The Gallos Negros de Querétaro had arguably the most fascinating inaugural season out of any expansion team in LFA history.
This is a team whose identity was changed and rebooted and who finished the season on a five-game losing skid but still managed to suddenly find their mojo in the playoffs and now find themselves in Tazón México V.
How did they get here in spite of the odds? The back story is truly one of a kind.
Pre-season
Before there was the Gallos Negros, there was the Condors CDMX, the reigning Tazón México winners from 2019 who were getting ready for a new season after their 2020 season was prematurely cut and their 2021 campaign cancelled due to COVID. However, there was an announcement on November 10 in which the ownership group of the Querétaro football club agreed to buy and move the team from Mexico City to Querétaro.
The intention was to keep the Condors moniker during this time too. However, just a month before the season would commence on February 3, the team unveiled a new identity for the Gallos Negros and the LFA branded the team as a new franchise, placing the original Condors name under the “hiatus” to return in a future season.
Regular Season
Despite the move and re-establishment as a new franchise, at the heart, it was still the same coaching staff and team led by head coach, Félix Buendía. And their dominance late in their inaugural game against the Galgos de Tijuana was reflective of that as they crushed their “expansion” brethren, 33-9.
After an early bye week, they would play again on the road against the Dinos de Saltillo, losing 24-10. This would continue a trend for the Gallos Negros for the rest of the regular season as after that blowout victory on the road against the Galgos, they lost their remaining five games in the regular season. The positive side of this was that, except for the game against the Dinos, all their losses were by single digits. In other words, they were playing close to everyone. Also, because the league decided to expand the playoff field from four to six, all they needed was one win to make the postseason.
Playoffs
As the 6th seed in the playoffs, Querétaro knew that in order to advance to the championship, they would need to pull off two upsets on the road. They would need their defense to step up and they would need their quarterback, Marco Antonio Garcia to improve his passing game. They made good on both counts. In the wild card round against the Mexicas CDMX, the Gallos Negros got their points on the board thanks to two big passing touchdowns from Garcia early on and their defense was able to shut down Mexicas running back Ruben Zendejas for the night and limited their whole offense to only seven points.
The next week was a semifinals rematch against the Saltillo Dinos. At the end of the season, the Dinos were cemented as the number one seed and had everything going for them. That was shown early in the game as Saltillo took a 20-6 lead midway through the second quarter. However, the tide would change for the Dinos, thanks to their constant missed opportunities in their opponent’s territory on offense and a crumbling rushing defense, the Gallos Negros roared back from a 14-point deficit, scoring 21 unanswered points to come away with a 27-20 victory, earning their revenge on the best team in the league.
Now they have a championship date against the Fundidores de Monterrey in Tijuana and a chance for head coach Félix Buendía to win back-to-back titles and to close out an improbable season with a story book ending.