Newcomb football ready to turn over a new leaf

By Quentin Jodie
Navajo Times

FORT DEFIANCE – The Newcomb football team is ready to turn over a new leaf for the 2025 season.

Last year, Newcomb started the season in the right direction with a 4-0 mark. The Skyhawks, however, closed out the season losing six straight for a 4-6 overall record, which includes a 0-5 mark in District 1-2A play.

“We got decimated with injuries midseason,” Newcomb coach Vincent Lee said. “We had respiratory illnesses that wiped out my offensive line and skills group. In the middle of the season, we kind of stumbled with our JV team and our varsity guys came back but we were never 100% and so it was tough.”

With a younger lineup, Lee said the inexperience component factored into their finish last year.

“We were rolling at the start of the season, and it was great,” he said. “But like I said, by midseason we were decimated with all those things. We had JV kids that played their hearts out, but they weren’t ready to compete at that level.”

Under Lee’s leadership, the Skyhawks competed in several 7-on-7 and Bigman Challenges over the summer break. He’s hoping the extra work they put in will payoff once the season starts in late August.

“Our guys are getting into that mindset that every game we play is an opportunity for us to improve,” Lee said. “We’re trying to play consistent. You know, at these tournaments we didn’t make throws that we should have made, and we didn’t make catches that we should have made, but that’s part of the maturation process.

“There’s a lot of timing involved, and there are a lot of things that have to go right,” he added. “Those are the things we’re still learning.”

And though his team experienced some growing pains last season, Lee is feeling optimistic about the 2025 season despite losing some key seniors last year.

“We lost some linemen who are going to be hard to replace, so we lost a lot of size and strength,” the Newcomb coach said. “Those kids are going to be missed, but what we have coming back is a skilled group that has been with me for three years.”

Senior Landon Noble heads that group, having rushed for over 1,400 yards and 11 touchdown last season. The Skyhawks also return ball carrier Colt Yazzie, who was the second leading rusher at 338 yards last season.

“I think we have the best backfield personnel coming back,” Lee said. “Landon Noble was an all-state, honorable mention kid last year, so we have a good backfield.”

Yazzie, who returns for his senior season, is looking to contribute more this season at his running back position. Moreover, he’s wants to be a threat on the receiving end, too.

“We had a good summer program,” Yazzie said. “I hope that we can pick it up where we left off. If we can get all our concepts down from what we learned from the summer, we can use it for this season.”

Lee said the offensive line will be very young this year, but he likes that they are more athletic.

“Our offensive line has really changed,” the Newcomb coach said. “Last year, we were really big for our district, and we were extremely strong, so we were a 95% run team last year and that was our strength.

“We still plan on establishing the run this year, but we will look very different on offense because our offensive line will allow us to do a couple more things and really open up our offense,” he added.

The Skyhawks will open the season at Wingate Aug. 22 followed by a pair of home games with Santa Fe Indian (Aug. 29) and Gallup (Sept. 5). The Skyhawks will then make trips to Tohatchi (Sept. 12) and Loving (Sept. 20) to complete the nondistrict portion of the schedule.

“We’re going to do a bit of traveling and I think Loving is going to be the biggest challenge of all those schools,” Lee said. “Nothing against any of those other schools, but Loving is just a polished team. They went to the state playoffs last year, and they made a run so they’re going to be a team to beat. It’s a team that is going to define who we are when it comes to grit and who we are as a team.”

The Lee-coached team starts District 1-2A play with McCurdy on Sept. 26. The rest of the district schedule includes road games at Hózhó Academy Oct. 11, at Laguna Acoma Oct. 17 and at Cuba Oct. 24. The Skyhawks will close out the district finale by hosting Navajo Prep on Oct. 31.

“The thing about our district is I think it’s up for grabs,” Lee said. “All the other schools graduated a lot of athletes but they have a lot of athletes coming back.”

Lee says the Wolves at Hózhó will have all its players back as the Gallup charter school will be graduating its first senior class next spring.

“Hózhó is very impressive,” Lee said. “They’ve been impressive the entire summer. They have a lot of skilled kids, so does Prep. They have a lot of skilled kids. Cuba has a lot of gritty, strong kids.

“Laguna Acoma has a lot of gritty kids as well,” Lee said. “I honestly think whoever can stay healthy and who can play mistake free too will have an opportunity to win our district.”

Get instant access to this story by purchasing one of our many e-edition subscriptions HERE at our Navajo Times Store.

 

---