BY SAUL BERRIOS-THOMAS | STAFF WRITER
PHARR — The PSJA North Raiders were 7-0 overall and 4-0 in District 31-6A after Week 9 last season.
But things started to fall apart for the Raiders. Injuries plagued PSJA North. The team lost its starting running back and quarterback, along with several key players on the offensive line.
The Raiders lost four games in row and missed the playoffs.
“I don’t even want to think about that,” junior quarterback Randy Reyna said. “It was a sad moment. All we can do is learn from it.”
Coach Marcus Kaufmann said that while many of the injuries were the type you can’t really prevent, he is still trying to focus on ways to keep the team healthy.
“Last year wasn’t so much a toughness thing, because there were ACLs, broken legs, crazy injuries that weren’t nagging type stuff,” he said. “But we worked on a lot of lower body type stuff, some explosion type exercises, to try to strengthen up their joints and see if that helps out on that problem.”
Reyna was, as Kaufmann put it, “thrown into the fire,” after senior starter Darren Fuentes got hurt in Week 7. Reyna became the starting quarterback and finished the season 11 of 33 for 279 yards and three touchdowns to two interceptions. Reyna is likely to be the starting quarterback, according to Kaufmann, and he is preparing for that and trying to improve for his senior year.
“I have been doing my work on and off the field,” Reyna said. “I have been watching film, working out and getting better mentally and physically.”
Reyna will have some good weapons around him. The first one is sophomore Arturo Beltran.
“He can run and catch the ball,” Kaufmann said. “We didn’t do much of it, but he is one of our better running backs, too. So he’s pretty good out of the backfield, running the ball, catching the ball, throwing the ball. And he’s probably one of our top safeties.”
Kaufmann said Beltran is a likely candidate to play on both sides of the ball.
“It means a lot knowing that the coach trusts me to play both ways,” Beltran said. “I’m not going to disappoint him. I’m going to give it my all, 100 percent and just go all out.”
Beltran is an example of the type of player that will define PSJA North’s season. Last year, he showed flashes of potential with seven catches for 118 yards. This year, he will be one of the team’s top targets as a junior.
PSJA North is a team that will run the ball down opponents’ throats, so two important weapons for Reyna will be the running back and the fullback.
Sophomore Eli Lugo will be the fullback, and Kaufmann is excited about his potential.
“He’s a big, strong kid,” Kaufmann said. “Last year he didn’t get too many (carries), he was a sophomore. He’s a junior now, and he’s a lot stronger now and a lot faster. He’s probably going to get about 15-20 (carries) a game.”
Junior Juan Elizando will be the running back. Kaufmann noted he has the potential to “open people’s eyes.”
With so many new faces, Reyna has been trying to step up and be a leader for the offense.
“We’ve been trying to get our minds right, since we are a young team,” Reyna said. “Everybody is stepping up to the plate. We are hungry. We are trying to move the ball down the field. We are an upcoming strong team.”
BIG SHOES
Senior Raudel Alvarez played a huge role on the team last year. He was a starting safety and the quarterback of the defense. He could tell every player where to lineup on any given play. He is graduating, leaving a gapping hole in the secondary and in the team’s leadership.
Alvarez was also a track athlete, and defensive coordinator Will Littleton is also a track coach at PSJA North. With Littleton and Alvarez involved, Marco Salinas jumped at the chance to join them on the track team.
“Raudel mentored him the whole way through,” Kaufmann said. “(Alvarez) actually coached (Salinas) some at the start of spring ball. So, it’s almost like Raudel’s little brother is out there, just telling everybody what to do, lining everybody up, running the show on that side.”
Kaufmann loves the energy Littleton brings to the team. He saw Alvarez feed off of that energy last season. This season, the energy is still pulsing through the secondary.
“Marco feeds off of coach Littleton’s energy,” Kaufmann said. “He’s trying to get that energy in everybody else. You can see it starting to spread.”
WHITE KNUCKLES
The coaching profession is difficult to navigate. Coaches try to hire the best assistants they can, but if those assistants are too successful, they may get a job elsewhere. With so many high-profile openings around the Valley, many coaches were watching the hires. That’s why even though it was Littleton’s first season, Kaufmann was still not sure what would happen at the end of the year.
“I was worried about losing coach Littleton for a while there,” Kaufmann said. “I was pushing for him, but it’s his first year, so I guess he was a little young. We are going to try to get him some more experience under his belt, before someone picks him up. But someone is going to pick him up pretty soon. He is a great coach.”
PSJA NORTH
Returning starters (O/D): 2/1
Returning lettermen: 25
Key players: SS Marco Salinas, FB Eli Lugo, WR/RB Arturo Beltran, QB Randy Reyna
Coach Marcus Kaufmann, 2nd year at school
2016 record: 7-3, 4-3