By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
St. Joseph Academy has prepared to face Pharr Oratory in the “Holy Bowl,” an annual event since the first meeting in 2012, and hopes to continue its successful run.
The coaches selected the game’s nickname that pits the two area Rio Grande Valley Catholic schools against one another for the third consecutive season. The teams will meet at 7:30 tonight at Canales Field in Brownsville.
Pharr Oratory, with its football program starting its fourth season, has experienced growing pains but is starting to build. Though the Bloodhounds have been on the winning side in the series, it doesn’t mean they are looking past the Ocelots.
“They are a young team, but they’re getting better,” St. Joseph coach Christian Putegnat said. “It’s a game we can’t take lightly. We still have to play smart football, we still have to do high-tempo, everything we do normally, we just have to go out and do it.”
Pharr Oratory began the year on the losing side of consecutive shutouts but regrouped last week for its first victory of the season, a 41-12 defeat of Lasara on the road. They would like nothing more than to do the same against the Bloodhounds.
“(St. Joseph is) a tough team, they’re in a rebuilding stage like we are,” Pharr Oratory coach Xavier Pruneda said. “It seems like we are on that project every year. This year it is a little more stable. We have eight seniors returning.”
The remainder of the Ocelots’ roster is filled with freshmen and sophomores, as is St. Joseph, so it could be which squad’s youth make the difference down the stretch in the game tonight.
Pruneda said his offense likes to run an even-type spread, combining runs with passes. The difference in balance depends on the opposing defense and the path the game takes.
Putegnat said his defense has been focused on Pharr Oratory’s offense this week, making sure his players aren’t looking ahead to next week. The Bloodhounds face run-heavy Port Isabel and want to remain unbeaten heading into that Week 5 game.
“(This is) another game we need to win (to do that),” he said.
The Bloodhounds’ schedule has been tougher than in prior years, but it was created like that on purpose, Putegnat said. St. Joseph has faced a variety of offensive schemes, similar to those they will face in its district.
St. Joseph is confident as it attempts to keep the Holy Bowl trophy at home.
“We tell the team do your assignment, play how you’re supposed to play, give it 100 percent,” Putegnat said. “The scoreboard will correct itself in the end.
“And so far we’ve been able to do that.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter, he’s @andrewmcrum.