Inexperienced Bears have work cut out for them in 2015
By Kyle Henderson of NMPreps.com
Overview
It’s La Cueva. The school no matter the enrollment number, the athletes, the sport, whatever, it’s the high school in the Northeast Heights that is supposed to win at pretty much everything. In the early 2000’s La Cueva produced some of the best football and baseball teams New Mexico had ever seen, the school is winning constant awards for academics and producing top tier student athletes on all fronts. However, while the school will continue to be among the top ranked academic public schools in New Mexico the neighborhood and the district are not growing compared to West Side schools, this is fact.
Homes of former La Cueva graduates are not turning over quickly enough and in the early 2000’s, La Cueva was sitting with an enrollment of 2,300-2,400 students. Today we’re told their enrollment just cleared the 1,800 mark. How does this relate to football? As you know football is a game of numbers and the more bodies you have, the higher chances you’re going to land better on the field personnel and senior leadership, two aspects where La Cueva is lacking heading into the 2015 season. The Bears have just 8 seniors on their roster and will start 6 sophomores.
“Being young is a fair observation of where we are at right now. We’ve got a young team, but it’s a hard working team, a team that has got to do a lot of learning, a team that has to go through some trail by fire, but we’re pretty proud of this year’s team.
We don’t have the seniors we had last year, but we have teammates that are willing to support each other and that means Freshmen on up to Seniors. We have some great upperclassmen that don’t have any egos, they just come out and work hard every day, and are helping out our younger guys,” Said Back now in his third year as Head Coach at La Cueva and coming off an impressive 9-3 season in 2014 just losing to Mayfield in the semifinals 24-20.
What To Expect
Leading the offense this year will be incoming Junior Quarterback Chris Campbell at 6-foot-0 and 170 pounds. Campbell had an older brother go through the program and speaking with him yesterday, he seems more like a senior than a junior and looks to be their offensive leader. Campbell looks to have good athleticism and playmaking skills. In the backfield it looks like Thomas Bui will get the start in awaiting the full return of Noah Hill. Hill is a 5-foot-9, 180 pound senior that suffered an injury last season and is near 100% recovery. Hill is likely their best on the field football player, their home run threat if you will.
At tight end, receiver, running back, even quarterback, just wherever on the field really will be Junior to be Jonathan Stroman, but he’s ineligible for the La Cueva to start the season. Up front watch for Ryan McClain who will be a sophomore and for Justin Hathoot.
The Bears defense will be led by Ty Jordan a 180 pound Junior defensive tackle at their linebacker is their strength of their team. Sophomore Derek Loidolt looks to be one of their top players already as just a sophomore at 5-foot-9 and 182 pounds, Brandon Murrillo is a new name to know as well as Jeremy Winter, and Junior to be Josh Woisin is 5-foot-9, 170 pound backer that really impressed us as well.
In the secondary, the Bears will be led by Senior Lucas Silver who was one of the top overall defensive backs at the NMPreps Elite Combine.
“Derrick Loidolt at middle linebacker, he is a phenomenal young man, and can fill a hole with the best of them. Ryan McClain is a sophomore offensive linemen to watch along with guys like Aidan Napier, Reece Wilkinson, Grant Giesler, and Tristan Roswold are among many sophomores that are going to play key positions this year as sophomores. They got some learning to do early, but I think they are ready for that task,” commented Back on his talented sophomore class.
Names To Know In 2015
Chris Campbell-QB
Ryan McClain-OL
Justin Hathoot-OL
Thomas Bui-RB
Noah Hill-RB
Brandon Murrillo -LB
Jeremy Winter-LB
Derek Loidolt-LB
Josh Woisin-LB
Lucas Silver-DB
Ty Jordan - DL
2015 Schedule
“We’re going to find out what we are made out of early. We won’t see a lot of our success on the scoreboard at times, but we will continue to grow as a team each week. We open with Atrisco Heritage, we then play Las Cruces here on a Saturday, then Rio Rancho, Cibola for homecoming, Valley, Del Norte, and then our district which is always tough and a dogfight all the way through,” Said Back on their schedule.
@ Atrisco Heritage 08/28/2015 8:00 pm
Las Cruces 09/05/2015 1:00 pm
@ Rio Rancho 09/11/2015 7:00 pm
Cibola 09/17/2015 7:00 pm
Valley 09/25/2015 7:00 pm
@ Del Norte 10/01/2015 7:00 pm
@ Eldorado 10/09/2015 7:00 pm
@ Sandia 10/23/2015 7:00 pm
@ Highland 10/29/2015 7:00 pm
Manzano 11/05/2015 7:00 pm
Quarterback Talk
We caught up with La Cueva Junior Chris Campbell at practice on Thursday. “We’re a young team, but I think we are up for it. We’re a great team, close knit, one big family. As for me I am trying to build that bond that we’ll have here forever and I bleed blue. You have to represent La Cueva and I think the school pride will pick up this year.”
Our Take
It’s going to be a different La Cueva team than you’ve seen in years past. They are super young and as stated they are going to start 6 sophomores this year and a junior at quarterback. They have a tough opening schedule which should provide for a more seasoned team come their back end district schedule which is very tough as it is every year. When guys like Noah Wade and Jonathan Stroman are back on the field, La Cueva is going to get a big boost, but for now a lot of these underclassmen are going to have to step up which they are capable of. It could be a long season at times for La Cueva, but it seems as though they are grooming some talented young pups to make a real run at it next year or the year after. Down year? Who knows, but you generally lose one game for every sophomore you start.
By Kyle Henderson of NMPreps.com
Overview
It’s La Cueva. The school no matter the enrollment number, the athletes, the sport, whatever, it’s the high school in the Northeast Heights that is supposed to win at pretty much everything. In the early 2000’s La Cueva produced some of the best football and baseball teams New Mexico had ever seen, the school is winning constant awards for academics and producing top tier student athletes on all fronts. However, while the school will continue to be among the top ranked academic public schools in New Mexico the neighborhood and the district are not growing compared to West Side schools, this is fact.
Homes of former La Cueva graduates are not turning over quickly enough and in the early 2000’s, La Cueva was sitting with an enrollment of 2,300-2,400 students. Today we’re told their enrollment just cleared the 1,800 mark. How does this relate to football? As you know football is a game of numbers and the more bodies you have, the higher chances you’re going to land better on the field personnel and senior leadership, two aspects where La Cueva is lacking heading into the 2015 season. The Bears have just 8 seniors on their roster and will start 6 sophomores.
“Being young is a fair observation of where we are at right now. We’ve got a young team, but it’s a hard working team, a team that has got to do a lot of learning, a team that has to go through some trail by fire, but we’re pretty proud of this year’s team.
We don’t have the seniors we had last year, but we have teammates that are willing to support each other and that means Freshmen on up to Seniors. We have some great upperclassmen that don’t have any egos, they just come out and work hard every day, and are helping out our younger guys,” Said Back now in his third year as Head Coach at La Cueva and coming off an impressive 9-3 season in 2014 just losing to Mayfield in the semifinals 24-20.
What To Expect
Leading the offense this year will be incoming Junior Quarterback Chris Campbell at 6-foot-0 and 170 pounds. Campbell had an older brother go through the program and speaking with him yesterday, he seems more like a senior than a junior and looks to be their offensive leader. Campbell looks to have good athleticism and playmaking skills. In the backfield it looks like Thomas Bui will get the start in awaiting the full return of Noah Hill. Hill is a 5-foot-9, 180 pound senior that suffered an injury last season and is near 100% recovery. Hill is likely their best on the field football player, their home run threat if you will.
At tight end, receiver, running back, even quarterback, just wherever on the field really will be Junior to be Jonathan Stroman, but he’s ineligible for the La Cueva to start the season. Up front watch for Ryan McClain who will be a sophomore and for Justin Hathoot.
The Bears defense will be led by Ty Jordan a 180 pound Junior defensive tackle at their linebacker is their strength of their team. Sophomore Derek Loidolt looks to be one of their top players already as just a sophomore at 5-foot-9 and 182 pounds, Brandon Murrillo is a new name to know as well as Jeremy Winter, and Junior to be Josh Woisin is 5-foot-9, 170 pound backer that really impressed us as well.
In the secondary, the Bears will be led by Senior Lucas Silver who was one of the top overall defensive backs at the NMPreps Elite Combine.
“Derrick Loidolt at middle linebacker, he is a phenomenal young man, and can fill a hole with the best of them. Ryan McClain is a sophomore offensive linemen to watch along with guys like Aidan Napier, Reece Wilkinson, Grant Giesler, and Tristan Roswold are among many sophomores that are going to play key positions this year as sophomores. They got some learning to do early, but I think they are ready for that task,” commented Back on his talented sophomore class.
Names To Know In 2015
Chris Campbell-QB
Ryan McClain-OL
Justin Hathoot-OL
Thomas Bui-RB
Noah Hill-RB
Brandon Murrillo -LB
Jeremy Winter-LB
Derek Loidolt-LB
Josh Woisin-LB
Lucas Silver-DB
Ty Jordan - DL
2015 Schedule
“We’re going to find out what we are made out of early. We won’t see a lot of our success on the scoreboard at times, but we will continue to grow as a team each week. We open with Atrisco Heritage, we then play Las Cruces here on a Saturday, then Rio Rancho, Cibola for homecoming, Valley, Del Norte, and then our district which is always tough and a dogfight all the way through,” Said Back on their schedule.
@ Atrisco Heritage 08/28/2015 8:00 pm
Las Cruces 09/05/2015 1:00 pm
@ Rio Rancho 09/11/2015 7:00 pm
Cibola 09/17/2015 7:00 pm
Valley 09/25/2015 7:00 pm
@ Del Norte 10/01/2015 7:00 pm
@ Eldorado 10/09/2015 7:00 pm
@ Sandia 10/23/2015 7:00 pm
@ Highland 10/29/2015 7:00 pm
Manzano 11/05/2015 7:00 pm
Quarterback Talk
We caught up with La Cueva Junior Chris Campbell at practice on Thursday. “We’re a young team, but I think we are up for it. We’re a great team, close knit, one big family. As for me I am trying to build that bond that we’ll have here forever and I bleed blue. You have to represent La Cueva and I think the school pride will pick up this year.”
Our Take
It’s going to be a different La Cueva team than you’ve seen in years past. They are super young and as stated they are going to start 6 sophomores this year and a junior at quarterback. They have a tough opening schedule which should provide for a more seasoned team come their back end district schedule which is very tough as it is every year. When guys like Noah Wade and Jonathan Stroman are back on the field, La Cueva is going to get a big boost, but for now a lot of these underclassmen are going to have to step up which they are capable of. It could be a long season at times for La Cueva, but it seems as though they are grooming some talented young pups to make a real run at it next year or the year after. Down year? Who knows, but you generally lose one game for every sophomore you start.
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