By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
Two longtime friends meet again as opposing football coaches when the Hanna Golden Eagles take on the Mission High Eagles at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Sams Memorial Stadium.
Mission High’s Mario Pena estimates his friendship with Hanna’s Rene Medrano dates back at least two decades to when each coached at a different school. That’s when Pena coached at San Benitoand Medrano was at Pace. Each has been at his present school for several seasons now.
“It’s been 15 to 20 years maybe (that we’ve coached against each other),” said Pena, now coaching at his alma mater. “We’re good friends, and we’ve always had fun going at each other to see who would win.”
From his perspective, Medrano said, “I’ve played against Coach Pena’s teams for a while now. He knows me and I know him, so it’s kind of a chess game between us.”
One thing is certain, Medrano said. Pena’s ballclubs always play an aggressive, in-your-face style of defense that can make things difficult for an opposing offense.
“Coach Pena is known for his strong defenses,” Medrano said. “Mission is once again physical, quick and they like to blitz a lot. We have to be ready for that.”
Each team opened the season last week. Hanna prevailed against Edinburg Economedes 21-14 at Sams, and Mission High was defeated 23-2 by crosstown rival Mission Veterans Memorial.
Against Economedes, Hanna found success via the airways as quarterback Andy Lopez completed 19 of 33 passes for 237 yards and three touchdowns without an interception. Top targets for the Hanna QB were receivers Joe Cavazos (five catches, 92 yards, TD), Jorge Cisneros (5-59, TD) and Jaime Gonzalez (5-36).
Hanna’s defense limited Economedes to 136 yards, including just 35 passing.
“Hanna has some good, skilled people in the secondary,” Pena said. “They also have a good quarterback, who likes to air it out. There’s a solid corps of receivers and a good running back. They’re blessed with some big linemen.
“Our offense has to step it up,” Pena added. “We had too many turnovers (five) last week. We have to clean up our turnovers and execute on offense, defense and special teams. We want to show up and play a complete game.”
Mission High managed only 131 yards (79 rushing and 52 passing) last week against Mission Veterans.
“Mission is capable of getting it done (and winning), for sure,” Medrano said. “We have to be ready for them.”
The Hanna coach said it won’t be easy for his team to remain undefeated.
“Without a doubt, it’s a goal for every team to win the first game, and we did,” Medrano said. “It’d be a great situation to be 2-0, but we have to work to make it happen.”
When the two teams played last year in the second game of the season at Mission, Hanna prevailed 23-14.
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess.