Lopez, Gray return to help bolster passing game for Broncos
WEEKLY BLOG: 4/11/21
After five weeks last season, the Poston Butte varsity team stood at a perfect 5-0 and was tied for the top ranking in the Arizona Varsity media poll for the 4A Conference. While the season didn't end in perfection, it was a historic season for the Broncos, who captured their region (Black Canyon) for the first time in school history (first varsity season was in 2010).
The only blemishes on the record were a pair of losses to Peoria and St. Mary's - both by a touchdown. PBHS had a headliner of a running back in Zion Burns, who rushed for 1,500 and 1,200 yards in his junior and senior years, respectively. Burns signed with Nevada in December.
Overall, it was a successful year for not just the varsity squad, which finished 6-2 and was seeded at No. 7 for the play-in round, but the lower levels as well. The JV team went 4-2, which included a win over ALA-Queen Creek and the Freshman squad ended up at 4-3 closing it out with back-to-back wins.
"We always think we can do better, but all three levels and our participation throughout the pandemic was pretty decent," head coach Dain Thompson said. "I'm proud of how our guys handled themselves in paying attention to ourselves and not the outside distractions."
Thompson said there were about 100 total kids in the PBHS program and he's hoping to get some of the younger ones back who opted out of the 2020 season.
When it comes to building a strong foundation and encouraging teamwork, Thompson pointed to the team's offseason camps. This practice started for Poston Butte when Paul Moro was the head coach back in 2014-15. In June, the Broncos go on a senior leadership retreat along with a few hand-picked juniors. That is followed a month later with a team camp in July at the Round Valley Dome in Eagar. Unlike many schools in Arizona last year, the Broncos were still cleared to go up there for some preseason work.
One of the highlights of the 2020 season for Poston was a 49-6 victory over Apache Junction in a Thursday night game at home in San Tan Valley. It was a stand-alone game of the week shown on a live stream and getting local attention from journalists in the Southeast Valley. It also attracted our Chilly, who took his Sideline Vlog out there. Here's his video of that, which includes cameos from Ralph Amsden and our dear friend Andy Luberda.
Thompson said the JV and Freshmen teams run the same offense and defense sets as the varsity team. They have some flexibility in that the offensive coordinator has the freedom to game plan for each week's particular opponent. The bigger factor is that all three teams use the same terminology. That makes it easier if a player gets moved up from week to week.
I had the chance to see the Freshman team in person once last season. Like the varsity (which averaged 300 yards on the ground last season), the run game was prominent. Frosh head coach Rod Holmes said he was proud of how the team progressed during the year.
"With freshmen, it's always interesting to see how kids from multiple schools that competed against each other in junior high evolve into one heartbeat," Holmes said in an e-mail interview. "During the offseason and the first game or two, this group was really fractured and didn't work well together."
A close loss (30-24) to Canyon View led to the team coming together and being more cohesive. The Broncos rebounded after that to close with a pair of wins over Peoria and Combs.
With any team that has a successful run game, it all starts up front. Holmes called Angelo Valencia the team's "best and smartest offensive lineman, who is versatile enough to play all five line spots". The center, Eligh Martinez, was in his first year of playing football. Already a three-sport athlete, Martinez wrestled in the winter and competes in the throwing events on the track and field team. Gael Cruz Medina shows great footwork at one of the guard positions. Serr Henry-Davy is an athletic and strong lineman and started on both sides of the ball.
"Our lead backs were both shifty kids in Shevy Landis-Ku, whose strength is his vision, and Josh Decollibus," Holmes said. "Shevy was our leading rusher. If we needed to get short yardage, we used Aaron Bradford, who was also vital in lead blocking for the other two."
In a 30-16 win over Combs, Landus-Ku had a second quarter touchdown run to give the Broncos a lead they would never relinquish. Earlier in the game, he also scored on a two-point conversion.
The defense held four of its seven opponents to less than 17 points. The strength of that was rooted in the defensive ends and inside linebackers.
"Three of those players could see time on Friday nights next year as sophomores," Holmes said. "Those include linebacker Bradford, defensive end Henry-Davy, and defensive end Nathan Henderson."
In addition to defensive end, Henderson was outstanding in his run blocking as the team's tight end. Linebacker Rocco Espinosa is undersized, but plays scrappy and tough. Another candidate to play on Friday nights in '21 is Nijay Wilson. The safety and outside linebacker can also make big plays on offense. In the Combs win, Wilson had a pair of touchdown runs and two successful two-point runs. Another important player on the PBHS defense was Terraude Kisto with his speed and cover skills. Out of all freshmen in Division III, Kisto has the fastest 200-meter time and ranks No. 5 in the 100 so far this track season.
While it is impressive for all three levels to have winning seasons, that's not the main focus of coaching a freshman program. However, if the tenets are followed and the skills learned, victories can be a byproduct of that.
"Our focus is to get our freshman kids off to a great academic start to high school by providing academic coaching to help them develop successful habits in the classroom," Holmes said. "We also emphasize collective responsibility, being coachable, preparation, and bringing a high level of energy and work ethic."
With high school football participation levels dropping a little bit nationally every year, a topic of discussion among coaches is how to retain those that jumped in at the freshman level.
"Our approach is to play as many freshmen in games as possible and find roles for all of them so they feel connected to the team," Holmes said. "In addition, we have an 'open taps' policy in practice. This means that coaches don't rotate players in and kids are responsible for rotating in at practice so everyone is involved. We also believe that is important to sprinkle fun competitions that don't involve normal practice activities."
Another thing Poston Butte does to reduce burnout is encourage its players to take on multiple sports. This allows there to be time away from football and they will "miss it" to reduce burnout. Of the 39 players on the freshman roster, 16 of them are two-sport athletes and 11 of them play three sports.
Shifting things back over to the varsity, Thompson is excited about the players he has returning that got Friday night experience in a year that no one was sure would happen.
"We have a great group of juniors and sophomores that were in starting roles," Thompson said.
Sophomore tight end Connor Lopez led the Broncos in receiving with 13 catches for 286 yards and three touchdowns. The 6-4, 215-pounder is a three-sport athlete (basketball and baseball) and should see a bigger role on defense this year at safety, linebacker, or corner.
Another sophomore that will likely expand his role on defense is starting left tackle Cade Alisa. Thompson said the 6-6, 310-pound lineman has been doing a great job on his offseason training.
One player already doing work on both sides of the ball is Bobby Gaitan, who made Second Team All-Region as both a defensive utility/flex player and as an offensive lineman. The sophomore guard/defensive end had 5.5 sacks to lead the Broncos. Thompson said Gaitan has great instincts and good speed and "can be an Ironman if we need him to be".
Junior Amari Gilmore fills up the stat sheet in many ways. The safety led Poston Butte in tackles with 75 and intercepted four passes. Thompson called him the "best DB I've coached in 27 years". Gilmore scored touchdowns four different ways in 2020: a fumble return, a pick six, a rushing score, and an 86-yard kickoff return. Gilmore averaged 34.5 yards on his kick returns and contributed another way. PBHS doesn't always kick the extra point after scores. The Broncos were successful on 6 two-point conversion tries and five of those put points on the board with a Gilmore run from the 2-yard line.
Obviously, the biggest hole to fill in the Poston Butte offense is at running back with the departure of Burns. Thompson feels the next great back is already on the roster with Octavious Joe. The junior can squat 450 pounds and averaged 6.7 yards per carry last season (30 carries, 200 yards, 3 TDs). Currently running track, Joe has already qualified for state in the 100, 200, and both hurdle events.
"I'm so excited to see him get more carries," Thompson said. "He has all kinds of ability. Opponents will take a sigh of relief without Zion, but Octavious is powerful and athletic."
Senior Gavin Lloyd took practically all the snaps at quarterback last year. Look for his backup, Andrew Dalmacio, to take the reins behind center. Dalmacio played free safety last year and is a three-sport athlete (basketball and baseball). Thompson said Dalmacio was the second-fastest player on the 2020 team and will be able to do a little bit of everything, from running the same offense as Lloyd while adding quick throws and dropbacks.
On defense, Poston Butte normally employs a 3-4 and has a couple of the inside linebackers returning. Junior Riley Nolan had 65 tackles and forced three fumbles last season. Jaydin Lucero, also a junior, added 48 tackles with 13 of those coming in a win over Benjamin Franklin. With Gilmore, Nolan, and Lucero, the Broncos have their top three tacklers back in the fold.
Officially, the AIA doesn't call the Nov. 20 game against St. Mary's (a 14-7 loss) a playoff game, but a "play-in" game. I'm going to still call it a playoff game. The winners moved on (to a reduced eight-team bracket) and the losers had their seasons end. It was the first time the Broncos played an extra game after the regular season since 2014, and just the third time in school history. There is still more to be conquered for the future players. Poston Butte is 0-3 all-time in the postseason.
"That's the hope, that they make their first playoff run," Thompson said. "And experience will get us over the hump of not just getting there, but winning."
