Prep football: Attitude and defense is the strength behind Jaguars

Tommy Trujillo | The New Mexican

8/28/2008 - 8/29/08

Stephen Castille walked off Jaguar Field at Capital High School on Thursday with his voice still intact.

Not a bad sign for the final practice before opening the 2008 football season.

Today the Jaguars look to improve from an impressive 2007 when they visit Grants.

And Castille has reason for optimism. While the Jaguars are vastly different than teams before them, they're way ahead of the curve.

"I'm very excited because this is the best attitude of a group we've ever had, and I hope all that hard work pays off for them," Castille says.

Attitude will be tested early. The Jaguars have four of their first five games away from Jaguar Field.

That won't be the only test. There are 10 new starters on offense, including a whole new backfield.

But while experience on offense might be lacking, experience on the field won't. Many of the offensive unit was part of a very successful defensive unit last season.

"Seven are seniors and five were all-district on defense," Castille says. "They're guys who have been playing and have been in the program, just haven't been on that side of the ball."

Marcus Barela will take the snaps at quarterback. The 6-foot senior finally found a home on the offense after moving from center to receiver to defensive end to quarterback.

"We didn't move him over until the spring," Castille says. "He is coming into his own."

And Castille believes Barela can continue the air game that helped Capital to a District 2AAAA title last season behind quarterback Marc Moulton last season.

"We've got some receivers that can go get the ball," Castille says. "It's something we've been working hard on and getting good at. And Marcus gives us another option because he brings more mobility than anybody we've had in the last three years."

Dominic Romero is Capital's starting fullback. Romero earned high marks from Castille on defense last year and it's expected he'll carry over that aggressiveness to offense.

"He's a good runner. He's not going to go 80 yards on you, but he's pretty crafty. I say he has YAFL moves, but they work," Castille says.

Nate Garcia, an all-state lineman last year as a junior, is Capital's starting tailback this season. He'll be spelled by junior Jesse Sanders.

While the offense may still give Castille sleepless nights because of the newcomers, defense should help him get back to bed.

Romero recorded more than 100 tackles and six interceptions from the free safety spot last year en route to all-state honors. He'll share duties at strong safety and outside linebacker this season.

Gary Chavez will anchor the middle linebacker position, and Garcia will be back on the defensive line. Niko Pacheco was in the secondary last season and is back on defense.

"Everything up the middle is pretty strong," Castille says. "I felt comfortable about nine of the 11 positions on defense.

"I think we'll be pretty legit on that side of the ball."

The Jaguars were 8-4 last season and reached the quarterfinals of the Class AAA state tournament.

Not only will Capital have to deal with a plethora of road games to start, but the Jaguars also will have to face six teams with first-year head coaches.

Grants went 1-9 last year and is under the direction of first-year head coach Butch Branson.

"We don't have a great idea as to what they're going to do," Castille says of Grants. "We saw them scrimmage, but they just showed one formation the entire scrimmage and they were playing against a team that threw the ball 95 percent of the time, so the defense probably isn't what we'll see."

Still, Castille is confident in his team as it wrapped up its preparation for the season. If questions linger, he knows there are answers to them.

"The nice thing is that some of the problems we had was stuff that was fixable," Castille says. "We didn't have issues where we don't have the guys. They're just errors that have to be fixed."