DENNIS SILVA II | STAFF WRITER
District 31-5A football was dealt an unexpected hand in February when the UIL revealed its classification realignment for 2016-2017 and 2017-2018.
What was a seven-team district grew by two teams with the departure of Edinburg Vela and surprising additions of Laredo Nixon, Laredo Cigarroa and Laredo Martin. The new schools were brought on board mostly because all Corpus Christi schools were grouped into Class 5A, kicking out Laredo from 30-5A.
“It was a curveball,” Sharyland High coach Ron Adame said Wednesday afternoon. “We knew we’d lose Vela, but we thought we’d gain somebody to keep us at the same seven-team district. The effect from the Corpus situation was Laredo being zoned into our area. It was a surprise.
“What can we do, though? We move forward.”
Moving forward means moving into district play a lot sooner than later.
The previous couple of years, District 31-5A teams — Sharyland High, Sharyland Pioneer, Roma, Rio Grande City, Valley View and Mission Veterans Memorial — played four non-district games before starting district competition. The next two, including this season, they play two non-district games before competing in the biggest district in the Valley.
First up is Pioneer (1-1), which travels to Laredo to face Cigarroa on Thursday. Mission Veterans Memorial (1-1) is at Laredo Martin on Friday, and Valley View (1-1) hosts Rio Grande City (2-0) and Roma (2-0) hosts Laredo Nixon.
“It literally cut our non-district time in half,” Roma coach Max Habecker Jr. said. “At this time last year, we still had two weeks before we had to be really, really primed. Now they count.
“It’s pressure a little bit more as far as installing stuff and making sure everything is in on time for district.”
Pioneer coach Jason Wheeler shrugged when asked about being the first Rio Grande Valley school to begin district play.
The new district, and new scheduling format, is not the challenge, he said. The challenge is playing a Friday game (Pioneer beat Brownsville Pace last week) and then playing the next Thursday.
Wheeler made one accommodation to counter the new format. He spent more time working on special teams during two-a-day practices last month because he wants his team to be sound in that area once district play comes around.
“If I had a choice, I’d like to have at least three (non-district games),” Wheeler said. “But the good thing is we have a lot of experience coming back. The last couple of years, this might not be a good situation. But we have more experience, maybe 16-17 starters back, and our kids have played a lot of football. It makes it easier.”
Mission Veterans Memorial coach David Gilpin was an assistant coach under Sonny Detmer at Mission High in the early ‘90s when the Eagles were in a 10-team district. That meant just one non-district game, so Gilpin said two is not a big deal.
“It’s the same for everybody,” Gilpin said. “I don’t look at it as an advantage or disadvantage. I look at it as this is what the UIL gave us and this is what we’re going to do. Everybody would like to have more time, have another game or two to iron out all the wrinkles, but this is what we’ve got.”
Gilpin, however, does like the momentum aspect of the circumstance. He said he got the most out of his two non-district games, a loss at No. 3 Harlingen High and an emotional win over rival Mission High last week.
“Look at UT, with that great win Sunday (against Notre Dame) and all the emotion and passion that was spent,” Gilpin said. “They’re going to play UTEP this week and they’re going to have a drop-off. It’s human nature. It happens at all levels.
“Having said that, I don’t believe there is that at our school right now, but it does happen. I think the importance of this first district game has cured what could be a letdown because of the emotion we spent in the Mission game, the Harlingen game.”
Rio Grande City, under new coach Aaron Garcia, could afford an extra game or two to establish more of a running game and eliminate some silly mistakes that have affected the defense.
But Garcia said he has a good feel for his team because of the teams it scrimmaged against and those he scheduled to open the season. Donna High, Laredo LBJ, La Joya High and Zapata all provided a variety of styles of play that he expects to see in district.
“To say we’re on the short end because we’re starting district early, I can’t say that,” Garcia said.
The biggest challenge right now, to many of the Valley’s 31-5A coaches, is scouting a district opponent.
According to the District 31-5A plan, teams trade all the film they have available when scouting an opponent, as long as the number of games traded is equal. District 31-5A teams generally trade film on Tuesday for the next week’s opponent; so, for instance, Sharyland High, which has its bye this week and opens its district slate next week against Valley View, exchanged film with Valley View on Tuesday and then will exchange again Saturday after Valley View’s district game Friday against Rio Grande City. Since the Rattlers only have two games of film to give the Tigers, Valley View will only give its previous two games to Sharyland High.
The challenge comes in this: two games are often not enough for teams to figure out who and what they are, let alone for opponents to figure it out.
“It’s difficult,” Habecker said. “In years past, our fifth game was our first district game, so we’d already established our identity. There were no surprises. It’s still early right now, so teams are still installing (systems) and continuing to grow. You can change from Week 3 to Week 8, big time. But once you’re in Week 5, you’ve found yourself and you know who you are.”