“Overall—we did very well,” said a spirited Steve Brown, head coach of the Grants High School football team, as he elaborated on the team’s summer workouts to date.
On June 20, the team traveled to Valencia High School where they played in a 7-on-7 tournament. “We got a lot of reps from both kids playing the QB position,” said Brown. “Tristin Fernandez and DJ Chavez took the snaps and were very successful in distributing the ball all over the field.”
When discussing his receivers Brown said, “Cardenio Chavez, Koudy Melonas, Isaiah Ortega, Isaiah Aldaz and others played very well and were able to find the end zone several times against teams from St. Pius, Valencia, Pojoaque and Cleveland.”
While no official score is usually kept at these events, Brown believes they went 5-1.
On to the Second Annual Angry Jack 7-on-7 tournament held on June 28 at the Port of the Pirates.
“We played a double elimination bracket and we were successful— going undefeated through the bracket.'
The Pirates only defeat came later that day after the bracket play where they played an extra game against Hot Springs where they lost 32 to a tough Hot Springs team.
Brown said of that game, “DJ Chavez took the majority of the snaps at quarterback and did extremely well—hitting almost every one of our receivers for a touchdown— Tristin Fernandez was also very successful with only a few snaps.”
Brown was very content with his quarterbacks and summed up their play but staying, “I”m very confident with our quarterback room–we have two very good quarterbacks that I know can run our offense.”
Brown said of the receivers, “Our receiver core is loaded with talent.”
Brown added that he was excited about having a strong offensive and defensive line as well, “As usual health will always be a big thing for our success and we’ve been working on prepping lots of younger guys to be ready with the next man up mentality,” said Brown.
Brown concluded, 'Our linemen competed in the big man challenge where our very own Gary Chavez was easily the lineman of the day dominating in the weight room competition and the oneon-one contests.”
Brown overall is mostly happy that his team has bought into his vision of what a team is and “are not concerned” with personal accolades. Brown was very confident in stating the team has bought into his vision of what a team is—and will not tolerate selfish play. The Pirates are looking forward to a good season according to Brown.