Prep notes: Gary Bradley to continue family tradition at Mayfield; Sandia’s West wins Gatorade honor

From father to son to brother, the Bradley family football tradition will continue at Mayfield High School.

A few weeks after Mike Bradley retired as the Trojans coach, his brother, Gary, a Trojans assistant, was promoted to head coach. The announcement was made late last week.

Next fall will mark the 30th consecutive season that a Bradley has been leading the Trojans program.

Gary Bradley (Journal file)

“As far as having it be special and being in the family, it really does mean a lot,” said Gary Bradley, 54. “You never know where life is gonna take you.”

Jim Bradley, the school’s first head coach, returned to take over the Trojans in 1994. He coached Mayfield through the 2005 season. Mike Bradley took over in 2006 and led the program to three state titles, and he also coached the school through its transition from the state’s largest classification to the second-largest class.

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Gary was Mayfield’s offensive coordinator last season and was previously a head coach at Farmington and Carlsbad. He was a longtime Trojans assistant under his father; he left for Farmington in 2007.

“I’m a coach where my dad was a head coach and where my brother was a head coach,” he said. “It’s pretty special.”

Also in Las Cruces, Organ Mountain is in the market for a new head coach; Steve Castille told the Journal last week that he had retired as coach of the Knights.

And Organ Mountain was not the only school in that district that was searching for a new coach. Oliver Soukup earlier this month resigned after a single season at Carlsbad. Soukup joined the Cavemen (replacing Gary Bradley) after being an assistant coach at New Mexico State, and he is headed back to the college ranks to become Kelley Lee’s defensive coordinator at Eastern New Mexico. Carlsbad has named Cale Sanders as its new head coach.

LIST GETS SHORTER: St. Pius X on Monday announced that it will allow eighth-graders to participate in high school athletics, starting in 2023-24.

St. Pius was one of the very few high schools remaining in New Mexico that hadn’t yet made that move.

Albuquerque Public Schools just added eighth-grade sports participation for athletics this school year, although the number of kids who have played up at the varsity level is extremely few.

Sandia’s Steven West, shown in action in the fall of 2021, is the 2022 Gatorade New Mexico boys cross country of the year. (Roberto E. Rosales/Journal)

WEST IS TOPS: Sandia’s outstanding cross country runner, senior Steven West, was named the Gatorade Athlete of the Year for the fall 2022 season on Monday.

West, the metro champion and the two-time Class 5A state champion, also won the Garmin RunningLane XC Championships in Huntsville, Alabama, a few weeks after he earned the 5A state title at Albuquerque Academy.

West has not yet chosen his college destination.

NAAC: The National Athletic Advisory Council has added two newly elected Farmington High athletes to its group.

Senior Morgan Deale is a swimmer for the Scorpions who will be attending Stanford next fall. Sophomore Sterling Allison is a three-sport athlete – golf, wrestling and she plans to play football next fall.

STATE TOURNAMENT PASSES: The New Mexico Activities Association on Monday began selling state basketball tournament passes.

The tickets are $150 apiece.

The NMAA says they will be sold over the phone only on a first come, first serve basis. There won’t be any in-person sales. To purchase a pass, call 505-923-3110.

THIS AND THAT: A Journal story last week should have included Rio Grande senior guard Jonah Lopez as one of the Albuquerque metro basketball players who have reached the 1,000-point club this season. Centennial senior guard Aspen Salazar also reached that total last weekend.

• Former La Cueva football athlete Exodus Ayers picked up a football offer from Oregon State over the weekend.

The Lobos also have offered Ayers, who played last season at Proctor Academy in Andover, New Hampshire.