GRIDIRION GLANCE ’24: Santa Anna Mountaineers

August 18, 2024 at 9:25 am Derrick Stuckly

SANTA ANNA – The Santa Anna Mountaineers last reached the football playoffs in 2016, a trend they hope to halt in 2014.

Head coach Jose Luna, who enters his sixth year at the school and third year in charge of the program, welcomes back two offensive and five defensive starters from a 3-7 squad a year ago, that will face many of the same league foes in the revamped District 14-A Division I.

“This team can be pretty good,” said Luna, who is 7-13 in his time as Santa Anna head coach. “I firmly believe this is one of our better squads since I’ve been here. For them to achieve what we want to achieve, it’s going to come down to staying healthy, keep learning, and just compete.”

Among the key returnees for Santa Anna are William Perry (1,008 rushing yards, 18 TDs; 13-134 receiving TD / 56 tackles, 1 INT, 1 FR), Wyatt Strickland (428 rushing yards, 7 TDs; 8-93 receiving, TD / 63 tackles, 1 FR), Aiden Calfa 25-59 passing, 314 yards, 4 TDs, 4 INTs; 5-63 receiving / 25 tackles) and James Denson (44 tackles, 10 TFL). Other players to keep an eye on include Slade Beloat, Brock Brown, Jordan Diggs, Jayden Gibson, Jeremiah Davila, and Eddie York.

“We’re bringing back Wyatt Strickland, William Perry, Aiden Calfa and

James Denson, who were starters for us last year both ways,” Luna said. “They’re going to be seniors this year. Last year was their first big taste of varsity football. They were big contributors and expect them all to do the same and go a little above and beyond that. Also coming back we have Brock Brown, Slade Beloat, and Jordan Diggs, and two of those are going to be juniors. Slade’s another senior we’re going to be looking for to step up in different spots. Brock Brown was a big part of our defense and Jordan Diggs was a big part of our offense. Jayden Gibson, did play some last year defensively, and he’ll be a starter this year.”

Regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the team, Luna said, “We have some team speed and we’ve shown an ability to adapt. We don’t have a lot of depth, but these are guys I can switch in and out in any position, whether it’s offense or defense. What we need to work on is making sure we’re good tacklers, we hit our spots and we know what we’re doing. I just need them to work hard every day, show up, maintain a good attitude and we’ll be able to take care of business.”

Prior to the start of district, the Mountaineers battle Bronte, Veribest, Ranger, Blanket, Priddy, Zephyr, and Woodson.

“We’re taking it week by week,” Luna said. “We’re worried more about ourselves than who we’re playing. We do play Bronte and Woodson early who were playoff teams last year, and you always want to go up against good competition, and I believe our pre-district schedule is pretty good competition.”

The District 14-A Division I slate features games at No. 7 May and No. 4 Jonesboro, with a home date against Lometa. Dave Campbell’s Texas Football picks the Mountaineers to place third in the district.

“It’ll be tough, it always is with May and Jonesboro and then you throw in Lometa,” Luna said. “I believe we can compete. Our guys know what we have, and they also understand they can compete with these guys as long as we do what we’re supposed to do.”

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SANTA ANNA MOUNTAINEERS

Aug. 29	Bronte	7:30 p.m.
Sept. 6	at Veribest	7:30 p.m.
Sept. 13	at Ranger	7:30 p.m.
Sept. 20	Blanket	7:30 p.m.
Sept. 27	at Priddy	7:30 p.m.
Oct. 4	Zephyr	7:30 p.m.
Oct. 11	Woodson#	7 p.m.
Oct. 18	OPEN
Oct. 25	at May*	7:30 p.m.
Nov. 1	at Jonesboro*	7 p.m.
Nov. 8	Lometa*	7:30 p.m.