BY JON R. LAFOLLETTE | STAFF WRITER
ROMA — Gladiators football coach Max Habecker Jr. would rather not talk about himself.
“I don’t like doing this,” Habecker said. “It shouldn’t be about me.”
On a chilly evening at Roma’s practice field, the seven-year coach is bundled up in black running pants and a gray sweatshirt. His hood is pulled over a baseball cap, hiding his young face from a cold wind.
Roma (5-4-1, 3-3 District 31-5A) has never practiced this late in the year before. While the shifting autumn air signals a seasonal change, it also marks a historic moment for Gladiators football.
Habecker is preparing his team for Friday’s bi-district game against the Mercedes Tigers, the first playoff appearance in Roma football’s 24-year history.
You won’t hear the coach openly boast about his role in the Gladiator’s historic season. Instead, he’ll reflect his success toward others, be it the kids or his coaching staff.
But it isn’t farfetched to say Roma’s rise from obscurity to postseason upstart doesn’t occur without Habecker.
“He carries this program,” senior right tackle Ruben Hinojosa said. “The way he bleeds white and red is the same way the student-athletes bleed white and red.”
The bond between coach and team runs especially deep for the Gladiators. Habecker grew up in Roma and played both tight end and linebacker for the Gladiators varsity unit for two seasons beginning in 1997.
“I worked hard,” Habecker said. “I was a gym rat. I had to be if I wanted to be on the field.”
At the time the Gladiators were a team on the brink. They went 5-5 during Habecker’s sophomore season, narrowly missing the playoffs. However, any semblance of momentum was halted after a coaching change began a decade’s long coaching carousel.
Habecker took over in 2008, having worked various assistant jobs in the Laredo area prior to his homecoming. Though Roma was an after thought at the time of his hiring, the hometown coach didn’t see much that needed to be fixed.
“Every coach comes in and talks about wanting to change a culture,” Habecker said. “But we didn’t need to change the culture. I’m from here. I know the culture. It didn’t need changed. It just needed to be enhanced.”
Habecker instilled a year-round regiment for his players, preaching the ways of better fitness and a healthy diet. He also implanted the importance of commitment.
“I think I’ve developed an identity for the program,” Habecker said in a brief moment of personal recognition. “It’s not an X’s and O’s philosophy. It’s a way of life. It’s the way we work 365 (days).”
The Gladiators have sniffed the postseason for three straight years. The team went .500 in 2011 and 2012 and posted their first winning record last season with a mark of 6-4. However, tiebreakers left Roma the odd team out.
“I tell the kids to work hard and we’ll achieve success,” Habecker said. “Well, we did everything we were supposed to and still we didn’t achieve what we wanted. So apparently we weren’t working hard enough.”
Roma doubled-down on its march to the postseason this year, and secured its first playoff berth last week in a 28-0 shutout over Valley View.
“It felt surreal for awhile,” Hinojosa said. “I don’t even know how to put it. It’s amazing. We’re that team.”
Though the Gladiators have already accomplished what others before couldn’t, the team has every intention of continuing their season Friday night against Mercedes (9-1, 7-0 District 32-5A).
“We’re not going to play like we’re happy to be there,” Habecker said. “I keep telling the kids it’s a whole new season. We want to be 1-0.”