SAN JUAN COUNTY, Utah — Utah's most remote high school is on a portion of the Navajo Nation most accessible through Arizona.
It's so small they can't always field a basketball team. In fact, they haven't since 2017. But that changed this year.
Meet the Navajo Mountain Jaguars.
A whole lot of high school classes have more students than all of Navajo Mountain High School. So in order to have a basketball team, they don't hold try-outs — they work to convince enough students to try it out.
Erec Neeley is one of the more experienced members of the team, having played basketball since third grade.
"I do want to point out that Erek, our freshman point guard here, is really the jump in the driving force between making this team happen," assistant coach Tony Anderson said.
The Navajo Mountain Jaguars junior varsity team can build around their freshman point guard — which is good, because there aren't a lot of options.
Anderson says there are just 30 students between the 9th and 12th grades. And with 15 boys in the whole high school, this squad is more than half of the male student population.
"Some of us are actually new to basketball," said junior Paul Begay, who hadn't played the game before. Now he's the starting center.
"Hardest thing is probably the cardio, the workout, because we get pushed every day," Begay said. "I like it, and probably the most thing I like about it is... getting the experience to play basketball with other people, my friends, and probably making new relationships on the way."
Everything this team is doing is new on so many levels. Chelsea Graymountain is the head coach and the school's athletic director. It's her first year, and she scrambled to get a season in place.
"I started looking for games in November, and all the other schools already set out their schedule," she said.
But the schools respected the team Graymountain assembled and found time for extra games. She played in high school and coached the last team in 2017.
Anderson brings his language arts credentials and willingness to learn.
"She's an experienced player who played for our high school," he said, "And I played church ball when I was a kid — and not well, either."
He's also the one with keys to the gym.
They haven't won yet, but they're keeping their heads up.
"Getting better each game," Neeley said.
And they have fan support — which is saying something because the closest competitors in their region are a zig-zag drive through the high desert for an hour and 40 minutes (and across the state border in Arizona).
When they play Pinnacle Academy in Price, it'll be over six hours on the bus — 375 miles on the odometer.
"Who's your biggest fan?" FOX 13 News reporter Max Roth asked the boys.
"My grandma and grandpa," Begay said.
"Probably my auntie," Neeley said.
They said these family members have been traveling to watch their games and cheer them on.
The Jaguars' season ends on Valentine's Day. They're a JV team playing JV teams from other schools, but with a season under their belt, they hope to keep growing, getting better, and surprising some folks.
