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Excerpt from Coach Bob Sepulveda The Golden Years Book 2 in final draft soon to be released on Amazon and fine independent bookstores everywhere…
“Fall 1981…
New Mexico Prep Guides Football ranked Alamogordo the 4th best team in the state on August 10, 1981 for the new season. The Tigers were ranked behind Clovis, Albuquerque Highland and defending state champion Albuquerque Eldorado. Coach Hveem rated the top five slightly different he believed within the district the Highland Hornets are the team to beat. State-wide he thinks Clovis different he believed within the district the Highland Hornets are the team to beat. State-wide he thinks Clovis should be in the top spot.
The Tigers were slated for a tough pre-district season with their first game scheduled against the 1979 Oklahoma state champions Eisenhower High School of Lawton Oklahoma. Next, they travel to Hanks a team ranked for the District crown in El Paso.
Then the Tigers were scheduled to play Albuquerque Del Norte, Carlsbad, Roswell, Mayfield, Highland, then Sandia. The final homecoming game is with Las Cruces.
Alamogordo Coach Hveem stepped into his 6th year and is the longest tenured varsity Football coach in Alamogordo history. As such beginning the 81 season, for the 82 school year, he has compiled a record of 35-16-1 and 5 straight winning seasons. Coach Hveem notched his 100th career win as a head coach in November of 1980 when the Tigers stopped the Las Cruces Bulldogs 41-12 in Aggie Memorial Stadium. That win earned the Tigers a trip to the state playoffs last season and placed Alamogordo in the spotlight statewide an accomplishment that had been a long time in coming.
The team for this season is slotted with different student athletes in all but one of the 22 starting slots bringing a different brand to play for the new season…..
…Friday November 6th, 1981 turned into a historic night for Alamogordo Tiger football. A 36 year record was broken. The Tigers put the finishing touch on their first AAAA title during their homecoming game by rolling over the Las Cruces Bulldogs 54-8 in their final regular season game of the year.
The homecoming game victory in Tiger Stadium gave the Alamogordo Tigers a 4-0 record in the season of District 3AAAA play and sole procession of the district championship. This great win marked the 3rd time in 6 years under Coach Hveem that the Tigers qualified to advance to the state playoff, but it is the first time they have qualified for state as the District Champion. Because of the Tigers first place finish, they will host the 1AAAA runner up in the quarter finals of the state playoffs.
NOTE: The Alamogordo Tigers had only won 1 District #1 title in Football prior. That title was won in the mid 1940’s under Coach Rolla Buck 36 years later under Coach Gary Hveem a District Banner again came home to Alamogordo. In the 1940’s the title was won when Alamogordo was a Class AA team. They moved to class AAAA in 1958. This is the very first Class AAAA District Banner for Alamogordo and the team goes into the history books for this achievement 36 years in the making.
The Santa Fe New Mexican November 19, 1981 ran a story titled, Demons already tagged first round knock out ,referring to the planned first round state playoff game against Alamogordo.
The story said; “some prep forecasters are saying that the Demons won’t even score against Alamogordo… One prognosticator even went so far as to call the Santa Fe Alamogordo clash merely a first round bye for the Tigers… Hveem says his team is quite well balanced but the outcomes depends on the strength of the opponent game day.”
Alamogordo did its job and beat Santa Fe as expected 14 to 0 and progressed to the state semi-finals round. A first in decades….
…The psychological game of warfare was before the two big rivals for the state semi-finalists. The Tigers and the Cats has historically been fierce rivals.
For more stories photos and more purchase the Book series. Robert Sepulveda The Early Days Book 1 Available Now at Roadrunner Emporium 928 New York Avenue Alamogordo New Mexico or purchase online world wide on Amazon. Visit the Roadrunner Emporium to see a window display dedicated to decades of Alamogordo Athletes…
Coach Robert Sepulveda The Golden Years Book 2 with stories like above a comprehensive history of football, track and field and cross country coming soon to Amazon, Roadrunner Emporium and fine independent bookstores everywhere…
More sports history on interscholastic sports in New Mexico with 100s of archived photos of athletes and coaches from the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s can be found online at the 2ndLifeMedia.com website or via the Coach Robert Sepulveda Book series sold on Amazon.
Chris Edwards Author, Mentor/Executive Coach & Political Consultant 
