By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
The bye week is over, and now it’s time for the grind.
The Brownsville schools in District 32-6A and 32-5A and Los Fresnos used Week 4 as a bye week, and what they did during the week was as varied as the different teams.
Brownsville Veterans Memorial has plenty of confidence as they head to district competition with a 3-0 record. The Chargers faced moments of adversity during their non-district games and that experience should help during district play.
“Any time you win a game it leads to more confidence, which is good, you need confidence,” Brownsville Veterans coach David Cantu said. “We had to prove that we could not panic and stay calm and poised, and we did. We’ve experienced that, being down and nobody panicking about it.
“Football is never won in the first or second quarter, it’s a tough four-quarter game.”
The Chargers used the extra time to prepare for a tough test against Harlingen South.
“We’re already preparing and putting our game plan together for them,” Cantu said. “Offensively, they run a great deal of formations, so defensively we’ll have our hands full. Offensively we’re trying to figure out what’s best against Coach (Lanny) Wilson’s stingy defense.”
Los Fresnos also comes into district play with an unblemished 3-0 record. The Falcons were going to work on fundamentals to make sure no part of their game was lagging behind.
“We need to spend some time with the basic fundamentals,” Los Fresnos coach Clint Finley said. “Whenever you’re game planning sometimes, your fundamental work gets behind. We need to try to improve on those things and be fundamentally sound when we get into district.”
Hanna finished non-district 2-1 and with a loss in its last game, but the Golden Eagles have every intention of making the playoffs this season, especially after the way they played against Donna High in Week 3. Hanna opted to go for a 2-point conversion late in the fourth quarter to try for the win instead of a tie that probably would have sent the game to overtime.
The Eagles are confident they can be one of the four playoff teams from District 32-6A.
Rivera (0-3) and Lopez (0-2) head to district on different paths. The Raiders began last season 0-5, only to win seven straight games and a piece of the district title. But this season, it seems inexperience has caught up to Rivera and it has struggled, albeit against playoff-caliber teams during there three, non-district games.
The Lobos, on the other hand, have improved a little each week and were winning against Pace during the first half in Week 3 before inclement weather forced the game to be canceled.
Lopez chose to focus on conditioning during its open week.
“It’s multi-faceted conditioning of the body and the mind,” Lopez coach Jason Starkey said. “Any coach will tell you our biggest opponent is grades, so we’ve offered an opportunity for tutorials and start our practice at 5:30. They’ve been getting condensed practices, trying to get better at what we do.”
Like other teams, the week has allowed injured players to rest. Starkey was especially happy that all his receivers would be ready for the first district game.
“We’re using the open week to get our injured ones healthy and our healthy ones in better shape,” he said. “I’m happy with where we’re at and where we’re headed, but we’re not where want to be.”
In District 32-5A, Porter (2-1) and Pace (0-2) also are headed opposite directions. The Cowboys have gained confidence, and even with a loss to always-talented UANL, Porter is playing better than it has in the last few years in the early part of the season.
The Vikings have struggled with turnovers and hope to take better care of the football as district play starts. Pace was playing better in Week 3 against Lopez, but not being able to finish the game could hurt them without those extra reps and a week layoff before facing a district opponent.
Now the teams prepare for the most important part of the season, district play. And the Week 5 games are the first chance to get started off on the right foot.
In District 32-5A, Pace opens up playing host to Mercedes, last year’s district champion, on Thursday. Porter hits the road to face Donna North on Friday.
In District 32-6A, Hanna travels to San Benito and Rivera visits Harlingen High, and Brownsville Veterans plays host to Harlingen South on Friday at Sams Memorial Stadium.
Los Fresnos will play Lopez on Saturday in an afternoon affair.
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.