Is District 2-3A ready to claim itself the premier district in New Mexico football? Robertson, Academy, St. Mikes and Raton in the Final Four. I believe it should to no one’s surprise that this happened. Think about it. The past three out of four state champs have come from this district, St. Mikes in ’03, followed up by Robertson’s repeat performance in ’05 and ’06. Only Lovington interrupted the 2-3A party, beating St. Mikes in ’04. Remember that year? That was that year NMMI forfeited their playoff game and the NMAA ruled that St. Mikes will play Lovington for the title.

Since 2001, the district has seen a team play for the title six times, winning three.  

The four mentioned teams each finished 3-1 in the district and due to this, were prepared to take on any and all comers.

According to New Mexico high school football expert Dan Ford, “No league has ever done that. Albuquerque has never done that and it has 13 shots at it each year and they always have four teams in the quarterfinals.” According to Ford, District 2-3A will break a record for playoff wins, set in 2005 by District 3-5A when Mayfield, Alamogordo and Onate combined for seven playoff wins. District 2-3A will end the 2007 playoffs with 10 wins.

Robertson opponent, Raton, and head coach Brock Walton also sees something special. “Our district was a dominant district this year. I don’t think that it is anything in particular that we do up here, we just happen to have four solid teams this season and we are all battle-tested and playoff ready simply because we had to go through each other.”

Academy head coach Kevin Carroll, whose Chargers travel to St. Mikes for a 1:00 Saturday kickoff, states, “I think it is a unique honor for our district and indicative of the quality of fine football that its teams played this year. The semi-final games should be well played and hard fought.” On the Horsemen, Carroll adds, “St. Mikes is a well-coached football team that is highly skilled and very physical. We know we’re going to have our hands full this weekend.”

So, for the third consecutive year, the blue trophy will stay in the hands of a District 2-3A team, and if you believe in destiny, then the Robertson Cardinals and St. Mikes Horsemen have flirted with playing for the title the past two seasons. Is this the year? Or will Academy, who moves to another district next year, leaves with the highest honor? The last time the Chargers appeared in a title game was 1977, losing to Socorro. What about Raton, who last won a state title in 1956, beating Deming 21-0? The last time the Tigers appeared in a championship game was in 1996, when they lost to Artesia.

District 2-3A, the best football district in New Mexico? Let the debate begin.