Some prep football teams have had long roads to state playoffs

Nov. 14—The upcoming Class 4A football state championship game has the potential to remind us all of us just how big the Land of Enchantment is.

The possible matchup of Bloomfield (near the Four Corners) and Lovington, found way down in the extreme southeast corner by Texas, would mean one team would be facing a 926-mile round trip to play for a blue trophy. That equates to roughly 15 hours in a bus, possibly more if you factor in all the pit stops for gas, food and all that other stuff.

Bloomfield hosts Taos on Saturday in the 4A semifinals while Lovington heads to Silver that same day.

The geographically challenging matchup doesn't come close to the longest road trip in state playoff history. To find it, simply start in the proverbial Oort Cloud of our high desert landscape and look for any schools that might have to intersect the roadways — all for the chance to put bragging rights on the line.

The distinction for most time in the bus goes to Clayton and Animas, a pair of schools so geographically far apart that it would have made more sense to meet somewhere in the middle — say the Albuquerque metro area or maybe Belen. If you drew a straight line between the towns, you'd be traveling 447 miles. It's a huge bummer that roads don't work that way.

It's a quaint 587-mile one-way trip between those spots, or 1,174 miles to get there and back. For perspective, you can drive from Santa Fe to San Francisco and still have about 30 miles to spare on the round-trip from Clayton and Animas. You could sail across the Persian Gulf more than five times. Heck, it's more than twice as far to drive between the schools as it is to have Scotty beam you up to the International Space Station 250 miles above us.

A close second involves pretty much anything Jal does. As the crow flies, Jal's almost as close to San Antonio and Fort Worth as it is to Santa Fe. The Panthers have had some doozy road trips in the playoffs, notably to Clayton (354 miles each way) and Kirtland (534).

Think about that next week if St. Michael's survives the semifinals against Socorro and gets either Ruidoso or Raton in the finals. Tain't nothin.

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Speaking of the 3A final, St. Michael's will only get a home game if Ruidoso beats Raton (provided the Horsemen down Socorro). In accordance with the "who owes who" tradition, if Raton wins, St. Michael's will travel north because it hosted the Tigers in last year's semifinal. If Ruidoso wins, it will come to Santa Fe because St. Michael's traveled to Ruidoso in the quarterfinals in 2014.

In that event, St. Michael's might very well play its first championship game at Christian Brothers Athletic Complex. According to sources, neither Santa Fe High's Ivan Head Stadium or Santa Fe Indian School's field will be available. The previous five championship games the Horsemen hosted were at Ivan Head or Magers Field (1970, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2012).

In fact, since Ivan Head Stadium was built in 1980, it has hosted five championship games (four for St. Michael's, once for New Mexico School for the Deaf in 2007) — none involving Santa Fe High. If it's any consolation, Demons head coach Andrew Martinez was on the Horsemen coaching staff in 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2012.

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The Española community lost a legend when longtime teacher and coach Delfino "Del" Valdez passed away at the age of 83 on Nov. 4. Valdez was a presence on the cross-country course, the basketball court, the baseball field and the track, having coached all of those sports at a variety of schools in Northern New Mexico. He started his teaching and coaching career in 1962 and spent time at Coronado, Cuba, now-closed Santa Cruz and Española Valley High Schools.

Valdez spent 65 years coaching and teaching until retiring in 2015. Yet, he still was a substitute teacher and a presence at cross-country and track meets for several years afterward.

Española already honored Valdez by naming its cross-country meet and the floor in Edward Medina Gymnasium after him.

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Saturday had a pair of firsts for senior athletes: the first All-Star events for soccer and cross-country. The Red vs. Green All-Star Series added boys and girls soccer matches plus a cross-country meet to its event schedule.

The boys soccer match did not include any Northern players, but the girls match, which was held at Albuquerque St. Pius X, had a few. The Red team had Los Alamos defender MacKenzie Echave, St. Michael's forward Grace Sandoval, Santa Fe High forward Jazzi Gonzalez and Demonettes goalkeeper Molly Wissman. The Green team had Los Alamos striker Tara McDonald and was co-coached by Los Alamos head coach Ann Cernicek, who also is McDonald's mother.

In the cross-country race, the Green team had a pair of Santa Fe Indian School runners in Destiny Marquez and Kendra Emery, along with Pecos' Kristina Ragland, while the boys and girls Red teams were coached by Pecos' Patrick Ortiz. On the boys side, Beck Ellis of Los Alamos and Pecos' Elijah Lujan ran for the Green team, while Jack Ammerman of Los Alamos was on the Red squad.

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Last month, The Athletic posted a story ranking the top 20 men's college basketball games of the 2000s. Not surprisingly, none involved the Lobos or Aggies — but maybe the team down the road deserved an honorable mention.

Who can forget the night of Jan. 7, 2017? That's the night the Craig Neal era basically ended at UNM. To be fair, his days felt numbered before that game. The Lobos had been on a steady decline since he'd taken over for Steve Alford, the team having missed the postseason the previous two years and the program hovering around .500 since its loss to Stanford in the 2014 NCAA Tournament.

This loss will be remembered as one of the most deflating in program history. Playing in The Pit after solid wins over Fresno State and San Diego State to open Mountain West play, the Lobos led Nevada 74-49 with 11 minutes remaining. The Wolf Pack whittled it down to 90-76 with just over a minute remaining as much of the crowd headed for the exits.

What happened next is truly unforgettable for anyone who was there: Nevada's Charlie Tooley hit a 3-pointer with 1:03 remaining to kickstart one of the most amazing rallies in The Pit's history. The Pack hit two more 3s over the next 23 seconds to get within 91-85, then got another when Jordan Caroline connected with 28 seconds left.

The Lobos still led 94-88 with 20 seconds left when Marcus Marshall banked a pair of 3s in to force overtime. The first came from the top of the key with 18 seconds left, the other from an angle with seven seconds remaining following two missed free throws by UNM's Sam Logwood.

UNM had a five-point lead in OT but Caroline delivered the dagger when he pulled up for a game-winning 3-pointer with two seconds left. The 105-104 Nevada win was the Wolf Pack's first-ever win in The Pit, igniting a few years of dominance in the MWC for Eric Musselman's program.

Neal was fired just a few months later and UNM has never really recovered.

It may not have been good enough for The Athletic to remember, but no one here can forget.