Bloomfield Bobcats “Humbled and Excited”
It’s a brand-new football season and the optimism is still there for the defending state champion Bloomfield Bobcats. “We still have a lot of talent left,” said head coach Mike Kovacs.
The Bobcats lost more than a dozen seniors from their 2022 title team, but still feel like they can make another strong showing in the postseason. “We’re humbled and excited about what happened last year, but we would like to get deep in the playoffs and make another run,” said Kovacs.
Last November, the Bloomfield Bobcats won the state football championship for the first time since 1966. Bloomfield beat Silver in the Class 4A title game 13-7, but they won’t have their star quarterback under center this year. The Bobcats will have to replace Ryan Sharpe who threw for over 2500 yards and 30 touchdowns in his senior season last year. Kovacs will hand the reigns to quarterback Blake Spencer. “He played 6 games for us last year and we’re excited about him,” said Kovacs.
“Any time you change quarterbacks in a program, one of the things you have to look at is the characteristics of that young man and what his attributes are for the team,” Kovacs explained. “I’m hoping that we run a little more because Ryan (Sharpe) was more of a stationary guy and threw from the pocket.”
On offense, Bloomfield will return wide receivers Drew Perez and George Rascon, along with running back Jesse Seitzinger. On defense, the Bobcats return the services of Eli Meador, linebacker Eli Snell-Martinez, and lineman Robert Williams. “We’ve got so many returners on the offensive and defensive line,” said the head coach.
When asked about the competition in Class 4A, Kovacs had plenty of love to go around for the opposition. “Bernalillo and Lovington had great summers, Silver and Portales will be up there, and Taos is going to have a great year,” he said.
The Bobcats open the season at home on Friday August 18th against St. Pius X.
Class 4A State Championship Highlights Bloomfield vs Silver (November 2022)
