GRANTS - After a commanding, 47-26 homecoming win over previously unbeaten Pojoaque on Oct. 2, the Grants High School football team finally gets a chance to breathe easy with a cupcake opponent this week. Right?

Senior Jeremy Chavez (74) leaps in the air in an attempt to block a pass. The defense will be the key to victory against the Academy Chargers this Saturday in Albuqueruqe. BEACON / ROMERO

    Wrong.

    In fact, Albuquerque Academy, the Pirates' opponent on Saturday, Oct. 10, on paper looks quite a bit like Pojoaque did coming into the homecoming game.

    The fourth-ranked Horsemen (NMHSCA poll of Oct. 7) are also having a memorable season, having started their year 5-0 - much like the Elks had - and like Grants' homecoming opponent, they are adept at eating up big chunks of yards and scoring a whole bunch of points.

    Through five games, the Horsemen are averaging better than 40 points per game and allowing a measly 7.6 points per game. The Horsemen have not scored less than 35 points in a game this season, and in four of their five games they've allowed seven points or fewer. 

    But whereas the Elks came in looking to throw on pretty much every down, the Horsemen seem to prefer to gain their yardage on the ground. This fact won't change the approach of Jeremy “The Enforcer” Chavez, and the Pirate defense. Grants' leading tackler at eight tackles per game, Chavez said that he is not completely satisfied with the Pirate defensive effort against Pojoaque.

“We could have done a lot better,” he said. “We could have wrapped up tackles a little bit better, and not let them break to the outside as much.” 

    Chavez has emerged as a leader on the Pirate defense, evidenced by his hard-hitting style, which often forces opposing teams to double and triple team him to stop him. He said he relishes the challenge.

“I get double teamed a lot,” Chavez says with a smile. “It makes me want to play harder and show them that they still can't stop me.”

    And Chavez even got a chance to return to an offensive role last week, when he was inserted late in the game for a series of running plays, but he said he wouldn't mind staying only on defense.

“I do like offense and scoring, but I'm a hitting kind of person, that's why I like defense,” Chavez said.         “But wherever coach needs me and wherever I can be a benefit to the team, I'll be there.”

Grants (4-1 overall) has won four straight games, and will be gunning for its fifth straight win, a feat not accomplished since the 2001 District Champion team, which featured current GHS teacher Milo McMinn. The Pirates will also be looking to avenge last year's 36-27 loss to Academy.

    It's a big game for both teams, according to Albuquerque Journal reporter Will Webber who called tomorrow's matchup the “de-facto game of the week” in Albuquerque.

Chavez, too, understands the weight of this game and said that if the Pirates can pull off a win, it would be a huge one.

    “If we win, maybe it helps us get a spot in the playoffs,” Chavez said. “I hope it shows people how good we are and how hard we're playing.”

    The Pirates, despite their winning streak, didn't get a whole lot of love from New Mexico high school coaches in this week's poll. They received 10 votes, four shy of tenth-ranked Del Norte (3-3 overall) and two shy of Valencia (3-3 overall), the Pirates' opponent on Oct. 16. That game marks the first of only two remaining home games for Grants. The other comes on Oct. 30, when the Pirates host top-ranked Belen.