BY JON R. LaFOLLETTE | STAFF WRITER
Edinburg North coach Rene Saenz knows his team beat Edinburg High 35-14 during their Week 6 matchup at Cats Stadium. The scoreboard said so. Just don’t ask him to go into specifics.
“To be honest, I really wasn’t watching much of the game as it happened on the field,” Saenz said. “I was spending a lot of time with the defense on the sideline, trying to coach them up and doubling down with those guys.”
Defense has long been a staple for the Cougars, and has helped propel the team to the third round of the playoffs in seasons past. But dating back to last year, North’s defense has waned. The Cougars allowed 368 yards per game a season ago — second worst in District 31-6A — and permit 330 yards this year.
More concerning than the yards allowed is the manner in which opposing teams have scored on the Cougars. During a four-game slide, North’s defense was routinely gashed by the likes of Edcouch-Elsa, McAllen Memorial, Weslaco East and PSJA North.
“A strong defense has been the identity of this team for so long,” Saenz said. “And I just felt like we were starting to lose that identity. We’ve got to get back to the level I know this program can play.”
With three games left on the schedule, time is of the essence for the Cougars (2-5, 1-3) to rectify their woes.
“We’re emphasizing the fundamentals,” Saenz said. “We’re going way back. We’re just trying to get everyone on the same page and trying to take the thinking out of the game. I noticed we’ve been hesitating a lot because we’re trying to think while we’re reacting. We can’t do that. We just have to recognize the pre-snap alignment and get off the ball.”
North’s defense will be tested once more on Friday at Cats Stadium when they host Weslaco High. The Panthers enter averaging a district best 323 rushing yards.
“Their backs are so quick,” Saenz said. “They’re always so fast and they attack the line of scrimmage so well. With a team like Weslaco, they get better the farther along the season goes. That offense is just built on repetition.”
As for Edinburg North’s corps of backs, Ethan Vela and Omar Acevedo made their debuts after missing the first six weeks of the season with broken collarbones suffered during a preseason scrimmage against Mission High. Both backs saw limited time. Acevedo gained seven yards on four carries while Vela lost two yards on three attempts.
“I was kind of nervous at first,” Vela said. “I was anxious about getting hit, I didn’t know what to expect. But after that first tackle, it felt like I got back in the swing of things.”
PROWLING PANTHERS
The Weslaco High Panthers took their lumps by design during non-district play, an attempt by coach Tony Villarreal to build up his players for another run at a district title. So far, so good.
During their first two district games, the Panthers have outscored their opponents by a combined score of 107-13, including a 51-6 win over Edinburg High in Week 6. Weslaco now preps for Friday’s game against Edinburg North, a team Villarreal describes as a wildcard.
“They started out as a spread team early in the season,” Villarreal said. “Now they’ve changed things up a bit and have become more of a passing team. They can do both pretty well though, so you never know quite what to expect with them.”
Villarreal says his team his cognizant of North receiver Ubaldo Pequeno, whom Villarreal describes as a big-play guy.
“I guess that’s the one things we’ve got to worry about the most defensively,” Villarreal said. “We’ve got to do a good job taking away the guys who can make big plays for them. It comes down to execution on our part.”
The Panthers allow 282 yards per game, second best in the district.
OFF WEEK WILDCATS
After staving off a feisty Edinburg Economedes team during a 28-7 win in Week 7, Weslaco East will use their much-needed bye week as a chance to get healthy. The Wildcats (5-1, 3-0) are back in action Thursday, Oct. 22 against PSJA North at PSJA Stadium.
In six games, the Wildcats average a district-leading 40 points per game. East boasts the two-highest scoring players in 31-6A in Ciro Rojas and Emilio Tamez, who have scored 13 and 12 touchdowns, respectively.