BY NATE KOTISSO | THE MONITOR
MISSION — An 8-5 record on its own doesn’t quite contextualize how successful the 2016 season was for the Mission Veterans Patriots.
The pieces they had in place on the offensive side of the ball were prolific. The strong right arm of quarterback Diego Hernandez. The sure hands of receivers Jacob Guerrero and Roman de Leon. The aggressive playcalling from offensive coordinator Lupe Rodriguez. These were the ingredients that helped push the program to its first-ever third-round appearance in the Class 5A state playoffs.
But Hernandez, Guerrero and de Leon have since graduated, and Rodriguez is the now the head coach at PSJA High. While the Patriots are in the process of replacing key offensive pieces, defense could again be a hurdle to clear.
The Patriots allowed 31.5 points per game last season, nearly 11 points more than the next highest average by a playoff team in District 31-5A.
“We struggled last year defensively,” Mission Veterans coach David Gilpin said. “There were some issues early, and we got some things corrected as the season went on.”
The Patriots showed some signs of improvement in late October and into the playoffs. Before losing its third-round game to Dripping Springs, Mission Veterans won four of five games while allowing a modest 23.4 points per game.
“We weren’t satisfied at all with how were on that side of the ball the first 10 games or so,” Gilpin said. “Against Brownsville Veterans and Flour Bluff, we really picked things up. We tackled. I’ve said it time and again: the key to us improving defensively will be our tackling. Our coaches continued to grind. Nobody gave up on our defense.”
As encouraged as he could be about his 2017 defense, Gilpin still has a way of keeping things in perspective.
“We’re young,” Gilpin said. “Our entire starting linebacking core right now will either be sophomores or juniors.”
Two of those young linebackers are Joey Garcia and Jazz Vallejo. As sophomores last season, Garcia and Vallejo combined for 231 tackles and 42 tackles for loss.
“It’s been kind of hard teaching the new guys, because they don’t know what to do yet,” Garcia said. “We have to teach them a little more after we go back inside and show them on the board.”
“I remember last year I was in the same shoes as the freshmen, and I had to learn from the older guys,” Vallejo said. “I’ll teach them everything I know and hopefully they will follow.”
The turning point for the Mission Veterans defense came last October after the Patriots allowed 71 points in a road loss to Laredo Nixon.
“Last year, we were even younger,” Garcia said. “Against Nixon, we were cramping up and getting hurt.”
“There’s definitely a different mindset this season,” Vallejo said. “We’re not going to let that happen again.”
WIDE OPEN
The departures of Guerrero and de Leon have freed up opportunities for new receivers to emerge as viable contributors.
“This summer, we’ve needed to see our receivers develop, because we only have one starter coming back,” Gilpin said. “But we had those three other spots, and we had to find guys who could play there, as well as finding depth behind those guys. We’re encouraged, if not excited, about our receiving core now.”
Senior Buda Gonzalez (40 receptions, 548 yards, five touchdowns) is the lone returning starter from the 2016 group of wideouts.
“There’s a lot of pressure, because all our receivers did great things,” Gonzalez said. “But we can’t be singled out, either. It’s a team effort.”
Mentoring younger receivers is a role Gonzalez is quite familiar with.
“I had the role last year,” Gonzalez said. “I’m trying to teach the younger guys how we do things. Not missing practice. Being on time to practice every day. And if someone goes down, it’s next man up.”
Junior John Aguilar will be one of those younger receivers expected to shoulder more of the load. Aguilar caught seven passes for 86 yards in eight varsity games last year.
“I’ve noticed more of an effort by me this summer,” Aguilar said. “Seeing that I’m actually getting more of a chance is great, and I’ve been working for it. All of us are working for it. We’ve got big shoes to fill.”
STADIUM UPDATE
Mission Veterans was scheduled to open its season with three games at the newly renovated Tom Landry Stadium. Due to ongoing construction, the original opener against Harlingen High was rescheduled from 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 1 to a 7 p.m. kickoff on Aug. 31 at McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium.
Mission CISD athletic director Leticia Ibarra said over the weekend that Week 2’s Battle of Conway matchup between Mission Veterans and Mission High will “more than likely” be a 7:30 p.m. kickoff on Sept. 8 at Bennie LaPrade Stadium in Donna.
“Mission is a city of about 70-80,000 people, and about a seventh of them will be in the stands for the Mission High game,” Gilpin said. “It’s an easy drive (to Donna). We may not have 10,000 in the stands like we would if it were here, but it’ll still be a really big crowd and an exciting night for both clubs.”
If Tom Landry Stadium isn’t ready for Mission Veterans’ Week 3 game versus Laredo Martin on Sept. 14, Ibarra and Gilpin confirmed Coyote Stadium in La Joya and Bennie LaPrade Stadium in Donna are candidates to house the Patriots for another week.
MISSION VETERANS’ PROGNOSIS
The Patriots may have lost offensive talent and their offensive coordinator, but the plan is for new OC Jeff Espino to run the same offense as Lupe Rodriguez, his predecessor. An improving defense could keep Mission Vets in more games this season.
2016 record: 8-5
Returning starters O/D: 4/4
COACH’S TENURE
Coach: David Gilpin
Year at school: 9th
Record: 55-37