Magdalena Steers open season with 3-0 stampede

Three Socorro County teams came away with trophies from the Steer Stampede on Dec. 1-3 as Magdalena kept the boys championship at home and Alamo Navajo captured the boys consolation championship and were runner-ups in the girls bracket.

Magdalena’s Championship

The two-time defending state champion Steers went 3-0 with victories over district rival Alamo (57-18), Legacy Academy (55-23), and No. 3 Clovis Christian in the championship game (51-37).

There’s a new offensive look for the No. 1 Steers, who are still pitching their blanket-the-court defense that produces turnovers and frustration for their opponents.

Clovis gave the Steers some problems in the championship and battled to a 21-20 score at halftime before Magdalena came out and took care of business with an 18-9 third-quarter run.

It was the third straight slow start for the Steers, who came out looking tight in all three games, and it’s a trend Magdalena coach Jory Mirabal understands.

“I attribute that (slow starts) to a lot of things. We’re trying to do a lot of new stuff. We’re using a lot more of our inside game. I’m trying to develop it — I don’t know that we’re using it yet. To develop an inside game that’s going to take time,” Mirabal said.

The Steers didn’t shy away from the game plan and came out with solid game-winning runs in the second half of all three tournament games.

“Right now, it’s more of a combination of guards not being used to making the read when the post is open and post knowing when they’re open. So that’s going to take some time, and I’m stubborn to a fault sometimes. So, we’re going to run it right.”

Things may not have run to perfection, but the Steers showed brilliant flashes, and the second-half dismantling of the state’s No. 3 team shows the road to a state championship still runs through Magdalena.

Kael Stephens, D’Shaun Vinyard, Jeff Stuteville, and Joseph Zamora provided the big inside play Mirabal wants – he just wants to make sure the Steers start quicker.

“I like that they’re (the Steers) being patient with each other in the process of trying to learn some new things on offense. I don’t see the frustration. I don’t see people getting down, and their attitude stayed up. So, I’m happy about that. Right now, we need to get healthy,” Mirabal said.

The championship game scoring included points from D’Shaun Vineyard 18, Kael Stephens 11, Jeff Stuteville 10, Josh Baca 5, Joseph Zamora 5 and Matthew Parker 2.

The Steers’ roster includes Lambrent Ganadonegro, Ayden Herschbach, Kael Stephens, D’Shaun Vinyard, Josh Baca, Jeff Stuteville, Kaleb Castanon, Krae Stephens, Joseph Zamora, Jaydon Jaramillo, Jacob Markland, Matthew Parker, Clayton Atwood and Shayton Atwood.

Alamo Navajo Lady Cougars

Too many missed front end of one-and-one situations led to Alamo Navajo’s first loss of the season, but the No. 13 ranked Lady Cougars got a big shot of confidence even if they did slip in the girls championship game 44-36.

Alamo opened with a 57-38 win against Reserve as Sapphire Sandoval drained six three-pointers and led all scorers with 22 points. Hailey Apachito added three more long-range shots and had 10 points.

Against No. 5 Animas, the Lady Cougars notched a tough 53-44 win as they worked the ball inside with Apachito taking over the scoring lead with 19 points. Sandoval netted 13 and Koolonna Apachito came away with an even dozen.

Beating two ranked opponents in a row was emotionally uplifting for Alamo, but it also took a physical toll in the championship game against No. 7 To’hajiilee in a 44-36 loss.

“If we had made our free throws, I believe it would have been a different outcome,” Alamo Navajo coach Jeremiah Apachito said. “We had to play our younger guards because of fouls, which played into the situation.”

The Lady Cougars looked a little gassed in the second half, and it led to 2-9 shooting at the line, and more than half misses were in one-and-one situations.

Still, the tournament helped Apachito discover more about his team’s character, and the physical games won’t hurt when the Lady Cougars hit the road to face No. 1, Fort Sumner, on Dec. 8 in the first round of the Mescalero tournament.

“I’m looking forward to that. With this little momentum that we have here, I think we will do very well,” Apachito said.

Alamo Cougars

The Cougars won their final two games of the tournament to win the boys consolation championship with wins against Navajo Pine (50-39) and To’hajiilee (56-28) after a 57-18 setback against Magdalena in the opening round.

“I was proud of what our boys did. And what we need to work on more to get in shape. We needed more running because we play a lot of defense,” Alamo coach Lemuel Guerro said. “Magdalena, they’re a strong team and the defending state champion. We had a good first half against them.”

Against Navajo Pine, Mathis Apachito led the Cougars with 16 points, while Guerro, Jay Apachito and Isaiah Secatero had eight points each.

In the consolation championship against To’hajiilee, Jay Apachito (11) and Guerro (10) reached double-figure scoring (Jacob Apache had 9) as the Cougars focused on their defense.

“We’re a defensive-oriented team, and we’re getting better. I’m proud of the way we played defense this weekend,” Guerro said.

Magdalena Girls

After opening with a 72-23 blowout win over Carrizozo, things slowed down for the Steers as Magdalena suffered two losses to To’hajiilee (64-35) and Animas (55-31).

After being senior-laden last year, the Steers are still finding themselves in 2022 and will need to overcome an early-season habit.

“I think our third quarter in all three games was probably our worst quarter. And then we don’t start. Right now, we’re not great starters. So we have to fix those things,” coach Sara Sue Olney said. “It’s the third game of the season. We got lots of time to improve and lots of things to work on. You know, got to move forward and keep working.”

In their win against Carrizozo, the Steers were led by Jorianne Mirabal’s game-high 17 points, and Kambree Montoya joined her in double digits with 13. Gerleaney Ganadonegro added nine points to Magdalena’s totals and Elia Cleveland notched eight.