BY GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER
LA JOYA — Last year, La Joya High defensive end Erik Marroquin heard a lot of negative things about being a football player.
“You guys are going to lose,” he remembers people taunting. “What do you even go to practice for?”
The Coyotes haven’t won more than three games in a season since the La Joya ISD split after 2007, so criticism was to be expected. But now, in the third year under coach George Espinoza, the team is starting to earn some respect. Last week’s 23-6 win against McAllen Rowe clinched a playoff berth, and on Friday La Joya High has a chance at its best win total since the split if it can take care of business against winless La Joya Juarez-Lincoln.
As a result, many of the doubters have been coming around.
“Now it’s, ‘OK, you guys are pretty good. You guys are doing work on the field,’” Marroquin said. “People lay off you a little bit more.”
Espinoza has been critical to the team’s improvement, taking his first head coaching job three years ago after working as an assistant at San Benito and Mission High under coach Mario Peña.
Rebuilding the once-proud program — a perennial playoff contender before the split — was a massive undertaking. Not even 30 kids were taking part in the athletic period during Espinoza’s first season.
“I knew that they were going through some tough times, but I didn’t actually know how bad it was until I got here,” Espinoza.
The current crop of seniors, who were sophomores when Espinoza came aboard, saw the difference he made right off the bat. He was more of a motivator. He had higher expectations, and was willing to push every player to his limits.
“From the very beginning when coach came, I noticed the change,” quarterback Julio Garcia said. “It was slow, but it was a change from previous seasons. It started little by little. … The mentality was changing throughout the players. We were buying in.”
Marroquin said players used to regularly skip practice, and that “We weren’t really committed.” Now, students are lining up to play for La Joya High. Some are still joining even this late in the year to have a chance to go through offseason workouts.
“People actually care now more about the team,” defensive lineman Tony Cerda said. “People are not more individuals now. They’re not just playing for themselves.”
One of Espinoza’s biggest changes was implementing a power lifting program not just at La Joya High, but throughout the school district. Beyond obviously making the players stronger, Espinoza believes power lifting helped reduce the number of shoulder, quad and back injuries. It also gave the players a glimpse of the type of strength they’d face against some of the Valley’s top teams.
Across the board, players said they have more muscle now. Wideout Joel Casas said he enjoys the more complex workouts better than anything he had done previously.
“That’s what made us a little bit bigger, because we weren’t that big of a team to start off with,” Marroquin said. “But power lifting helped us a lot.”
Still, La Joya High took its lumps last season, starting a lot of underclassmen and finishing the year 1-9. But Espinoza saw the attitude change he was looking for. And, after another strong offseason of workouts, he knew his team would be improved.
“That’s when we decided: We’ve got to face some stiffer competition in order for them to experience some success,” Espinoza said.
So, after two years of scheduling Brownsville schools Lopez and Porter in non-district, Espinoza stepped it up, playing Weslaco East and Edinburg Vela before the start of district play this season.
The Coyotes were blown out by Vela, but taking a lead into the fourth quarter against Weslaco East and the next week against McAllen Memorial, even in eventual losses, showed La Joya High that it could play with anybody.
“I know at the beginning of the season, all of the guys were worried,” Garcia said. “But we saw it as a great challenge and an opportunity to improve. … Facing tougher opponents and just learning from the outcome: That’s what made us better.”
La Joya has shown that improvement the past two games, collecting wins against Mission High and McAllen Rowe to secure that elusive playoff berth and recapture some respect.
“Last week changed a lot,” senior linebacker Yonny Villarreal said. “People were not so prideful when you say Coyote. ‘Coyote, oh, losing streak.’ That changed a lot last week. Playoffs. So what do you have to say now?”