St. Pius loaded up for another run at a blue trophy

It was, looking back, a proverbial addition-by-subtraction day for the St. Pius Sartans.

A 34-point loss to Bloomfield in last year’s Class 4A state championship football game might, on the surface, appear clearly to be a blotch, but the passage of time has actually shown it to be quite instructive for St. Pius.

“The mentality of culture was what really separated us,” said St. Pius’ stellar and blisteringly-fast tailback, junior Hershul Olloway Jr., the state’s most recent 100-meter champion. “We were still really developing that strong culture. This next year, we should finally take that next step up and establish our strong culture, which should help propel us to a state championship.”

St. Pius opens the 2025 season on Aug. 23 against West Mesa.

Arguably, the Sartans open as the 4A favorite, with eight starters returning on both sides of the ball, and easily the most potent collection of skill position athletes in the entire classification. Most of them return from last year, and their key pieces were all sophomores.

“We know the potential is there,” St. Pius coach Curtis Flakes II said. “But we know potential doesn’t mean anything if you don’t tap into it.”

The state final against Bloomfield nudged open multiple doors for St. Pius.

“We had the mindset of, ‘why not us?’” Olloway said.

The Bobcats won the game 62-28, and, big picture, Bloomfield was operating on a different level than the young Sartans. But easily lost amidst all of that was this: the championship game was tied 22-22 at halftime.

“We just folded and crumbled,” Flakes said. “We started making mistake after mistake after mistake. Definitely that immaturity played a big part. Our kids didn’t know how to respond when they got hit in the mouth by a great team.”

But Flakes knew it went deeper than that.

“They’re just a great program in general. Us, in year two,” Flakes said of the new St. Pius coaching regime and new system, “we were still working at that.”

The ultimate takeaway was, St. Pius knew it belonged, but ultimately was outclassed in the second half by a more experienced Bloomfield roster, and a rock steady program that had been solidified much longer than the Sartans’.

“Going up there, we were real excited. We were a young team, and we were real hungry to get that championship, that first taste of success,” said Isaiah Carpenter, St. Pius’ 6-foot-5 rifle-armed junior quarterback. “It didn’t end the way we hoped it would, but coming out of that game … we knew how talented we were, (and) we really felt we could have been a more disciplined team. We were really working on that internal battle.”

Flush with the knowledge that only 24 great minutes separated them from winning state themselves, St. Pius set out in the offseason with multiple goals. Hitting the weight room hard was one. Cleaner football was another. Motivation is hardly an issue after the Sartans came so close to ascending the summit nine months ago.

“Definitely, I’ve seen a level of maturity (in our team) that we did not have last year,” Flakes said. “Spring to summer, that’s been our biggest growth. Now I’m seeing those guys developing. They’re truly starting to understand what it takes. … There’s a difference in the kids’ mindset and mentality.”

This St. Pius offense will have a fresh coat of paint. Former Socorro head coach Damien Ocampo has joined the Sartans as the offensive coordinator. It is the third OC in as many seasons for Carpenter.

“He’s a really brilliant coach,” Carpenter said. “He has an extremely high football IQ.”

Carpenter threw for 34 scores last season; Olloway rushed for 1,700 yards and 21 touchdowns. The team’s top receiver Cayl Cox-Liggins, also returns after catching over 1,100 yards worth of balls with a dozen TDs.

“We know how special this team could be,” Carpenter said. “And a lot of that comes from the talent we have.”

However, Olloway noted, just traversing this season with a chip on their collective shoulder won’t be enough.

“We’re not gonna shy away from the hard work we know we need to put in to be able to get back to that point,” he said.