HYRUM, Utah — In the parents' section of the Mountain Crest High School football stadium, there's a couple who sacrificed greatly to be there, and now they're getting their payoff in the form of a family football dynasty.
Number 17, Mountain Crest's Santiago "Puma" Huerta, runs down and tackles Green Canyon's quarterback. In the same game, he gets tackled playing running back.
Puma plays offense, defense and special teams.
"He had a great season as his first year as a linebacker," Coach Ryan Visser said. "Our second-leading tackler, and we're really excited to have him back for next year."
Puma did not get here alone. His three older brothers played for the MCHS Mustangs, with oldest brother Fernando being the first.
"I played four years at Mountain Crest and after that proceeded to get a scholarship at Southern Utah University," Fernando said.
"I started playing football at Mountain Crest in middle school, eighth grade, and then I played at Utah State from 13-17," Alejandro Huerta added.
Then it was Edgardo, who's now playing at SUU.
That brings us to Puma, number four out of five boys in the brotherhood.
"It brings a competitive energy into our family," Puma said. "It gets us better overall. I think that's pushed me to be better every day."
It all started years ago, the Huerta parents recalled.
"My wife called me one day and said Fernando wanted to play football, but I thought it was soccer because the Hispanic people play soccer," Anibal Huerta said. "For the first year, me and my wife sitting in the bleachers and we're like, 'We don't understand anything about football.'"
But they did understand the expense.
"I worked for 21 years, two jobs to support the kids. My wife has stayed home working hard, too," Anibal said.
"I have to take my kids for practice early in the morning, 6:00 in the morning," Amanda said.
Alejandro's USU rings are a reminder of when he made the Aggies football team, but only as a walk-on. Anibal paid the tuition.
"My dad would come home at 10:00 at night after working all day — from 4:00 [a.m.] till 10:00 at night — and I'd be showing up around the same time," Alejandro recalled. "There was one specific week that I remember I had a terrible day at practice and I was sitting on the couch. I was about to tell my dad that I was just done with it, I didn't want to do it. He walked through the door and said 'How was it?' and I was just like, 'Not good.' ... and he was like, 'Tomorrow's a new day, right?'"
The new day had Alejandro getting a scholarship. He's now a mental health professional.
Fernando is a physical therapist and uses his skills on the sidelines.
"I was in the stands the first half," Fernando said during a recent Mustangs game, "But I couldn't be in the stands, so I came down here."
"I'm just proud. Proud to be a part of this family," Alejandro said.
Puma still has his senior year to play at Mountain Crest, and the fifth Huerta brother comes in as a freshman next year.
