2025-26 Team Preview: Valley Vikings

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>2025-26 VALLEY VIKINGS PREVIEW</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>OVERVIEW</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Major changes are coming to Valley. After finishing 15-15, winning the district tournament and reaching the quarterfinals of the Class 4A playoffs last March, the Vikings lost their top seven scorers and top six rebounders to graduation. The result is Valley will be extremely young in 2025-26 with plenty of inexperienced players on the varsity roster.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“We're going to have a young group this year,” Valley head coach EZ Panas told Prep Hoops New Mexico. “But they're talented. We have a couple of solid juniors and one very good senior. But for the most part it's going to be a young group. We're going to be sophomore loaded. Our sophomore and freshman classes are pretty good. But most of them have no varsity experience. I'm looking forward to coaching them up.” &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>PLAYERS TO WATCH</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Xavier Brito (Sr.): </strong>Valley's top returning scorer and one of the few seniors on this year's team. Averaged 1.2 points in 13 games last season. Obviously, he's going to be relied upon heavily in 2025-26 for leadership, scoring and just about everything else a senior brings to the locker room and the court. “Xavier is going to give us some experience,” Panas said. “He didn't play a whole lot of varsity last year. Played mostly on the JV team.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>William Bradford (Jr.)</strong>: Floated between JV and varsity last season. Appeared in nine varsity games. Like Brito, he will counted upon to be a major contributor in 2025-26.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Gabriel Gonzales (Jr.)</strong>: Elite athletic wide receiver for the Vikings football team. Going into Week 11, he leads the state in receiving yardage. Appeared in 10 varsity games last season. Good shooter. “Gabe will give us shooting and he plays good defense,” Panas said. “He's been in the program for a couple of years, so he knows what we expect. He should be solid.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>NAMES TO KNOW</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Mateo Guinn (So.)</strong>: Saw action with the varsity last season as a freshman. Seen as a ‘role guy' this season as a sophomore. Expected to be a solid rebounder and defender for the Vikings. Will have to guard some bigger players on defense. “Mateo should have a big year,” Panas said. “He needs to improve offensively, but he'll help us out with energy, rebounding and defending.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>KEY NEWCOMERS</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2624844' first='Izayah' last='Sanchez'] (So.): </strong>Played on the Valley JV team in 2024-25. About 6-foot-1, he's fearless in driving to the basket. Good strength. Plays physical. Improving as an outside shooter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2909935' first='Jeremy' last='Rodriguez'] (So.)</strong>: &nbsp;Likely to see action at point guard. Capable outside shooter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Jeremiah Archuleta (So.)</strong>: Wing player. Good driver to the basket. Floated between C Team and JV in 2024-25.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Andres Garcia (Jr.)</strong>: Expected to provide some quality minutes at point guard. Another JV standout from last season. Good shooter. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Nathaniel Morris (So.)</strong>: Athletic. Good defender. Southpaw. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>FINAL THOUGHTS</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Valley opens the 2025-26 season on Nov. 25 at home against Taos followed by a Dec. 2 road contest at Belen.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Valley competes in District 4A-6 with Albuquerque Academy, Bernalillo, Del Norte and Hope Christian.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Senior Jose Jaramillo appeared in 25 varsity games last season but suffered a serious injury during football season (he was the Vikings QB) and is not expected to play basketball in 2025-26.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->