{"id":33220,"date":"2023-06-28T01:50:38","date_gmt":"2023-06-28T07:50:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/panthers-hope-to-take-next-step-in-class-5a-chase\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:07:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:07:13","slug":"panthers-hope-to-take-next-step-in-class-5a-chase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/panthers-hope-to-take-next-step-in-class-5a-chase\/","title":{"rendered":"Panthers hope to take next step in Class 5A chase"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Piedra
Piedra Vista's Jacob Schreuder (82) intercepts a pass in the end zone intended for Artesia's Cayden Joy during the second quarter of the Class 5A championship game, Saturday, Nov. 26, 202,2 at Hutchison Stadium. (Curtis Ray Benally\/Turkeyboy Photography)<\/span>Curtis Ray Benally<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

FARMINGTON \u2013 There are lessons to be learned in the sport of football, and for Piedra Vista, the task will be to get a large group of younger starters ready for a campaign loaded with expectations.<\/p>\n

The Panthers reached the championship game of last season\u2019s New Mexico Activities Association\u2019s state prep football tournament, finishing the season with an 11-2 record and a perfect 3-0 mark in District 1-5A play.<\/p>\n

During that season, Piedra Vista hosted and knocked off Goddard, perennially one of the top teams in the state. Later, after losing on the road against Roswell during the regular season, the Panthers avenged that loss \u2013 on the road again \u2013 by beating the Coyotes 13-7 in the Class 5A semifinals.<\/p>\n

\"Piedra
Piedra Vista's Manuel Montelongo (21) makes a leaping catch in the end zone over a pair of Mayfield defenders for a second-quarter touchdown in a second round playoff game, Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022, at Hutchison Stadium. (Steven Bortstein)<\/span>Steven Bortstein<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Piedra Vista\u2019s quest for a first state championship came up short, however, losing at home to Artesia by a score of 27-14. Bulldogs quarterback Nye Estrada threw a pair of touchdown passes as the Bulldogs won their 31st state championship.<\/p>\n

While the final result was a disappointment on an otherwise strong campaign, head coach Jared Howell hopes his returning starters learned some valuable lessons for the upcoming campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt had been a bit of time since this team had played Artesia, so if you\u2019re going into a game like that without seeing them first, there\u2019s a style of play you\u2019ve got to get used to,\u201d Howell said. \u201cNow that we\u2019ve got that experience playing teams from that area and winning some of those games, that should go a long way for some of the younger kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, the number of younger kids on the Panthers roster will be daunting. A total of 27 seniors have graduated from last year\u2019s football team and so the task of filling in the shoes of those key players will require a bit of transition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to have a whole new secondary, we\u2019ve got a young group and they\u2019re going to have to go through the fire,\u201d Howell said. \u201cThere\u2019s going to be a lot of new faces, especially on the offensive line, where I think we\u2019ll be bigger up front this season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Felipe Begaye appears to be the leading candidate for Piedra Vista to be the starting quarterback when the season opens Friday, Aug. 18 at Hutchison Stadium against crosstown rival Farmington. Begaye, taking over the reins from Logan Howell, has caught the eye during summer offseason workouts.<\/p>\n

\u201c (Begaye) is a bigger kid that looks like an outside linebacker. He understands the offense and is learning to make real intime game decisions,\u201d Howell said. \u201cWhen you have to make a split-decision second on the field, it\u2019s a lot different from when you have time to make those choices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also returning for the Panthers next season will be senior Andreas Romero, who will be a featured starter as both a running back and linebacker.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Romero) had a good summer,\u201d Howell said. \u201cHe\u2019s had a good summer so far and we\u2019re starting to see the benefits of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howell, like several of the local and area coaches who have had success in beating competition from the southern part of the state, also believes the perceived gap between football in those geographical locations has narrowed significantly.<\/p>\n

\"Piedra
Piedra Vista's Hunter Schwartz fights off a would-be tackle from Farmington's Scot Wishburn in the first quarter of the season opener between the two schools, Friday, Aug. 19, 2022 at Hutchison Stadium. (Steve Bortstein)<\/span>Steven Bortstein<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cHaving the success we had last season (against Goddard and Roswell), we saw the nuances in those teams,\u201d Howell said. \u201cAnd then you have to contend with how those games are officiated and what you can do down there that maybe you can\u2019t do up here. It\u2019s different in a lot of ways, but once you do it, and you know you can do it, it gives you the confidence that we\u2019ve started to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the highlight games for the Panthers this season will be a road trip to Durango to face the Demons on Friday, Sept. 1. Durango will have a new head coach this season in Matt Burton, who took over at the end of last season after the resignation of Todd Casebier. The Demons advanced to the Colorado High School Athletic Association\u2019s Class 3A semifinals last season before losing to Lutheran High School.<\/p>\n

The Panthers will also again face both Goddard and Roswell during the non-district portion of the season. The Rockets will host Piedra Vista on Friday, Sept. 15 while the Panthers will host Roswell on Friday, Sept. 29.<\/p>\n

For more information on the Piedra Vista High School football team, check out the team\u2019s official page<\/a> at MaxPreps.com.<\/p>\n

Piedra Vista High School 2023 Football Schedule<\/strong><\/p>\n

Home Games in ALL CAPS<\/p>\n

Friday, Aug. 18, 7 p.m. FARMINGTON<\/p>\n

Saturday., Aug. 26, 1 p.m. @Sandia<\/p>\n

Friday, Sept. 1, 7 p.m. @Durango<\/p>\n

Friday, Sept. 8, 7 p.m. @Eldorado<\/p>\n

Friday, Sept. 15, 7 p.m. @Goddard<\/p>\n

Friday, Sept. 22, 7 p.m. CIBOLA<\/p>\n

Friday, Sept. 29, 7 p.m. ROSWELL<\/p>\n

Friday, Oct. 13, 7 p.m. MIYAMURA<\/p>\n

Friday, Oct. 20, 7 p.m. HIGHLAND<\/p>\n

Friday, Oct. 27, 7 p.m. @Belen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

came up just short in last year\u2019s title game<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33221,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[592,799,1708,1870,642,3531,1709,1773],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-33220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-durango-high-school","tag-farmington","tag-farmington-high-school","tag-high-school-football","tag-high-school-sports","tag-maxpreps","tag-new-mexico-activities-association","tag-piedra-vista-high-school"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33220"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82110,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33220\/revisions\/82110"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33220"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=33220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}