The St. Michael’s Horsemen are putting two streaks on the line in the 2026 prep football season.
The first is their run of three consecutive Class 3A state championships.
The second is a winning streak of 33 games that dates back almost three years, to early October of 2023 and a 7-6 loss to West Las Vegas.
“Our thinking is that we’re not putting a lot of weight on the (winning) streak,” Horsemen coach Joey Fernandez said. “We’re putting weight on week to week. Our No. 1 goal is to get to the state championship game and get a blue trophy.”
St. Mike’s can win its 34th straight game this week, as it takes on Capital.
The Horsemen are retooling at some key positions, like quarterback and tailback, where Kamal Stith and Isaiah Dominguez combined for 74 passing and rushing touchdowns last season.
“We have a lot of question marks,” Fernandez said, “especially at the quarterback position.”
As of Monday, St. Michael’s was still trying to puzzle out who the starter this week would be: senior Karsen Patten or junior Estevan Gonzales. Roman Barrera is expected to be prominent at running back.
“This year, we’re not gonna be able to pass the ball like we did last year, but I think we’ll be able to run the ball,” Fernandez said. To that end, three of the Horsemen’s offensive linemen return.
When St. Mike’s does throw, senior Ryan Hunt (13 touchdown catches in 2025), the team’s leading receiver from last season, will be at the business end more often than not. The 6-foot-3 Hunt, who also plays defensive end, is arguably the best two-way player in the 3A division.
Linebacker is a position where St. Mike’s was hit hard by graduation, and the Horsemen may be hard pressed to replicate the stellar 2025 season in which that remarkable unit surrendered only 92 points in 13 games. And 21 of those came in a 28-21 state championship victory over Dexter.
“They don’t want a dropoff from last year,” Fernandez said of his defense. “It might take some time to get that flow going, but they feel they have the strength to do the same things last year’s defense did.”
While Dexter (now in 2A) may not be around to challenge St. Michael’s, others remain, like District 1-3A rivals Robertson and West Las Vegas, and, from the other district (2-3A), the likes of New Mexico Military Institute, Moriarty, Silver and Hope Christian.
NMMI has lost in the semifinals to St. Mike’s for three straight seasons, a streak the Colts would dearly love to end.
“We’re awfully young,” NMMI coach John O’Mera said. “We have a bunch of new kids. We’re still in the process of learning who we have playing for us.”
To reach another semi, he said, will take much work, though he does believe the Colts have the pieces in place to mount such a charge into October and November.
One of the top players returning is senior Julian Butler, who can play linebacker, tight end, defensive end and fullback. Senior Conrad Sugg also is a versatile athlete who plays outside linebacker, tight end and wide receiver.
As NMMI’s opener isn’t until Week 2, the Colts have time to sort out a quarterback battle that involves four players.
In the Horsemen’s district, Robertson and West Las Vegas are almost always challengers, and that should be the case again.
The Cardinals, eliminated in the quarterfinals by St. Mike’s, is going to field an extremely young team with an abundance of sophomores and freshmen, with only a few seniors and a handful of juniors.
“What I’ve seen is a lot of growth,” coach Lucas Sanchez said. “They’re coming along at a good pace. … They’ll be thrown into the fire a little bit, but it’ll be a fire they can manage.”
One position where this isn’t an issue is quarterback, where senior Nathan Gonzales is coming off a season in which he threw for over 1,500 yards and 13 scores, and rushed for almost 500 yards with eight TDs. Two other seniors who’ll need to shoulder the load are tackle/defensive David Lautalo and guard/defensive end Max Flure.
West Las Vegas was upset in the first round last season. The Dons were still working out a couple of players at QB in senior Caydin Encinias and junior Phil Herrera. Encinias brings the most experience and also hurt defenses with his legs (8 TDs rushing); he also can play receiver.
Coach Pat Rodriguez also is high on senior running back A.J. Trujillo. “A great football player,” he said. “Explosive.” Senior receiver Johnathan Vigil had a dominant summer and is poised to break out this fall.
Right tackle, junior Lawrence Trujillo, anchors a big O-line, and he also plays defensive end.
District 2-3A includes NMMI, plus Silver, Hope Christian, Moriarty, Hatch Valley, Ruidoso, Hot Springs and Socorro.
Kelley Lee is a former head coach at Valencia High and also at Eastern New Mexico. He is back in the prep ranks with Silver, where his sophomore son, Kingston, is one of the state’s truly talented and promising quarterbacks. The 6-2, 200-pound Lee was the QB at Portales last season. He threw for a modest 1,331 yards and 13 scores last season on a two-win Portales team that was extremely young and inexperienced.
Lee should benefit from the presence of running back Cody Cooper, returning after a serious leg injury. Powerlifting state champion Ty Gonzales is another ball carrier in the Silver offense.
Defense (with Cooper and Gonzales at LB, Lee at strong safety) is where the Colts might really be hanging their hat, coach Lee said, led by a very deep crop of linebackers where “we’ve got five kids that can start for almost anybody,” he added.
Moriarty was a point away from making the 4A semifinals last year, and the Pintos should most definitely be a factor in 3A. The run-heavy Pintos bring back their top three rushers in Mario Romero (1,420 yards, 17 TDs), Mateo Manley-Griego (562/8 TDs) and Royce Dennison (592/5 TDs). All are seniors.
Moriarty has eight starters back on offense, including three linemen, and seven on defense, and this could be the preseason top pick in 2-3A.
“They got a taste of things last year, an and they’re extremely hungry coming back,” Pintos coach Gabe Romero said.
Hope Christian was a 3A semifinalist last season, and coach Fernando Salinas has good vibes about how the 2026 Huskies will project over the next three months.
“I’m excited about this team,” Salinas said. Only three starters graduated, giving the Huskies an experienced group. “The standard has been set for us. The goal is to get over that next hump.”
Along with Silver’s Lee, one of the state’s most notable up-and-coming QBs is 6-2, 195-pound Hope freshman Nick Miller. He’ll have a veteran O-line to protect him, and a couple of reliable targets in senior Darrien Williams (who has multiple college offers and caught eight touchdown passes as a junior), plus junior tight end Landon Cochran.
Hope’s front seven on defense is back, and 10 returners total, including junior linebacker Waylon Defrisco and senior tackle Cooper Cecil.
The Huskies have seven two-way starters, so they’ll need to stay healthy to contend.
Both Hot Springs and Ruidoso were double-digit seeds who reached the quarterfinals last November, and each returns experience at the quarterback position. Junior Zaiden Baker was efficient as a passer and runner last season for the Tigers, who lost to Hope in the state quarterfinals. His leading receiver, Billy Baca (41 catches, four TDs) also returns.
The Warriors have their fourth new head coach this decade in former Belen and Clovis coach Andrew McCraw, who has only had the job a few weeks so Ruidoso is playing from behind. Junior Mason Fikany is a dual-threat QB who rushed for 15 scores last season.
Hatch Valley, ousted in the first round last fall, was an efficient run team last season, and two of the Bears’ leading yard gainers graduated, senior Felipe Carranza, who averaged 9 yards a carry with seven touchdowns last season, returns.
Socorro labored to a 1-9 record last year.
District 1 has some new teams; Aztec and Kirtland Central were in Class 4A but have moved down. And a change in scenery couldn’t hurt, since the Broncos finished 2-8 last season and the Tigers 1-9.
Gallup also is new to this league. The Bengals were in a separate 3A district last year that included Wingate, Thoreau, Zuni, Shiprock, Tohatchi and Crownpoint. The last four of those teams all dropped to 2A for the next two seasons.
Thoreau remains, and the Hawks have 34 wins over the last four seasons, though this new league will be far more challenging than the one they were in. The Hawks are led by senior QB Aiden Woody, who threw for 1,600 yards and 15 touchdowns his junior season.
Pojoaque Valley rounds out District 1, and the Elks retain district rivalries with the Las Vegas schools and with St. Michael’s. Pojoaque, despite a 5-5 record last season, earned a first-round playoff bye. Dual-threat senior QB Josh Gonzales combined for 18 scores as a junior. Senior Jaden Leyba-Moya should be a major factor on the ground and in the passing game for the Elks.
Wingate cancelled its season, leaving many of its opponents with an unwanted nine-game slate. Like St. Michael’s.
James Yodice covers prep sports for the Journal. You can reach him at jyodice@abqjournal.com or via X at @JamesDYodice.
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