By MARK MOLINA
Staff Writer
LA FERIA — The La Feria Lions have had a hurdle or two this season.
They not only competed in a tight district race, but they also saw former coach Ruben Zambrano step away from coaching three games into the district season.
Still, the Lions finished the season strong under new head coach Dario Sanchez and captured the District 32-4A title in the process.
La Feria finished 10-1 and 12-2 overall in district play, ousting Hidalgo (9-3) by a single game in the final standings.
A big reason for the late run has been the team’s familiarity with Sanchez, who coached as an assistant under Zambrano before taking last year off.
His return has made the change a simple one for the Lions.
“Coming back in, it wasn’t really a new thing — most of these kids I’ve coached from some of the teams before,” Sanchez said during practice Wednesday. “Really the philosophy and what’s expected from the kids is the same.
“We’ve got a really good group here that we started to put together two or three years ago and now it’s all come to fruition.”
While there was familiarity between Sanchez and the players, there were some natural bumps along the way due to tough road games during the second half of the district season.
“Playing those games are hard even without a coaching change, but the kids responded real well,” Sanchez said. “It wasn’t always pretty, but we got the job done and that’s a testament to the kids and their work ethic.”
For the players, it was all about putting their head down and finishing the year off strong.
“Both coaches have coached us before so it wasn’t much change,” said senior guard Isaiah Martinez. “We know how they both coach, so we just had to play through it and get through he district run.”
“Now, we want to get far in the playoffs and achieve the goals this program has set out for us.”
Chemistry also played a role in the team’s success this year.
“We handled everything that came our way really well,” said junior forward Jalen Morrell. “We had a tough district, but came together. We’re brothers and we got it done even with the coaching change and the drama.”
“Now, there’s no reason why anything should change. We need to keep our mentality and go as far as we can.”
With the district season now behind them, the Lions have set their sights forward to their bi-district meeting with Bishop this Tuesday night against the Sinton Pirates.
“Everybody knows their role on this team and I hope we go out and have a good showing,” Sanchez said. “We’ve been real big in the last month talking about just one game and taking each game for what it’s worth.
“I think we’re going to continue that philosophy and take each game for what it is.”