Warriors To Begin Season On The Road

By Polo C’ de Baca
For the Mountain Mail
SOCORRO – The Warrior football team will open its season on the road against the Class 4A Pirates of Grants at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 28, before playing the home opener the following Friday, Sept. 4, against Ruidoso.
Socorro will field about 13 seniors, a few of them with starting experience.
“I think our schedule is one of the toughest 3A schedules in the state,” said Socorro head coach Damien Ocampo. “We play three 4A teams (Grants, Valencia and Santa Teresa), and they’re all going to be good this year.”
Also on the Warriors’ schedule are the always tough 3A schools Bloomfield and Raton. Ocampo said the only top 3A teams that Socorro won’t face in pre-district play will likely be Portales, Lovington and St. Michael’s.
“It’s going to be rough season,” Ocampo said. “If we can have some success early on and if we can stay away from injuries, we’ve got a great shot to make a run late in the season, to make a run in district and be competitive. It’s going to be the toughest year since I’ve been here. Not just to be successful in the wins but to be successful in the confidence part of the game.”
The Warriors have about 70 players trying out for the team. Ocampo expressed concern that although they had pretty good numbers this summer, he was disappointed because a lot of the returning starters and players he expected to start didn’t show up in the summer for one reason or another. Some players were away for the summer and some had jobs.
“We’re way behind right now,” Ocampo said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do to get back on track. The good thing is we did have pretty good younger numbers. We’re playing catch-up. It’s going to be awful tough just because of the kids that we had missing. Even into this fall’s two-a-days, we’ve had a lot of starters missing. It’s going to be a challenge.”
Two returning quarterbacks are senior Ryan Romero and junior Zach Esquivel. Romero also will play at the tight end position. Ocampo said Esquivel also will start as a receiver.
“Zach is going to be on the field all night,” Ocampo said. “He is going to be a tired puppy.”
Ocampo said as a coach working with the Athletic Director in putting together the schedule, they want to make it tough so their kids will be ready for district play and the playoffs.
“If it’s too tough and you lose a lot of ball games early, it’s tough to get those kids up believing in themselves,” Ocampo said. “But I think this is a resilient group, and they can make it.”

Photo caption: The Socorro football team practices in helmets Tuesday afternoon at Warrior Stadium. Photo by Polo C’ de Baca/For the Mountain Mail

Warriors To Begin Season On The Road