Different Joey, same result.
If the St. Michael’s Horsemen seemed affected by the absence of legendary head football coach Joey Fernandez, they did not show it for a minute of Saturday’s season opener against the Taos Tigers at Christian Brothers Athletic Complex.
In his stead was eight-year defensive coordinator Joey Butler, who did what he did best in guiding a stout defense.
Combined with the play-calling of assistant coach George Dominguez, St. Michael’s rolled to a 42-0 romp over the Tigers that ruined the debut of head coach Johnny Olguin.
St. Michael’s, the reigning Class 3A champion, was efficient in just about every facet of the game as Taos managed just 95 yards of offense and ventured into Horsemen territory just twice. Meanwhile, the Horsemen offense rolled up 368 total yards, even with a pair of quarterbacks in senior starter Reed Bass and junior backup Kamal Stith.
While the results were the same, some Horsemen said it wasn’t the same without Fernandez, who was serving the first game of a two-game suspension over what the school would only describe as a personnel matter.
St. Michael’s junior running back Soren Annon said a lot of the players didn’t know about Fernandez’s suspension until this week.
“Finding out he wasn’t going to be out here was a really hard hit, but it gave us the motivation to fight for him,” Annon said. “It gave us that fight that we needed to come out here and remind everybody who we are.”
What the 2024 Horsemen showed the rest of the state in their opener was they have a fast, hard-hitting defense that stymied the Tigers’ rushing attack to just 19 yards on the day. It also harassed senior quarterback Evan Salazar into an 8-for-23 performance for just 76 yards.
Butler said the key was not to draw attention to Fernandez’s absence.
“We wanted to make it as stable as usual,” Butler said. “When they realized it’s just normal and we have to play football and have fun and do what we’re taught to do, it’s just back to the gridiron.”
What wasn’t normal, though, was the quarterback rotation. Even though Bass piloted the offense to the state title last year, he shared time with Stith that Butler said was deliberate. Much of that was to take advantage of the pair’s strengths — Bass with his experience and arm, Stith with his play-making ability out of the pocket.
It was an almost perfect marriage, as the pair combined to go 13-for-16 for 204 passing yards and a touchdown. Only one ball hit the ground, as Taos collected an interception off both quarterbacks, but neither miscue turned into points.
Bass led the first two drives to touchdowns as the ball never left Taos’ side of the field for the first 14 minutes of the game. Stith took over the next series and they alternated turns for the rest of the game.
“The split time was going to happen anyway,” Butler said. “It’s early in the season. They’re both good weapons and we want to use them both.”
Stith had the most dynamic play in the second quarter when he completed a 20-yard pass to Isaiah Dominguez that somehow slipped through the hands of Taos linebacker Mateo Salazar on a key third-down play from the Tigers 27-yard line. The play set up a Stith-to-Annon 7-yard touchdown connection for a 28-0 lead with 1:39 left in the opening half.
“I think it went through the defender’s hands and somehow I caught it,” Dominguez said of his catch. “It was a little behind [Dominguez], but I managed to haul it in.”
Dominguez and Annon played huge roles in the St. Michael’s rushing attack that gained 160 yards, even though no back had more than Annon’s 45 yards on the day. Dominguez and senior Cole Sandoval were right on his heels with 44 yards, but Dominguez also had the first two touchdowns of the game — 2- and 3-yard runs in the opening quarter.
It took Annon until the fourth quarter to score a rushing touchdown, a 13-yard run up the gut of the Taos defense for a 35-0 lead with 11:55 left in the game.
It was a sign that the Horsemen possess a physical rushing attack, which Butler said is a credit to the work of a fast-improving line. He pointed out that two of the starters up front — center Jedrek Lewandowski and tackle Preston C de Baca — are just sophomores, but they worked hard at getting stronger and bigger.
“They increased all their lifting immensely,” Butler said. “They put on about 30 pounds each — all of that is muscle — and they’re still young. But we have a crew that is experienced, too.”
The same could be said of the Horsemen in general, as 28 lettermen returned from last year’s championship squad. That just might be why it didn’t matter which Joey was leading the charge on the sideline.
St. Michael’s knew it was just business as usual.