2019 Albuquerque Preseason
Football Capsules
Eldorado Eagles
Before last season, Eldorado head coach Charlie Dotson had said the key to the Eagles’ 2018
campaign would be the health of star dual-threat quarterback Gabe Smith. Then Smith, who put up
more than 600 yards of offense and nine touchdowns in an early season win over Las Cruces, was
lost for the year in late-September with a broken collarbone suffered in a win over Albuquerque
High. Dotson was right: After starting 4-1, the Eagles finished 7-5 for the second straight year
despite high expectations. With a little experience under his belt, can Nick Petty, who took over for
Smith, carry Eldorado forward in 2019? He’ll get some help from senior running back/linebacker
Ben West and senior all-state linemen Joey Burke and Keith Alvarado, who both go both ways up
front.
Highland Hornets
After opening the 2018 campaign with a narrow
victory over Rio Grande, the Hornets lost nine
straight. Some solace in defeat? Their last loss
was a 20-14 overtime defeat to Miyamura,
showing Highland was at least competitive late
in the season. Now that some of their extremely
young roster is coming of age, narrow wins
might become big wins and narrow losses
might become narrow wins. The continued
maturation of rising junior quarterback
Andres Ortega will be key, and he’ll have a
couple targets in Noah and Nathan Lopez
(490 rushing yards, 107 receiving yards), who
enter their senior and sophomore seasons,
respectively. Senior Carlos Orozco will be
an anchor on both lines at guard and nose
guard, and sophomores Abraham and
Samuel Lopez will chip in on both sides,
too. After dropping down to Class 5A last
season, the Hornets should be better
adjusted to the competition in 2019.
24 2019 Albuquerque High Schools Football Yearbook