Alamo Cougars working to develop team culture

Wyatt Hunter turns the corner during scrimmage action.
Russell Huffman | El Defensor Chieftain

The result of a hard week’s practice for the Alamo Navajo Cougars was a “forfeit” as the New Mexico School for the Deaf tried to cut down some travel time and took a backroad on Sept. 22.

Rain pouring in the mountains left the school’s planned route impassable, making it impossible to reach the Cougars’ playing field, where 11 Alamo players were prepared to take them on.

Coach Wyatt Billy didn’t get a chance to notch the first win of the season on his belt, so he took the opportunity to work out his players in a 5-on-5 scrim­mage. After all, when you are dressed up and have no place to go — make the best of a bad situation.

As a second-year coach, Billy struggles with num­bers in a post-pandemic world on the Alamo Navajo Reservation, where COVID and its mutations have not let go.

“NO MASK! No Service,” reads the sign at the local mini-mart.

There are no exceptions, and high school athletes have seen that kind of writing “on the wall” for two years.

What started as 22 play­ers has dwindled to 12, or maybe 11 — one of two seniors hasn’t been to prac­tice in six days, and Billy has started inquiring about the need for the missing player to turn in his uni­form and equipment.

An 0-4 start hasn’t helped, and Billy’s job is as much about teaching the game of football as it is about coach­ing and calling plays.

“We’re a very young team. We have at least four eighth graders right now,” Billy said. “A lot of the kids that played last year gradu­ated; we only have a couple of kids coming back.”

Billy’s charges are relearning how to tackle after having social distancing drummed into their heads.

“It was restricted to what we could do (last year), and masks and social distanc­ing were a part of it when we first came back from the pandemic,” Billy said. “Now it’s a little bit more relaxed. And the kids are a little more willing to do more things because they were so scared of wrapping up kids on tackles because they feared the virus.”

It’s no secret the New Mexico Navajo communities were hit hard by COVID. The latest public health order from the Navajo Department of Health has declared a “medium risk,” and six pages of recommendations and limitations accompany the declaration.

Medium risk or not, the declarations extend the cau­tion, and Alamo’s athletes still haven’t fully emerged.

Billy is sticking to the course, whether he has a hundred players or just the 11 who showed up for the Sept. 22 matchup that didn’t come off.

“We’re still trying to fig­ure out what we need to do to learn our jobs,” Billy said. “We have had a lot of inju­ries here and there because we have a young team.”

The 2022 Cougars’ roster includes Jurrale Tsosie, Kei Apachito, Wyatt Hunter, Terrall Monte, Elias Apachito, Scotty Guerro, Mclane Guerro, Cojay Piasso, Isaiah Secatero, Japeth Padilla, Sham Padilla, Layla Lee, Andy Pino and Alexandra Jake.

It will take patience, and Billy is looking to establish far more than a couple of wins for the Cougars. He’s looking for his players to buy-in to his football culture, where players develop chem­istry and have each other’s back on and off the field.

“They have to keep pushing each other to get through this season because it’s been a rough start, and we still have a couple of games left, but right now, I’d rather have them understand what they’re doing and come together as a team,” Billy said. “Next year, we’ll be able to run more complex plays and not set up with just the basics all the time.”

Billy depends on his assistant coach Jarvis Guerro, to help him lead the team. Some leadership responsibilities have fallen on the broad shoulders of center and defensive line­man Sham Padilla.

“As a senior, I think it’s my responsibility to help. I need to be the one to set the example for the younger players. That way, when they are older, they will realize they have a role to play, too.” Padilla said.

Not playing against the New Mexico School of the Deaf was disappointing because the Cougar players and coaches were curious to see how the hearing challenged play football. They might even have been looking for a few pointers for their team.

“They were ready to take on the challenge. They are used to players yelling on both sides, and they wanted to know about their sign language,” Billy said. “They were excited to understand how this game was going to go. I was wondering, too.”

Long-time Alamo coach Kent Tomah (now retired) was also a little disappointed the game didn’t come off, seeing as he had traveled from Oklahoma to watch the contest, but he was able to offer some words of encour­agement to the team.

The visit was memorable for Padilla, who was grin­ning from ear to ear that his former coach had shown up. It was a great reminder that football is about building a family and echoed Billy’s goals to continue establish­ing his team’s culture.

“Our short-term goals are to get everybody onboard and stay safe,” Billy said. “In the long run, we want to bond as a team and have each other’s back and come out here and have a love for the game of football.”

The 2022 Cougars’ roster includes Jurrale Tsosie, Kei Apachito, Wyatt Hunter, Terrall Monte, Elias Apachito, Scotty Guerro, Mclane Guerro, Cojay Piasso, Isaiah Secatero, Japeth Padilla, Sham Padilla, Layla Lee, Andy Pino and Alexandra Jake.