With Monarch football’s present looking so promising, the program’s storied past can’t help but keep taking a peek.
built the Coyotes into a contender at the turn of the century, taking a school that had just opened its doors with underclassmen in 1998 and quickly establishing Monarch as a football force. During Bravo’s tenure that ran through 2021, Monarch won two Class 4A state championships, and appeared in a third title game, while using a bruising defense and potent run game to succeed.
Fast forward to this season, and the Coyotes have undeniable momentum under third-year head coach Jeff Santee. They are coming off consecutive league championships and 9-3 seasons, and have the firepower to make a state title run this fall. Hence why Bravo can’t help but check out his old Coyotes, even if it’s in incognito.
“I sneak into their games, usually a little late,” Bravo said with a laugh. “I don’t want to draw any attention. I kind of just hide up in the bleachers. I watch the game and check other scores on my phone, and then I sneak out. I’ve got (my hat) nice and low. I want to be there to witness this (latest program surge), but I just want Coach Santee to shine. This is his time for glory.”
The Coyotes believe they’re on the cusp on recapturing that glory.
The program had six straight non-winning seasons , but a switch flipped in Santee’s first year at the helm in ’24, when Monarch made the second round of the playoffs.
Then last year, the program took another step forward, advancing to the quarterfinals before losing on the road at Montrose. The Coyotes were ranked No. 2 in and opened their schedule with a decisive Week 0 win over defending Class 3A champion Pomona last week, 39-13.
“Obviously the getting to the quarterfinals last year was an amazing achievement for this program,” said senior wideout/safety Abbott Lockwood. “With that, we saw a glimpse of what it used to be like here at Monarch. But we’re trying to go above and beyond that and set a new bar.”
‘Built For November’
After getting pummeled 56-27 by Montrose to conclude last season, Santee knew that part of taking the next leap as a program would be figuring out how to win late in the playoffs. So the Coyotes adopted a “Built For November” mantra, which was printed on T-shirts and added to the bottom of team communications.
With that, Santee saw an increased buy-in from his players in the program’s “Commitment Club,” which encompasses offseason work such as weight lifting, 7-on-7s and spring OTAs.
“Since the end of last season, we as coaches tried to instill that although we have some good kids coming back, there’s a lot of good football teams in Colorado in 4A,” Santee said. “And if we have a chance to make any kind of run in the playoffs, we’ve got to be better than the best teams. A lot of kids don’t really understand how hard it is to get from the first- or second-round to being a finals-type team.
“And so we spent all spring and summer trying to get over that hump. We had a lot of good competition in the weight room and this offseason, we did a little bit more in the spring and summer than we had the first two years.”
While the Coyotes have put in the sweat equity, two intangibles in their pursuit of a return to the championship map are significant football lineages and . That starts with the boss himself.
Santee’s father, Bob, and uncle Jack played at the University of Oklahoma during the , the longest in college football history. And Jack Santee was the president of the university’s Board of Regents that hired Barry Switzer as the Sooners’ head coach in 1973, a decision that Jack campaigned for and led to three national championships.
Beyond the Santee football bloodline, Monarch’s staff also features other notable names such as defensive coordinator Robert Haas (played at CU), running backs coach (an ex-Fairview star who played at USC and then briefly in the NFL), inside receivers coach Nainoa Coelho-Lopes (who previously coached at Pacific University) and defensive line coach Gabe Nyenhuis (a CU alum who spent time in the NFL and also played in the Arena Football League and Canadian Football League).
Plus, two guys — outside receivers coach Clay White and defensive backs coach Robert O’Brien (the former Broomfield boss) — were on MoHi’s state title teams under Bravo.
“You have to have the right coaches around you, and that’s what I did. I went out and got the best coaches I could find, and I got guys who were just ultra-professional,” Bravo recalled. “They embraced relationships with kids; they were technicians. And as soon as I got that staff together, I know we had a chance. I see the same thing with the staff Santee has built.”
Payne & the gang
On the field, Monarch doesn’t have as much depth as some of the other Class 4A contenders, but the Coyotes have skill, size, experience and up-and-coming talent to match.
Wideout/linebacker Sawyer Haley, wideout/defensive back Levi Carlucci and lineman Jaysson Pittman are the team’s senior captains. Senior running back Malakhi Payne is capable of taking over a game, as evidenced by his . And Abbott Lockwood, quarterback Nico Rizzello, and defensive ends Dominic Cortez and Grant Haas are other senior impact players. Add in younger talent like junior lineman Wesley Catterfeld, sophomore middle linebacker Bennett Heger and sophomore cornerback Bennett Lockwood, and the Coyotes have all the pieces in place.
Scott Lockwood says that Payne’s maturation over his high school career has the tailback primed for a monster senior campaign after he rushed for 1,533 yards and 20 TDs as a junior.
“Malakhi has always been the best guy everywhere he’s gone, but now he’s surrounded by a lot of other really good players and kids that are fast,” Lockwood said. “So over the past couple of years, he’s had to figure out how to (elevate his game) in that environment with like-skilled players. Understanding how to finish runs, how to always go full speed in everything. Not skipping (on certain plays).
“Now, he’s putting it all together now and he’s understanding the opportunity in front of him to change the rest of his life, go play in college, get an education and set himself up for long-term success.”
While the Coyotes have a handful of players with college offers — including Payne (St. Thomas, Fort Lewis) and Abbott Lockwood (Army, Navy, Air Force, Idaho and some Division IIs) — no one on the team is committed yet.
Payne says for the next three-plus months, if the Coyotes can prioritize the collective over the individual, Monarch could end up playing for the trophy on Dec. 5 at Canvas Stadium in Fort Collins.
“We’re not focused on if we have the best running back (in Class 4A) or the best wide receiver, or guys with a bunch of offers,” Payne said. “It’ll take us a lot further focusing on who we can be together. … This year’s seniors, we took that (playoff loss) last year really personally. And we’re all leaning on each other to make sure we can make a deeper run this year.”
During Monarch’s previous two state title runs, the Coyotes delivered signature performances en route to the championship, which they’ll need to do again this fall to get where they want to go.
In 2002, the Coyotes won a title shootout 42-35 at Centaurus High School against Golden, which was quarterbacked by future MLB all-star pitcher Mark Melancon. And in 2012, prior to beating Denver South 17-14 at the Broncos’ stadium, Monarch used a slow-tempo offense and a successful onside kick to possess the ball for the entire fourth quarter in a 14-6 semifinal win over Pueblo West.
This year’s Coyotes hope that the bond cultivated over the last decade playing together on the youth fields of Louisville and Superior — while Monarch loses athletes to open enrollment, the school benefits little from it — culminates in bringing a banner back to Campus Drive.
“We’re a local, largely homegrown team,” Abbott Lockwood said. “And we hope that by the time we get to December, the bond we’ve been building for years becomes inseparable.”
Following a bye this week, Monarch is back in action on Sept. 4 against rival Broomfield at Elizabeth Kennedy Stadium.
