Wingate scored on their first play of the game Friday night in Wingate, putting the Elks in a big hole. But the tenacious Elks overcame their shaky start and defeated Wingate 38-14.

Pojoaque behind the hard running of Nick Zamora, who rushed for 166 yards and three touchdowns on seven carries, forged ahead to take a 18-14 lead into the half, but first year coach Patrick Rodriguez wasn’t feeling real confident with a four point lead.

“I was a little worried at the half,” Rodriguez said. “But we came out in the second half and really picked it up.”

Pojoaque (1-1) held Wingate (0-2) scoreless in the second half, while they scored 20 points. All of the Elks touchdowns came on the ground. However, Rodriguez said first year starting quarterback Ryan Koller had “a huge game.” He showed me a lot, Rodriguez said.  Koller, still learning his position, threw for 57 yards.

The Elks finished with 321 yards on the ground, while limiting Wingate to 104 rushing yards.

“We tried to stay with the run,” Rodriguez said. “By the fourth quarter our running game had loosened up their defense quite a bit.”

Pass defense was a strong point of the Elks’ game: Jesse Gomez had two interceptions and Dillan Romero one.

Taos is up next for the Elks. The two meet in Taos on September 17. Game time is 7 p.m.

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Other scores:

West Las Vegas 40, Espanola 20.
Lovington 28, Las Vegas Robertson 6.

In Wednesday’s match against Bernalillo the Elks came out sluggish. The schedule said they were to play after the girls.  Upon arriving they told that we were going to play first. “Our players had twenty minutes to suit up and get warm,” Pojoaque head coach Francisco Ortiz said.  “Bernalillo promptly scored two early goals before we finally woke up.”

Junior Edwin Juarez scored on a free kick from 40 yards out ten minutes before the half to close the gap to 2-1.  

Ortiz said the second half was much better as we kept Bernalillo from scoring.  We had several opportunities to tie but came up short.

Senior Leo Hernandez played solid on defense and Freshman keeper Saul Rios made several key saves in goal.

“This was our first game with a full squad,” Ortiz said.  “We will continue to get better as our team learns to play together and our less experienced players gain more confidence.”

 Today, the Elks play in the Desert Academy Tournament against East Mountain at 2pm in Salvador Perez Park.

When Pojoaque High lost their first game 7-0 to Grants on August 24 they only had 12 players suited up and five of the players were playing their first high school soccer game. Not exactly a recipe for success. But this will change, hopefully.

“We expect to have eight more players,” head coach Francisco Ortiz said. “Players are still getting their physicals and necessary paper work in order.  Once we get everyone on the field, we’re going to improve and be tough.”

PVHS returns four starters, Daniel Perez, Leo Hernandez, Fabian Rojo and Julio Rosales from a team that finished 10-10, 6-2 last season, which earned them a second place district finish. Perez, a forward, and Hernandez, a midfielder, were All-District selections.

Teams in the Elks’ district, District 1 (A-AAA), are Las Vegas Robertson, Taos (moving down from AAAA), Moreno Valley, Penasco and Questa.

Newcomers expected to see lots of action are: Hippolyte Bernard, Edwin Juarez,  Rafael de la Torres, Brandon Gallegos, Ryan Martinez and Saul Rios.

Ortiz said the Elks might get off to a slow start because the stragglers will not be in condition and the team needs to develop chemistry. Conditions is of prime importance because Ortiz said he wants to pick up the pace and put more points on the board than they did last season.

“Our guys will be rusty at first,” Ortiz said. “But I’m thinking will have a strong possibility of winning district if everything pans out.”

The Elkettes won a hard fought 20-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-23 victory over Los Alamos High Saturday afternoon in Ben Lujan Gymnasium.

It appeared the Lady Hilltoppers (0-1) were going to take a two game lead. They were up 18-8 in Game 2 but the Elkettes (2-0) fought back thanks to multiple Los Alamos errors to take a 25-23 Game 2 win.

”Game 2 seemed to be the turning point,” Los Alamos coach Garry Maskaly said.  “Then as the match wore on we got a little tense. It’s something we’ve been working on. And then I think we also started playing not to lose.”

Liz Gomez led the Elkettes front line with 14 kills, while Kristin Woody had 10.

Chase Ealey pounded 16 kills for Los Alamos and Sabrina Little finished with 12.

It was a high quality match. Look for both teams to be around when the state tournament begins in November.

Kiana Vigil launches a rocket

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The Elkettes put on a clinic as they steamrolled Capital High 25-17, 25-7, 25-20 Wednesday night in Ben Lujan Gymnasium.

Like hungry white sharks in a feeding frenzy the Elkettes attacked the Lady Jaguars with merciless precision on defense and offense. Capital, a much taller team, only managed 11 kills for the entire team, while the Elkettes, led by Liz Gomez and jumping- jack Tamarra Vigil, who had 10 kills each, powered 35 kills.

Eighth-grader Briana Ainsworth made her high school debut a memorable one with precision sets at the net that allowed the Elkettes’ hitters to bong their kills from ground zero.

Being a small team-the smallest team Pojoaque head coach Brian Ainsworth has ever coached, it would be expected that the Elkettes might not be powerful servers. Wrong. The Elkettes serving game was a mixture of power serves, floaters and jump serves that befuddled the Capital receivers.

After the match,  Ainsworth walked off the court with an ear to ear smile. Asked what he thought about his team’s performance, he said, “We’re faster than last year and we’re serving a lot harder. But we still have a few issues to work on.”  With that he disappeared into the jubilant locker room.

One more thing, the Elkettes are deep, very deep.

If they have a weakness, it wasn’t apparent tonight.

Mirror, mirror on the wall who has the most successful New Mexico high school volleyball program of all?

The mirror’s answer, “I can’t say for sure, but Pojoaque Valley High under the mentorship of coach Brian Ainsworth just might be the most prestigious AAA program in the state. I can’t say for sure because I don’t have all of the New Mexico statistics at hand.

“But here’s a brief rundown of the Elkettes’ success under Ainsworth: They are the defending state AAA volleyball champions; Add in another state title in 2006; In Ainsworth’s seven years at PVHS, the Elkettes have reached the state semis five times and there’s a second place state finish. There might be a better AAA volleyball program in the past seven years, but I don’t think so.”

Ok enough of the mirror’s reflections. What about this year?

“We want to play in the Saturday State Championship game,” Ainsworth said. “That’s the only expectation we have in this program.”

Here’s how the Elkettes stack up in 2010 for their planned championship run.

Liz Gomez, a 6’0” senior with three years varsity experience will be a force on the front line.
Ainsworth said Gomez will be the go to player this year. With her improved footwork and experience, Ainsworth said he expects her to rack up 15-20 kills every night.

Four other starters from last year join Gomez: Tamarra Vigil, 5’3” senior, outside hitter. Maybe the best jumper on the team; Cara Salazar, defensive specialist; Kiana Vigil, senior, who Ainsworth said is “unbelievably quick”; and Lindsay Longacre, 5’8” junior, middle blocker.

“Our strengths this year are our defense and speed,” Ainsworth said. “We are really fast and really short. We’ll need to outplay our opponents with speed and agility.”

A host of talented newcomers will contribute to the quest for another title, including: Amber Lovato, who Ainsworth said “has a heart of gold”; Briana Ainsworth, 5’7” freshman, a setter with good hands and an outstanding grasp of the game; senior Audrey Smith; Kristin Woody, a freshman hitter who can tattoo the ball; Victoria Tapia, who will compete with Smith for an outside hitter position and Erin Lopez, senior defensive specialist.

“This is one of the shortest teams I’ve coached,” Ainsworth said. “We’ll compete with athleticism, quickness and heart.”

One of the strategies employed by this year’s team will be to set the ball lower, which allows hitters to have one-on-one opportunities, Ainsworth said.

As a side-note, Miquella Lovato, a member of last year’s state championship team, now plays for UNM. Ainsworth said she will probably start against Stanford this weekend. Stanford was in the NCAA final four last year.

The Elkettes are at home tonight for a 7 p.m. season opener against Capital High.

The Elks lost 7-0, while the Lady Pirates won 10-0.

Elkettes Lined Up with a Goal

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Last year, the Elkettes were defense oriented. This year, head coach Angelo Montoya said things will be different.

“I’d like to play an attacking style this year,” Montoya said. “We have some quick players returning from last year’s team, and several new players with speed.”

The Babicke sisters, Amanda and Kimberly, return from last year’s 7-10 team, and they both have flash drive speed. Although she hasn’t played any high school soccer, Angela Lopez shows lots of promise because she is “super quick.” Another new comer, sophomore Cheyenne Cordova, an accomplished basketball player, will lend her athleticism to the team.

Kimberly Babicke, one of the fastest girls in the state, suffered a broken nose last year when hit in the face by a soccer ball in a game against Socorro. If she stays healthy, it will be interesting to see if she can develop into a premier striker.

Cristrina Carbajal, a junior retuning starter with “great foot-work” and Jaelynn Lyon, who as a fullback made All-District last year, anchor a defense that will assist goal-keeper Monique Vigil in keeping the ball out of the net. Another starter from last year, Natasha Acoya, is debating whether or not to play this year as she tests a knee injury, Montoya said.

Several freshman, including Valerie Archuleta, Amber Sky-Lujan and Johana Bencomo, and even an 8th grader, Lauren Armenta, are expected to see lots of playing time. Fullbacks Deanna Lovato and Felisha Boyce are also expected to make significant contributions.

The Elkettes open their season today with a 4 p.m. game against Grants on the Pueblo of Pojoaque Wellness Center Field.

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 Adan Delgado, Superintendent, Pojoaque Valley School District, has issued a  statement that the district will not require 8^th grade students to begin the season on middle school teams.

For the past two years, according to school officials, middle school athletes have been required to start the season playing middle school ball, unless there wasn’t a middle school program. The middle school doesn’t have a softball program; therefore an 8^th grader could begin the season on the high school team.

However, if there is a middle school program, like basketball or volleyball, the athlete had to start the season with the middle school team and moved up to high school at a later date.

The school districts current position is made clear by the following e-mail from Delgado, which was received on August 19.

 “I have spent the past few weeks considering all aspects of the participation of 8th grade students in high school athletics,” Delgado wrote in his August 19 e-mail.  “After consulting with parents, coaches, players, the Board of Education, Administrators, the District’s Athletic Director, and various outside sources, it has been decided that the District will not require 8th grade students to begin the season on middle school teams. The elimination of this requirement will assure equitable access to all sports by students of both genders. The District will begin the process of developing precise and deliberate policies for future academic years.”