By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
Thank goodness, just in time.
After all the sweat and toil of preseason football workouts during the past few weeks, the regular season is about to begin.
There are three games involving Metro-area teams on tap Thursday and four more on Friday, with two are set for Saturday.
In season openers at 7 p.m. Thursday, it’s Brownsville Veterans Memorial playing host to Donna High at Sams Memorial Stadium, Los Fresnos vs. Edinburg North at Edinburg’s Cats Stadium and Rivera traveling to Weslaco East for a game at Bobby Lackey Stadium.
Regarding additional Metro-area teams, Friday’s 7:30 p.m. schedule has Lopez playing host to La Joya Palmview at Sams, Porter at Progreso, St. Joseph Academy at Raymondville and Grulla at Port Isabel.
There are two games Saturday at Sams, with Pace playing host to Edinburg Vela at 1 p.m. and Hanna playing Edinburg Economedes there at 7 p.m.
Since this is the second school year since the most recent bienniel UIL district realignment went into effect, just about every team, if not all, is playing the same opponent it opened the season against last year, only this time, it’s almost exclusively going to be a game at the other school’s home field.
“Thursday night we get to figure out where we’re at (against Edinburg North),” Los Fresnos coach Clint Finley said last week after his team’s scrimmage against Edinburg High. “It’s going to be a true test. It’s not a practice game or half a game (that is played during a scrimmage). I’m anxious to see how we respond.
“I’m real proud of our boys and the (preseason) camp that we’ve had,” Finely added.
Of the Metro-area’s nine teams, only two of them, Port Isabel and St. Joseph Academy, won their season openers on the opening weekend one year ago. Port Isabel triumphed vs. Grulla 29-9 at Rio Grande City and SJA staged a two-touchdown rally at home in the final 1:16 to surprise Raymondville 38-34.
The Bloodhounds’ improbable victory one year ago over the Bearkats at Canales Field was quite possibly one of the most exciting games of the entire season that not too many people seemed to hear about.
But the Bloodhounds certainly haven’t forgotten about it, and neither have the Bearkats.
SJA coach Tino Villarreal said it was an amazing win for his team. It was one that from his point of view didn’t seem to receive all that much fanfare, even though the Bloodhounds marched for two touchdowns in a little more than one minute to steal a victory from a Raymondville ballclub that was virtually certain it had put the contest out of reach by scoring to go ahead 34-24 with 1:16 remaining.
Villarreal said another factor that made last year’s season-opening victory so unique was having freshman quarterback Kai Money starting for the first time in that game. He was the one who keyed the victory, completing 28 of 50 passes for 329 yards and five TDs. Plus, he added some kicking wizardry.
“It gave us a glimpse into how good Kai can be when he’s on,” Villarreal said. “He can be unstoppable.
““What a game to look back on as your first time to start at quarterback as a freshman,” he added.
After Raymondville scored to lead 34-24 with 1:16 showing, the Bloodhounds took over at their 32-yard line and Money promptly threw a 68-yard scoring pass to Dave Lapeyre. With the extra point, SJA trailed 34-31 with 1:08 remaining.
By then, the Bearkats were feeling a little nervous. They became even more unsettled when Money’s onside kick was recovered by the Bloodhounds at midfield. Running SJA’s up-tempo passing offense to perfection, Money ran six plays and needed only 14 seconds to get his team into the end zone again. The winning score came on an 8-yard pass from Money to Jorge De La Garza, and the extra point made it 38-34 with the Bloodhounds ahead.
The Bearkats got the ball back in their territory with 54 seconds to play, but a sack by SJA’s Jose Pablo Salas ended Raymondville’s chances.
Now the two teams are meeting again, only this time at Raymondville’s Burnett Stadium.
“St. Joe is exciting to watch, but not for the opponent,” Raymondville coach Frank Cantu said. “It was an exciting game last year, and we know we’re going to have our hands full again after seeing them come back from 10 points down (in 2014). We still remember that game very vividly, so we’re going to prepare the best we can for them.”
Villarreal expects to see the Bearkats highly motivated against his team for this year’s season-opening rematch.
“We have to be ready to match their intensity,” the SJA coach said. “It’s going to be a battle, and Raymondville is going to be looking for revenge. I’m pretty positive about that. After what happened last year, they’ll be more than ready to go against us.”
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess.