More than 100 years ago, the Purgatoire River served as an oasis for tired travelers making their way along the Santa Fe Trail. The city of Trinidad emerged from its banks, a favorite trading center located 13 miles north of the New Mexico border, the midway point between Denver and Santa Fe.

Recently the Purgatoire, which borders downtown Trinidad, hosted a group of high school football players on a swimming outing.

The Miners, who enter the year ranked No. 5 in Class 2A, were trying to get one more day of rest and relaxation from their dwindling summer before taking to the practice fields in preparation for the 2007 season.

"There's not a whole lot to do around here, so the football team really sticks together," senior lineman Gil Martinez said. "We're always hanging out together. We're more like a family than a football team."

Like its city, Trinidad football is steeped in tradition. The Miners have been around since the earliest days of high school football in Colorado, reaching the championship game for the first time in 1932.

Trinidad won Lower AA championships in 1956-57, then added three state titles in four years during the late 1980s and early 1990s (winning 2A in 1988-89 and 4A in 1991).

Shortly after that last championship season, the Miners, like their city, fell on hard times. The local coal mines, the city's financial backbone, shut down in the mid-1990s. Families moved away to look for work.

"This is a coal-mining town, and when the mines shut down, the program felt the hit," said Randy Begano, the Miners' head coach the past 22 seasons. "We've always had really tough, hard-nosed players. When the mines closed, we lost those Trinidad-type players."

The Miners suffered through several down years, including a 1-8 campaign in 2002. They have had moderately successful seasons since, but nothing like their glory days.

Until last season.

Behind a talented junior class, Trinidad went from three wins in 2005 to nine in 2006. It won its first Tri-Peaks League championship in years, going undefeated in league and advancing to the state quarterfinals.

"This group of seniors, a lot of them have started since they were freshmen," Begano said. "We were low on numbers when they were first coming up, so they had to play right away. It's paying off for us now."

Begano said this group is full of hard-nosed, Trinidad-type players.

Running back Gabe Santistevan earned second-team all- state honors last year after rushing for more than 1,400 yards. He did that despite playing the first half of the season with a broken toe.

"He's tough. (Santistevan) injured it in a preseason scrimmage and had to tape it up," Be-gano said. "It was really painful, but he kept playing.

"Toward the end of the season, teams started keying on him, and that really opened up things for our other back and quarterback, allowing them put up big numbers as well."

Martinez, a bruising 6-foot-1, 280-pound nose guard/offensive tackle, anchors a group of linemen that could be as good as any in the classification.

"I think Gilbert Martinez is the best defensive lineman in the state," Begano said. "I've had six or seven all-state nose guards, and he's as good as any of them."

Trinidad lost only four players to graduation, so Begano admits his team has higher goals this season. That sounds about right to Martinez, who thinks this team can add another chapter to the tradition of the program and the city.

"Trinidad has a great history, and we know that," Martinez said. "Personally, this season means everything to me. I've been playing with these guys for six or seven years and we've been talking about winning state since we were little. Now we just have to go out and do it."

NOTEBOOK

• Before the start of last season, Class 2A underwent major reconstruction, with all of the previous leagues, outside the Western Slope League, undergoing drastic changes.

Before realignment, the previous four champions had come from the Metro League, with Holy Family winning the title in 2002 and 2005, Denver Christian capturing it in 2003 and Faith Christian winning it all in 2004. All three teams reached the quarterfinals last season, with Holy Family making the semifinals and Faith Christian winning its second title in three seasons.

• The classification will move to a seeding system for the playoffs this season, with a committee of administrators (one from each league) seeding the 16 qualifiers. League champions will be placed in one of the top eight positions on the bracket, although a second- place team could be placed above a league winner.

Several factors, including strength of schedule and strength of league, as well as a team's record the final five games of the season, will go into determining seeding. League opponents won't face each other in the first round, and geography will be considered in seeding the first round.

• Faith Christian lost 12 all-state players to graduation, but don't expect the Eagles to fall too far. They return first-team linebacker Mark Cerf and second-team quarterback Seve Carbajal, as well as many players looking to make a name for themselves.

"We've got a group of juniors who have been waiting a long time for their turn," coach Blair Hubbard said. "They've stuck it out with us and they're excited to get a chance to make their mark."

• Platte Valley, which lost to Faith Christian in the championship game, still should be a factor, since the Broncos return a strong senior class. They will miss the big-play capability of graduated offensive player of the year Ty Tschacher, but they should be better at playing ball-control football. Four of Platte Valley's five starters on the offensive line weigh more than 250 pounds, and coach Mike DeWall thinks they will be able to grind it out behind those big bodies.

• Coaches are very wary of Eaton in the Patriot League. The Reds are coming off their first losing season in more than a decade and are hungry to prove they still are one of the state's elite.

Eaton has a budding standout in junior quarterback Seth Lobato. The 6-foot-6 Lobato earned first-team all-state honors after helping lead the Reds to the 3A basketball title, and he could be just as good on the gridiron.

"He started for us as a sophomore, and he's much improved this year," said Eaton coach Bill Mondt, who's entering his 12th season as head coach. "He could be as good as any quarterback I've ever had here."

• If any team deserves some good fortune this season, it's Bennett. Before last season, the Tigers were dealt a blow when sophomore Jordan Jacoby was killed in a car accident. That seemed to galvanize the team, as Bennett won five of its first six games. Around that time, though, the Tigers were hit with more heartbreak when a former teammate committed suicide: The team lost its final three games.

"It was hard dealing with two tragedies last year," Bennett coach Daryl Beck said. "The first one brought us together as a team, and the second one tore us apart."

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