By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
St. Joseph Academy has a chance to make a little history.
Pace hopes to finish the season in a positive way.
The Bloodhounds can stake claim to the TAPPS Division I District 2 title with a win against San Antonio Central Catholic at 7 p.m. Friday at Bob Benson Stadium in San Antonio.
The Vikings look to bounce back when they hit the road to face Edcouch-Elsa in a District 32-5A game at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at Benny Layton Sr. Memorial Stadium in Elsa.
The Bloodhounds (7-1, 3-0) can clinch an outright district title with a victory against the Buttons (6-2, 3-0). Their confidence is certainly high after defeating Austin St. Michael’s last week for the first time since 1997.
“I think that last week’s game was huge for us as far as confidence,” St. Joseph coach Tino Villarreal said. “It was a big confidence builder. Traditionally the district championship goes through St. Michael’s.”
“Central Catholic has become our district rival,” Villarreal said. “We’ve been able to beat them (recently), so our kids know they can compete against them. But it’s tough to play at their house.”
The Bloodhounds must be sharp on both sides of the ball.
“We’re going to have to be very focused and continue to play mistake-free football,” Villarreal said. “We’re going to have to take care of the ball, not have what I call drive killers. I thought we were a little sloppy against St. Michael’s. We’re going to have to clean up our play and execute a little better offensively.”
And the defense must continue to play well.
“Our defense has every week consistently gotten better and we’re looking at being in the right place at the right time,” the Bloodhounds’ coach said.
“I’ve been preaching the same message every week,” Villarreal said of his team’s intensity and preparation. “We know we can compete and the playing field is now level, so it’s going to come down to the team that executes better.”
As for the Vikings, after earning their first district win and first win of the season a couple of weeks ago against PSJA High, they’ve come up short the past two weeks against Porter and Donna North. Pace hopes to earn a victory or two to finish the season on a positive note.
Unfortunately for the Vikings, injuries have taken their toll this year and Pace has been forced to move players around, often from the other side of the ball to provide depth.
The Vikings are out of the playoff race in District 32-5A, but they hope to finish the season strong. It won’t be easy against the Yellowjackets, who have the second-best offense and defense in the district.
After Edcouch-Elsa, Pace returns home to face PSJA Southwest in the finale.
While the season didn’t play out as promised, Pace wants to gain some momentum that can flow into next season.
Pace coach William Deen, Edcouch-Elsa coach Jose Marichalar and Central Catholic coach L.D. Green, Sr. could not be reached via phone for comments.
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.