Valley Viking Overview
Entering his 4th year as Valley Head Football Coach Enrico Marcelli has a win/loss record of 23-10. After a slow start in 2014 going 0-4, the Vikings won 4 out of their last 5-games on the season and were one-game away from reaching the playoffs. For a school that has just over 1,100 students, the participation numbers for football are extremely high, in-fact Coach Marcelli told us that Valley has over 130 kids out in the entire program in grades 9-12. This season Valley returns 14 starters into the 2015 season, the headline in the spring/early summer has been the recruiting coverage regarding 6-foot-6, 250 pound returning defensive linemen Teton Saltes who has offers from CAL, Iowa State, New Mexico , Oregon, San Diego State, Texas Tech, Washington, and Washington State. While Saltes is a Blue Chip Senior, Valley only has a total of 12 seniors on the roster, one of their smallest groups in years. “Our senior class this year is really small this year, luckily they are all pretty good. We got guys like Teton Saltes, Noah Santistevan, Michael Barboa, and Elijah Naranjo who are all going to make plays. Last year was up and down a little bit, but I think we’ve learned from that, we lacked a little bit of senior leadership, over the summer we have worked on that,” Said Enrico Marcelli.
6-foot-6, 250 Pound Teton Saltes Holds 8 Offers
Last year as a junior Saltes played just 7-games, but his highlight film caught fire in the recruiting world during the spring and big time schools like Oregon, Washington, and CAL all offered, as mentioned all together he holds 8-offers and plans to watch Utah vs. Oregon this fall. “He is 6-foot-6, 250 and he is fast, he runs a 4.8 40-time. He is very explosive and has some things you just can’t teach. The colleges love him, we are looking forward to getting our hands on him, he has just played 7-games of high school football, we are looking for him to anchor one side completely for us this year,” said Marcelli on his prized defensive linemen.
Offensive Returners
Pictured is Valley 6-foot-2, 205 pound Tight End Noah Santistevan who will be a three year starter, also a standout basketball player
Isaiah Chavez threw for over 1,000-yards last year as just a sophomore starting more than 5-games. Speaking with Marcelli Chavez is one of the better passes he has had since taking over Valley and it helps that Chavez can move around the pocket as well when needed. At running back you have 5-foot-11, 195 pound Michael Barboa (270 power clean) who is due for a monster year. He’s the type of back that wants contact and once he gets going he’s going to cause some major collisions. Barboa is also their starting inside backer on defense. Elijah Naranjo returns at receiver and had a big junior year in 2014 hauling in over 800-yards and watch for Leroy Howard who has looked solid as a sophomore this summer. Valley also has a very good tight end in 6-foot-2, 205 pound Noah Santistevan who will be a three year starter and has excellent hands. Up front Valley is led by Darek Jenkins at 6-foot-4, 265 pounds and 6-foot-2, 295 pound David Montano who won the top linemen award at the UNM Camp.
Defensive Returners
Pictured is 5-foot-10, 195 pound RB/LB Michael Barboa, also a standout baseball player
As mentioned Valley is anchored by 6-foot-6, 250 pound Teton Saltes who all eyes will be on this year now that he is a top prospect in the West. Also up front is Roy Claudio at defensive end who will be a junior and Brandon Atencio at 220 pounds who will play some nose. All four linebackers return for Valley, including their leading tackler last year as just a sophomore in Keno Garcia. As mentioned Michael Barboa also returns at backer and should be their big hitter and watch for Nick Herrera who is a transfer from Sandia. In the secondary Daryl Aims and Tyson Mosqueda will lead the unit, an area Marcelli told us has to get better entering the season.
Henderson’s Take On The 2015 Valley Vikings
Pictured is Junior Quarterback Isaiah Chavez who threw for 1,000-yards in 6 games last year
It was odd watching Valley start off the 2014 season 0-4. Since the take over of Enrico Marcelli as Head Coach Valley has been a week in and week out tough opponent capable of playing with just about anyone. We saw that Valley we’re used to late in the season with wins against Aztec, West Mesa, Albuquerque, and Rio Grande winning by large margins. Marcelli hit the nail on the head: they don’t have a lot of seniors, but the seniors they have are very good. I personally want to see Teton play myself and the though of him going up against Grant Hermanns out of Rio Rancho in week 1 is going to be like watching college football. I don’t think a lot of people know about Noah Sanstistevan or Michael Barboa, those two could be on my preseason all-state teams, they are that good. Throw in linemen David Manto and Derek Jenkins, Valley’s top level guys are as good as anyone else’s. They got a tough front end schedule starting with Rio Rancho, Eldorado, Cibola, Sandia, and La Cueva. Two out of those four games could go either way, so they could again be 0-4 or be 202 entering the midseason point. I like being at Valley’s practice because Marcelli would be a fun coach to play for, he’s young, energetic, and the kids like to work on the North Valley. Circle that game against Cibola and their district rivalry games against West Mesa and Atrisco Heritage that will determine their playoff fate.
2015 Schedule
Rio Rancho 08/28/2015 5:00 pm
@ Eldorado 09/04/2015 7:00 pm
Cibola 09/11/2015 7:00 pm
Sandia 09/18/2015 7:00 pm
@ La Cueva 09/25/2015 7:00 pm
@ Aztec 10/02/2015 7:00 pm
West Mesa 10/08/2015 7:00 pm
@ AHA 10/15/2015 7:00 pm
AHS @ VHS 10/23/2015 7:00 pm
VHS @ RGHS 11/05/2015 7:00 pm
2015 Returning Stat Leaders
Isaiah Chavez - Class of 2017 Quarterback - Threw for 1,000-yards
Elijah Naranjo - Class of 2016 Receiver - Caught for 800-yards
2014 Schedule
L - Rio Rancho 55-0
L - Eldorado 42-7
L - Cibola 26-13
L - Sandia 42-14
Vs. La Cueva *Cancelled because of Lightning
W - Aztec 40-25
W - West Mesa 21-17
L - Atrisco Heritage 33-25
W - Albuquerque 49-7
W - Rio Grande 57-7
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