2022 Team Preview: St. Pius X Sartans

<strong>St. Pius X 2022 Preview</strong> <strong>Head Coach</strong>: David Montoya <strong>Mascot</strong>: Sartans <strong>Twitter</strong>: @Sartan_football; @CoachDMontoya; @SartanX <strong>Colors</strong>: Black, Gold &amp; White <strong>2021 Record</strong>:  8-3 (Class 4A Quarterfinals) <strong>Overview</strong>: After earning a top four seed and losing emotional leaders Marco Ybarra (signed with Chapman College in Calif.) and Dominic Esparza (signed with Greenville University in Illinois) to graduation, St. Pius looks to a new crop of players to keep the momentum going. Senior quarterback <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="137890" first="Alejandro" last="Sapien"]</strong> threw for 1,464 yards and 16 TD in 10 games last season. He looked sharp in the just completed Albuquerque Passing League, and appears the likely successor to Ybarra as the Sartans’ alpha dog. Ybarra accounted for 97.5 percent of St. Pius X’s net rushing yards in 2021. Who’s the new RB? Montoya plans a running back-by-committee approach at the outset of the season with <strong>Vincente Montoya</strong> and <strong>Peyton Underwood</strong> sharing the carries. Montoya spelled Ybarra occasionally last season but hasn’t been a No. 1 RB yet. Senior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="208824" first="Chris" last="Coash"]</strong> was the Sartans’ No. 2 WR in 2021 behind Esparza and now assumes the top job. <strong>Nathaniel ‘Moosie’ Neel, Will Klein</strong> and <strong>Ethan Valencia</strong> should contribute as well. Neel will take over at Esparza’s former spot. St. Pius X returns three starters along the offensive front, including the entire left side. Left tackle <strong>Adan Thomas</strong> earned All-State honors in 2021. Defensively, returners <strong>Isaac Leyba</strong> and <strong>Bryan Deller</strong> will be relied on heavily for leadership and production. Thomas also excels on the DL. Deller is an outstanding DE. Leyba will lead the secondary from his safety position. Neel will likely play the other safety spot. Esparza excelled as the Sartans’ primary kick returner last season, so replacing him will be challenging. <strong>Schedule</strong>: St. Pius X opens the 2022 schedule at home against Bloomfield on Aug. 20. Five days later, they face Highland. District play begins Oct. 15 against Valencia and continues against Silver and Grants. Aug. 20 BLOOMFIELD (Sat.) Aug. 25 at Highland (Thur.) Sept. 2 VALLEY Sept. 8 DEL NORTE (Thur.) Sept. 17 PORTALES Oct. 1 at Albuquerque Academy (Sat.) Oct. 15 VALENCIA (Sat.)* Oct. 21 at Silver* Oct. 28 GRANTS* * District Game <strong>Top Storyline</strong>:  Who will replace the impressive production of Marco Ybarra and Dominic Esparza for the Sartans? <strong>Final Thoughts</strong>: Even though the 2021 season ended on a disappointing note with a home playoff loss, St. Pius X had an outstanding season in 2021. But nothing las forever in high school football, including the careers of some of your school‘s all-time best players. The Sartans seem to have a promising nucleus of players for this season and the chances of another Class 4A playoff berth are good. <strong>Coach’s Comments</strong>: “The nice thing is we return our quarterback and a lot of skill guys. Obviously, we lose Marco and Dominic, who were huge parts of our offense. But we have a great group of guys coming back. They’re going to have to step up and shoulder the burden those other guys carried for us last year. Alejandro throws a good ball and he’s a good leader. He knows our offense and what he has to do. We have good leaders. We’re not going to be hurting for leadership. We just need to replace production.” – St. Pius X coach David Montoya. https://twitter.com/PrepRedzoneNM/status/1513716268590780418 https://twitter.com/CoachPMA/status/1539047785776812033