Socorro’s offensive linemen run through drills during their first offseason practice.
Russell Huffman | El Defensor Chieftain

The 2023 football season got started last week as coach Damian Ocampo and his staff held the Warriors’ first offseason “practice” on May 2 and handed out summer workouts and seven-on-seven information.

The Warriors have many questions for the upcoming season, including who will field general the offense after the graduation of do-it-all quarterback Marcus Armijo.

Many have already given the nod to last year’s second-team quarterback and Ocampo’s son Isaiah. Still, Armijo’s one of many replacements the Warriors will have to worry about, and in Socorro’s case, it’s sometimes a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul.

It also may be a case where Ocampo will reach into his bag of tricks because Isaiah is also an accomplished receiver, just like returning starter Alex Amaro, who Ocampo instructed to make sure he was getting repetitions throwing the football.

Throw Kenyon Scarborough into the signal-caller mix, and you almost have a quarterback controversy/competition.

“I think we have a couple of different quarterbacks we can win with. So, we’ll see who’s playing the best, and whoever’s playing the best will get an opportunity to play,” Ocampo said.

Ocampo didn’t deliver a straight answer on his intentions for the position, but you can bet he will tailor his offense to best suit the personnel he will have available.

“The summertime is huge because we don’t get all the kids during the year. It’s our last chance to prepare them,” Ocampo said. “It’s so big, and you’ve got to have a great summer every year.”

What does Ocampo see as the Warriors’ most significant challenge in the upcoming season?

“Finding our niche because we have to change quite a bit. We’ve got to find our niche and find a way to make teams try to beat us left-handed,” Ocampo said.

Left-handed, as in Ocampo’s bag of tricks, comes with side pockets and some matching luggage.

“We have to do some things that we’ve never done before, and how quickly we can respond and how all learn together — including the coaching staff, will be how the year goes.”

At the same time, it will also be a case of building on a culture of cohesion during the summer.

“It’s about getting kids to think like one body where they start being a cohesive group. When they put in all that work, it becomes a lot harder to quit when you put in that much work into something. It becomes a lot harder to give up on a task.”

The Warriors will be participating in 7-on-7 football and preparing to host a 15-team tournament that will draw some 6A teams.

Russell Huffman | Assistant Editor