TAkoUBQ5 </div></figure>

Many of Christopher Smalls' friends in the coaching business probably thought he was crazy when he applied for the head coaching position at Rio Grande in early 2023.