Experienced Los Alamos trending in right direction
Aug. 14—Garett Williams took Saturday afternoon off to head down to his local hardware store to finish a few honey-do projects in his yard.
That he wasn't poring over a playbook or tinkering with X's and O's or his depth chart says a lot about where the Los Alamos football coach's mind is just a few days away from the 2022 season opener. The Hilltoppers start their 10-game campaign at home Friday night against Española Valley.
"You know, we've got eight starters back on defense, our front line has all but two guys with varsity experience and our schedule plays out the way we want it," Williams said. "I like where we are. In some spots, we have more depth than we've had since I've been here."
Depth has never been LA's strongsuit. A typical season might find around two dozen varsity-level players on the roster. You can add another 15 or so this fall.
"Just looking at the linebackers we've got, it's the best group I've had here," Williams said. "We lost a couple of corners and slot guys; we need a new quarterback — but the players we need are there."
The Hilltoppers are coming off a playoff appearance after a late-season surge after injuries to key players. Williams has capitalized on that momentum over the summer, adding a number of underclassmen to a depth chart that's as talented as Los Alamos has had in years.
Toss in that the 'Toppers are in a new district in Class 5A, and there's a sense of real optimism. Los Alamos moves into to the newly aligned District 2/6-5A alongside Albuquerque schools Manzano, Valley and Del Norte, teams that combined to go 6-23 a year ago.
Manzano drops down from Class 6A this fall, making it the largest school in 5A.
"That's a game where we might be outsized and not have the numbers they do, but that's OK because that's usually been the case against [Albuquerque] teams over the years," Williams said. "One of our goals has been getting to a place where we're competitive in every game, and I think we're at that place this year. Looking at every week on our schedule, I think we're in a good place to make it interesting every game."
The Hilltoppers' strength will be on defense. Williams said on top of his linebacking corps, his secondary has the size and speed to keep up with anyone.
His linebackers are anchored by honorable mention all-state senior Teke Nieto, a 6-foot-1, 215-pound tackling machine who averaged 9.9 stops last season. Teamed with Kyler Young on the inside and Jackson Blair and Jehoran Quintana on the outside, Nieto's ceiling is as high as he wants it to be.
He is also the team's leading rusher who will run behind a line that spent the summer living in the weight room. It'll form the bedrock of an offense that will have Zack Stidham take over as starter at quarterback. A junior, he'll be pushed for playing time by sophomore Kyle Evenhus — a versatile backup who'll start at slot receiver.
While the Los Alamos offense historically hasn't matched the high-scoring run-pass units seen in other parts of the state, it only needs to play turnover-free football long enough to give the defense a spell. Everything else, Williams said, will take care of itself.
"I feel good about this team as a whole," he said. "We're a 5A school in football but a 4A school in everything else, but I think we'll be OK. We got [to the playoffs] last year by winning a couple big games when we had to, and when I look at our schedule, I think we'll be in a position to play another couple of big games late this year. It'll be fun."
TOPPERS NOTES
The longest road trip of the season comes in Week 2 when Los Alamos travels to Questa to play Taos. With the Tigers' home facility undergoing a massive rebuild, the game was moved to Questa rather than played in Los Alamos. ... The Hilltoppers' final roster will have about 40 players on it. ... Los Alamos had its lone preseason scrimmage cut short due to weather. The Toppers were about 20 snaps into their dress rehearsal with Raton earlier this week when heavy rain forced an early end.
