Piñon football has some new faces for 2024 season

CHINLE – Last season, the Piñon football team won more games than any squad that came before them.

The Eagles capped the 2023 season with a 9-1 record, which included a second-place finish in the 2A Little Colorado Region.

Piñon is looking to build on that successful campaign despite losing 13 players to graduation, including all-state players Silas Kaye (running back), Pharrell Tsosie (center), and Cory Ben (wide receiver).

“When you lose a great group like that, everybody’s comparing you to that 9-1 team,” Piñon coach Steve Saban said. “These guys, that’s all they’ve heard. I told them, ‘Hey, we got to establish our own identity. Let’s make our own name for ourselves.’”

Saban says the potential is there as the Eagles had to overhaul its lineup to offset the players it lost. Junior Josh Manuelito, last year’s quarterback, moved to running back while his younger brother, Adriano, takes over as QB with the latter being a sophomore.

“We lost all of our running backs, so we had to move people around,” Saban said. “You know, we’re doing a little mixing and matching. We had to make some adjustments, and I think it paid off at this scrimmage.”

Piñon competed against Shiprock and Chinle, the host team on Saturday during the four-team scrimmage. Saban opted not to play the 2A Little Colorado region foe Red Mesa.

“I liked the way we played,” the Piñon coach said. “Not bad for the teams we played. We’ve got some room to improve, but I think we did pretty good. We still have a lot of work to do though.”

The Piñon boys ran the ball a lot last year and they expect to do the same this season.

“We ran four plays today,” Saban said. “We have about 15 plays, but we wanted to show four. You know, Red Mesa is here today so I didn’t want to show too much.”

The mentality, Saban says, has not changed despite losing a player like Kaye, who rushed for 1,258 yards last season.

“Obviously, we’re not going to have that big strike player like we had with Silas, but we got some big kids,” he said. “We got some backs that are 200-pound plus. We’re going to move people, you know, with more of a grind. We might surprise some people with what we have.”

On the line of scrimmage, junior Athan Tallman has taken up the duties at center. Last year the 6-foot, 2-inch beast played left tackle. Despite some reservations, Tallman is now embracing his new position.

“I was thinking that I wasn’t going to be any good” playing center, Tallman said. “But I think I’m doing OK. It felt good to be out there, so I’m starting to warm up to it.”

As the season progresses, Tallman believes the O-line can be very effective in helping the team move the ball forward.

“Today, we were good at times, but I think we can get better,” he said. “We’re going to learn from our mistakes, and we’re gonna work harder. All of our focus is going to come from the line. And if we can push the ball, I think we’re going another good season.”

Piñon kicks the season off Friday at Greyhills Academy for a 2A Little Colorado Conference opener. Next week, the Eagles will play San Pasqual Valley at Queen Creek Benjamin Franklin High School in Phoenix.

On Sept. 5, Piñon will travel to Navajo Prep and then to San Carlos on Sept. 13 to complete its freedom schedule.

“We play San Pasqual in Phoenix, which is a nice neutral site,” Saban said. “And Navajo Prep is a 3A playoff team last year and we play them in Farmington.

“We play a big team down in San Carlos,” he added. “They’re a big team like Alchesay. They’re huge and they move people and that will get us ready for region play.”

On Sept. 20, Piñon will resume 2A Little Colorado play by hosting Many Farms.

The Saban-coached team will close out region play by hosting Tuba City on Sept. 27, at Red Mesa on Oct. 4, with Valley on Oct. 11, with Holbrook on Oct. 25, and at Hopi Nov. 1.

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