BY NATE KOTISSO | THE MONITOR
The tail end of the 1990s was a happening time to be a Rio Grande City Rattler. A short two-season stretch revitalized a football program in desperate need of revitalization. The Rattlers competed in a different variation of District 30-5A when coach Jorge Pena led Rio to back-to-back playoff appearances in 1998 and 1999 for the first time since the mid-1980s.
Demencio Venecia Sr. was a defensive end on the ‘99 team that finished third in the district. Rattler pride ran deep within the Venecias from Demencio Sr. to his son Demencio Jr., a wide receiver for this year’s Rio Grande City team.
“When you’re a little kid in elementary school, everyone looked up to the football players,” Venecia said. “I’ve been throwing around a football since as long as I can remember. I’ve always had a thing for it. Most of my family members came up liking football and, of course, my dad playing it. I just wanted to grow up and be a football player someday.”
The younger Venecia hung on his dad’s every word when he told him what it was like to be a Rattler.
“I heard him talk about how hungry he and his teammates were to play football, and I remember having that as a kid,” Venecia said. “They’d get up super early for practice, coaches giving them rides to places, and there are other crazy stories I’ve heard from some of his ex-teammates that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting, as well.”
Heading into Week 7, Venecia is fulfilling his dream as an offensive leader for Rio Grande City (5-1). Venecia has made the most of his 14 receptions thus far. He’s squeezed 285 yards out of them to go along with five touchdown receptions, which is good for second in District 31-5A.
But it wasn’t always so simple. Venecia had just as much interest in basketball as football, and he decided to do both during his freshman year.
“I was a quarterback on the freshman team with (current varsity starter) Jason (Perez). We were competing for the position at that time,” Venecia said. “During a game in the middle of the season, I cut my chin open, and I missed a couple games.”
His freshman season ended. The plan was for Perez and Venecia to make the jump to varsity ball in advance of spring practice. But the injury, coupled with the need to focus on grades, caused football to fall further down Venecia’s list of priorities.
“I was also offered a chance to play on the basketball team, so I decided to take that chance,” Venecia said.
Venecia took up basketball and track at RGC the following two years, and teachers and then-former teammates would urge him to reconsider. But he wanted to preserve himself.
“It was more about getting a football injury that would have caused me to miss basketball or track. That was my biggest fear,” Venecia said. “I had seen a bunch of players getting hurt, and that got me scared. And I already had some ankle injuries from basketball. If I got back into football, who knows what could have happened on the football field, where it’s even more physical? Plus, an injury in football could mess with my time playing basketball, as well.”
Aaron Garcia was hired as Rio Grande City’s head football coach following the 2015 season.
“When I first met Demencio, he was inside the weight room,” Garcia said. “So I asked him about football and he said, ‘No, no, I just play basketball.’ I asked him why not, but he never gave me a straightforward answer as to why he wasn’t playing. At the end of last season, I ran into him in the weight room again, and he told me he wanted to sign up for offseason football.”
Now a senior, Venecia didn’t want to squander the chance to see how the football-basketball-track experiment could work out.
“Being a senior had an effect on me deciding to go back to football, but I was always interested in coming back,” Venecia said. “When I didn’t play, I went to as many football games as I could — at home or away. I missed being on the field.”
Venecia joined, and the Rattlers offense has put together numbers not seen in at least a decade. They’ve scored 38 or more points in three of their last four games. RGC’s 2,032 yards of offense is the second most in 31-5A. The 2,032 yards would rank as the second-best offense in 31-6A or 32-6A.
“We have really good first and second strings for just about every position on offense,” Venecia said. “Our O-line has a lot to do with our success, as well. I think you can put us up against any defense in the district, and we’ll perform well.”
Venecia and the Rattlers are chasing after what would be their 11th postseason appearance in program history. With a 4-0 district record, RGC is still in the hunt for a district championship, which would be their first since the 1984 season.