Cream of the crop: Farmington, Pinon, Thoreau, MV players, coaches head football all-stars class

WINDOW ROCK – Farmington High’s Trel Griego shouldered the load for the Scorpions’ air-raid offense this season.

The senior quarterback threw for 3,591 yards and his passing yards are second best in New Mexico regardless of classification.

With that Griego was selected as the 2023 Navajo Times Football Offensive Player of the Year and he shares that honor with Page’s Silas Kaye.

The recipients for the Defensive Players of the Year went to Monument Valley’s Trent Tall and Thoreau’s Taven Tahe.

Pinon’s Steven Saban and Thoreau’s Erik Loera were selected as Navajo Times Coaches of the Year in football.

Griego finished with a quarterback rating of 95.3 by completing 269 passes out of 460 attempts. Behind his apt throwing arm, he was credited with 39 touchdown passes. He also carried the ball for 427 yards on 127 carries and scored 11 rushing TDs.

Kaye rushed for 1,258 yards which is fourth best in Arizona’s 2A Conference. The Pinon senior averaged 11.2 yards per carry and led the team with 18 rushing TDs.

Kaye was named 2A Little Colorado Region Player of the Year. He also made the honorable mention list in the 2A Conference.

Defensively, Thoreau’s Tahe had nine interceptions, which is third best in New Mexico regardless of classification.

In 11 games, the Thoreau Hawks defensive back had 19 solo tackles and 18 assisted for a total of 37 tackles.

Tahe received postseason accolades making the First-Team, All-District and Second-Team, All-State in New Mexico.

Tall was “a team player” for the MV Mustangs. In 10 games, he recorded 52 solo tackles with 32 assisted for a total of 84 tackles. He had three tackles for a loss, two sacks, three quarterback hurries, three pass deflections, two blocked punts and two fumble recoveries.

Tall was recognized as the 3A North Region Defensive Player of the Year.

The Pinon Eagles went from winning two games last year to a remarkable 9-1 record this past season under Saban.

The 9-1 mark is the best overall record in school history as the Eagles’ only blemish was a loss to the Holbrook Roadrunners, a school that has two times the enrollment number of Pinon High.

Under Saban, the Eagles went undefeated at home with a 5-0 mark, and they beat Tuba City for the first time ever.

At Thoreau, the Hawks made a third straight appearance in the 3A state playoffs under the direction of Loera.

Loera coached the Hawks to back-to-back District 5-3A titles as Thoreau played a competitive schedule and finished the year at 7-4 overall.

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