By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Andres Solis and Cole Conner are the Bloodhounds’ linebackers in their 4-2-5 defense, and they’ve also become the leaders within the group as well.
“We only have two linebackers at St. Joseph,” SJA coach Tino Villarreal said. “When you only have two linebackers they have to take ownership of stuffing the run, and we’ve had trouble at finding people to fit into that (in the past). But this year we couldn’t be happier.”
Solis leads the team with 78 tackles and Conner is second with 76. Conner also has one sack and a fumble recovery, and Solis has an interception and three fumble recoveries. The pair tries to keep up with the other on stats.
“They really compete against each other,” Villarreal said of the friendly competition the seniors have. “They eat lunch with (defensive coordinator) Coach (Christian) Putegnat once a week to talk about things and have really taken ownership of the defense.”
As the pair of linebackers has improved, so has the defense. The St. Joseph defense has 30 takeaways on the season.
“Being disciplined, being in the right spot,” Solis said. “It starts with gang tackling, and then we try to get the ball.”
And Conner added, “We fly to the ball. We preach 11 men to the ball, as soon as you know, you go.”
Solis was a starter last season with Daniel Matar at the other linebacker position and learned from him. Conner was a starting cornerback last year before making the switch this season.
“Andres stepped into Daniel’s role as the box leader, the linebacker that handles our strength calls,” Villarreal said. “Cole stepped in, and he’s been getting better as the week’s have gone on. That’s the reason you see the defense improving, they make a really good team.”
Regarding his defensive improvements this season, Villarreal said his linebackers have helped bring the unit together as a whole. Last week, the Bloodhounds’ defense allowed absolute nothing, zero. It was the first time in a while that St. Joseph had a shutout.
“It helps when you start to play together and trust each other alignments and positioning,” he said. “(Solis and Conner) are in the right spot at the right time. They are the first ones on the tackle.”
The motivation for the defense is the failures from last season.
“We really felt like we let the team down in district,” Solis said. “There were games where the defense gave the game away, and we didn’t want to be in that position again.”
The defense is really peaking at the right time.
“This year we’re really together as a team,” Conner said. “We really preach the brotherhood, we’re really close. You feel like you have to win for them, you can’t lose when you have all 11 of your brothers on the field.”
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.