Red Mesa football rebuilding with new coach

CHINLE – New Red Mesa football coach Sandy Benally characterized Saturday’s four-team scrimmage at Chinle High as an “eye-opener.”

“There’s a huge difference between practice and a live game,” Benally said. “At practice, you know what you’re being told to do, but in a live game, it’s a whole different situation. We missed so many tackles today. We were missing our blocks, too, so it’s gonna take some time. We’re gonna have to repeat things and do them over and over again.

“We still need a lot of work but it’s fixable,” he added. “It’s going to take more repetition, but I feel like we have a good squad. I’m looking forward to working with these kids.”

The longtime girls basketball coach didn’t expect to be on the sideline this fall but he found out that he was going to coach the football team minutes before a recent school board meeting.

“I saw my name listed as the head football coach on the agenda,” said Benally, who replaced last year’s coach Nelson Mitchell. “That is how I found out, and I just got hired two weeks ago.”

This is Benally’s first stint coaching the football team. The program has seen three coaching changes since the departure of longtime coach Pita Olomua who left after the 2018 season. Olomua now coaches the Chinle Wildcats.

“Since Pita left, we’ve had different coaches come in teaching their own philosophy, so it’s hard to build a squad,” Benally said. “Every year it’s changing with the coaches coming up with their own plays.

“I’m trying to keep a majority of the plays that the kids learned last year,” he added. “That way they’re more familiar with them, instead of making it hard on them.”

Nevertheless, the transition has been difficult for the Red Mesa team.

“There’s a lot of fancy plays they learned, and my plays are straight fundamental calls,” Benally said. “They’re trying to adjust to that. My calls practically tell you where you’re going so they’re to adjust to that.”

As a late hire, Benally did not have any summer workouts with the team that finished 5-5 overall last season. With that, Benally feels that everyone is on a steep learning curve.

“We have a few returnees, so they actually know what’s going on out there,” Benally said. “We recorded our scrimmages, so hopefully we can see our mistakes and correct them.”

Benally has 32 players on his squad, and he estimates that 15 are veterans. Players to look out for include juniors Keslar Dan (quarterback) and Devyn John (quarterback/receiver).

“We have a good solid group of returnees,” Benally said. “We also got some newbies, freshmen that are new to the program.”

Sophomore linebacker/fullback Tatum Mitchell says they’re a step behind most programs, but he believes they’ll come around.

“I think we can grow,” Mitchell said. “If we progress, I think we can have a good season. I would be happy if we can win a lot of our games.”

Red Mesa opens the season with a pair of Phoenix area schools starting with an away game at Surprise Highland Prep on Aug. 29. The Benally-coached team will have its home opener with Scottsdale Coronado on Sept. 6.

Last season, Red Mesa came up short to Highland Prep, 46-6, while its game with Coronado was called off with the Scottsdale school forfeiting the match.

“I have to see what they did last year,” Benally said of those two squads. “I have to see what kind of offense and defense they play. We have to get ready for either a passing or running game.”

Red Mesa starts 2A Little Colorado Region play at Greyhills Academy on Sept. 20.

They will finish out region play at Valley on Sept 27, with Piñon on Oct. 4, at Tuba City on Oct. 11, at Holbrook on Oct. 18, with Hopi on Oct. 25, and with Many Farms on Nov. 1.

“It’s gonna be a tough conference,” Benally said. “We’re in a rebuilding process right now, but you never know what can happen. These guys might just turn on that switch. That is what I’m excited about. They’re ready to play and they’re getting after it.

“That tells you that there is fire there,” he added. “We just have to add more fuel to the fire.”

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