DENNIS SILVA II | STAFF WRITER
Donna High has never been known for its passing game. The Redskins are recognized for their trademark ground-and-pound, in-your-face running out of the I-formation.
But in the last two games, including their final scrimmage two weeks ago, the Redskins attempted 46 and 15 passes, respectively. Donna High completed 22 of 46 passes in a scrimmage against Brownsville Rivera, and 6 of 15 during last week’s season-opening win against Valley View.
“I haven’t thrown that many times in a season before, let alone a game,” Redskins coach Ramiro Leal said of the 46 attempts versus Rivera. “But it comes down to a lack of experience. They (Valley View) were stuffing us at the line, so we threw. We weren’t going to force something that wasn’t there. I’m trying to get a feel for what these kids do best.”
Donna High is going with Hector Guerrero and Josh Mata, just now returning from injury, at quarterback. There is also a platoon at tailback with juniors Jacob Mata and Guillermo Garcia.
But Jacob Mata and Garcia have slight builds, and the offensive line isn’t as big or physical as it generally has been. So Leal had to open things up.
“We want to stay as balanced as possible,” he said. “We don’t have that Amonte Bowen that you give the ball to and score. We scored 50 or more points four times last year. We won’t be doing that this year.”
Donna High returns just two starters on offense. Both are linemen. At one point during Friday’s game against the Tigers, the Redskins had underclassmen manning all the skill positions.
“We have a little bit more continuity,” Leal said “The first two scrimmages, we struggled. Numbers-wise, we’re hurting. So we’ve been looking for continuity. For the first time, we were able to sustain our blocking assignments on the offensive line. We saw kids getting to the right guy, and that’s a start. We were missing the wrong people before.”
ON TO THE NEXT
Before the regular season even started, Sharyland Pioneer was already implementing the “next man up” philosophy.
Senior running back Brandon Casas tore his ACL and partially tore his MCL during a scrimmage two weeks ago, ending his season. The Diamondbacks will wear Casas’ No. 24 on the back of their helmets out of respect.
For now, however, that means more opportunity for junior Christian Rivera and sophomore Michael Benavides. They saw most of the carries during Thursday’s loss at McAllen Memorial. Rivera is more of a downhill runner, while Benavides is shiftier and more elusive.
“Brandon was our best running back and more of a home-run runner,” Pioneer coach Jason Wheeler said. “We’ve got guys who can pop some runs, but he had the most experience.”
Rivera ran for 42 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries against the Mustangs. Benavides had 23 yards on eight carries. Quarterback Jacob Rosales and receiver Alec Garcia also carried the ball.
“We won’t change our offense one bit,” Wheeler said. “We’re still going to run and pass, do some two-back stuff. We had good balance the last game and we’ll stick with that as much as we can.”
THEIR OWN MAN
Sharyland High coach Ron Adame doesn’t want to hear one of his current players compared to a former player.
One of the first questions Adame received after Friday’s defeat to Weslaco East was how senior quarterback Alan Alvarez stacked up to past Rattler signal-callers Lance Madden, Diego Chrysler, Seth Carter, Tres Barrera and others.
“I don’t think it’s fair to compare anybody to anybody else, but we’re going to work with what we have,” Adame answered. “We’re going to focus on the positives and correct the areas where we get beat.”
Alvarez had an inauspicious start during his first game as a varsity quarterback. He completed just 2 of 11 passes for 10 yards and threw for two interceptions in the first half. Adame said East threw a defensive look — an odd-man front — that his team didn’t expect, and it threw the offense off a bit.
But Alvarez responded in the second half, completing 6 of 7 passes for 83 yards and rushing for a touchdown. He ran for a total of 50 yards on 10 carries.
“He just let the game come to him,” Adame said. “He understood he has a supporting cast and he doesn’t have to do everything himself.”