With veteran lineup, Bears looking to outpace last season’s 2-8 slate

WINDOW ROCK

For the past two seasons, the Wingate football program was inundated with some young talent.

The Bears went 3-7 in 2023 and last season they finished with a 2-8 record, winning two of its last four games.

The 2025 season looks promising for fifth-year head coach AD Jim as the Bears have experience in some key positions.

“Last season, we were very young, but we’re coming back pretty heavy,” Jim said in an interview with the Navajo Times. “As a matter of fact, we’re pretty heavy with returners for the next two years.”

Despite some challenges this past summer, Jim was able to work with a core group in preparation for the upcoming season as the Bears will host Newcomb on Aug. 22 for its season opener.

“We didn’t have summer school this year and that really helps with our summer program, but we had some of our kids show up,” Jim said. “It was nice to see them buying in, so I’m hoping that what we did over the summer will transfer over into this season.”

So far, the Wingate coach likes what he’s seeing from his linemen and skills players. Those two fronts will be crucial as Wingate is looking to balance its offense.

“They both have been working hard,” Jim said. “I will say the relationship the linemen have established is key. Over the summer they were committed, and we expect some good things from them.

“Our backs and receivers are right there as well,” he added. “For some of them, this was their first time being involved with our summer program. Once they got a taste of it, that’s when a lot more of the buy-in came in.”

During the summer break, junior Ledanion Begay took up most of the snaps, and Jim is expecting his quarterback to play a key role in how the offense will be run this year.

“He’s been playing with us since his eighth-grade year,” Jim said of Begay. “He was our secondary, third-string player when he was an eighth grade. His freshman year, he was my backup quarterback and he finished out our last four games as quarterback when my starting quarterback went down.

“He’s kind of taken a more leadership role with our backs and receivers this year,” he added. “The thing that I’m working with him right now is the relationship between him and the linemen.”

His top receivers included senior Riley Morgan and juniors Zeff Flores and Mathew Whitehair. Jim is also excited about the development of his underclassmen receiving corp.

“Our JV team went 5-1 last year, so I have some freshmen receivers that have been working hard in the weight room,” he said. “A couple of them are Xavier Willis and Luke Davis. Both have come along during the summer, and they’ve been doing pretty well.”

After hosting Newcomb for its opener, the Bears will travel to Navajo Prep on Aug. 28 followed by a home game with Cuba on Sept. 5, and they will wrap up the nondistrict portion of the season by traveling to McCurdy on Sept. 13.

“We’re playing some solid programs, so I’m excited for those games,” Jim said. “I know that we can help each other and I’m sure that we can identify what adjustments that needs to be made before district play starts.”

Wingate will then open District 1-3A play with Crownpoint on Sept. 19. The rest of the district games include hosting Zuni on Sept. 26 followed by away games at Shiprock on Oct. 2, at Gallup on Oct. 10, at Tohatchi on Oct. 17 and at Thoreau on Oct. 24.

“The district was tough last year,” Jim said. “We had that realignment to where we had more teams in our district than we had in the past.”

Jim says the district coaches have built a cordial relationship over the years and they are looking to make the northwest district more competitive in hopes to improving its status among its state peers.

“We’re all working together,” he said. “We really want to start developing our programs for teams outside of our district. We want to have more teams in our district make the playoffs.”

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

 

---