Four of Santa Fe's five football-playing high schools will face opponents from Albuquerque this week, giving us a rare opportunity to see how our teams stack up.

Now 3-0, the top-ranked and defending state champ is finally whole again. 

Thursday’s 13-6 win over visiting Capital means the Sundevils (3-0) have walked off the field winners in 11 of their last 13 games dating to last season. 

Joey Butler is accustomed to filling big shoes.

You’d be hard-pressed to find any two teams as different as Española Valley and Capital. One is well on its way to playoff contention while the other is just trying to score a point.

As far as first weeks go for the prep football season, this one was relatively tame.

If nothing changes, nothing changes. That is the credo John Michael Salazar is living by in his first year as the head football coach at Capital. 

It's time to dust off the crystal ball, break out the tarot cards and summon our inner Nostradamus to forecast this week's opening salvo of the high school football season.

Coming off a four-win season that ended with the exit of one of the most successful coaches in school history, the Taos Tigers are hitting the reset button under first-year man Johnny Olguin.

The Hilltoppers won nine games a year ago and reached the second round of the state playoffs in a top-heavy Class 5A. A good portion of that team has been lost to graduation, although enough key starters are back to make things interesting this fall.