BY NATE KOTISSO | STAFF WRITER
RIO GRANDE CITY — Aaron Garcia doesn’t want to look back.
The last two football seasons were especially painful for the Rio Grande City native, who was selected to lead the Rattlers program in December 2015.
“We’ve been in position to where we were closing to getting in,” Garcia said. “We went 4-4 in district each time. Seven of those eight losses came against playoff teams, except for the year we beat Laredo Nixon (in 2016). A lot of that had to do with us putting ourselves in situations that were hard to overcome in the end.”
The Rattlers were off and running last season, starting the season 4-0 in District 31-5A. They couldn’t control how their district schedule was put together, but it just so happened that Rio Grande City faced the district’s four eventual playoff teams. RGC had near misses against Sharyland Pioneer, Mission Veterans and Sharyland High. But they were just that: near misses. Near misses have never helped a team get into the playoffs.
The new 10-team District 16-5A Division I is a welcome change for Garcia. He won’t have to worry about the Sharyland schools, and two-time district champion Laredo Nixon has jumped up to Class 6A.
“I’m excited, because I don’t think any (new) name out there is going to wow you, as far as name is concerned, on paper,” Garcia said. “But we know what we have. We’ve got a group of seniors — half of them were on the JV team, and half of them were on the varsity. This group has grown tremendously since the first day I met them. Then, you add in our junior and sophomore groups, who were successful on the sub-varsities, as well. I’m expecting that to carry into our varsity team.”
Garcia said he doesn’t have a well-known, go-to guy just yet. Last year, the Rattlers’ go-to was quarterback Jason Perez, who completed 69.5 percent of his passes, throwing 15 touchdowns and three interceptions. Perez graduated, but he left behind an offensive line stacked with upperclassmen.
“We’ve went up against one of the best defenses in the Valley every day at practice,” junior center Zac Compean said. “They showed us what we lacked, where we lacked, and a lot of us have come back bigger, faster and stronger.”
Two years ago, Compean was a part of the Rattlers freshman team that went 10-0.
“It was kind of hard to get in with everybody, but we found a way,” Compean said. “We made group chats, and we jelled real fast. Attitude and effort played a lot into it. We were a little bit scared the first couple games, but we went at the opponents. Every game wasn’t easy, but we never gave up on each other.”
Like Compean, junior guard Gerry De La Cruz attended Ringgold Middle School and was a part of RGC’s 2016 freshman team. De La Cruz made the leap to varsity late last year.
“We had guys that were coming from Ringgold and Veterans (Middle School),” De La Cruz said. “We spent a lot of time together hanging out. If we take what we did then, since most of us were on that team, then we’ll be successful.”
QB TBD
Garcia has yet to decide what he will do at the quarterback position. Mario Garza and Adrian Gonzalez began battling to become Jason Perez’s replacement during spring football in May.
The Rattlers scrimmaged the La Joya High Coyotes on Friday and now head into Week 1 and the Starr County Super Bowl against Roma with a yet-to-be-determined starter.
“If need be, I’m very confident with both,” Garcia said. “They both know that the one with the hot hand will play on the field.”
GALVAN-IZED
Running back Angel Galvan wasn’t asked to do too much for the Rattlers as a sophomore. In addition to being the Rattlers’ top throwing threat, Jason Perez was the Rattlers’ leading rusher, chiming in with 669 yards and eight rushing touchdowns.
Galvan himself ran for 255 yards and one touchdown in 2017, but more will be asked of him this season.
“I’m trying to prove to my coaches that I can earn their trust,” Galvan said. “Every time I get the ball, I have to show them what I have. I’m glad I get to work with guys like Zac, Gerry and the whole front line, because they give me the room to succeed. They worked their butts off.”
“Angel’s one of those kids that is self-driven,” Garcia said. “He’s gotten bigger over the summer, and that’s a tribute to his hard work. He ran track for us. He did all the right things to get better as a football player this offseason.”
Galvan won’t have to carry the running game all by himself.
“We also have Jonathan Huerta coming back as a junior,” Garcia said. “We brought him up for our last game against Sharyland High, and he took his first carry 16 yards for a touchdown. Defenses were able to key in on Jason (Perez) last year, but now we’re going to be a little bit more balanced. If you key in on Angel, you’re going to forget about Jonathan.”
RIO GRANDE CITY’S KEYS TO THE SEASON
The Rattlers graduated a lot of seniors from last year’s team, but they will be buoyed by their successful sub-varsity players who are stepping into the varsity spotlight. Coach Aaron Garcia believes he has the most talented wide receiving corps at RGC since he took the job. We’ll see if either quarterback, Mario Garza or Adrian Gonzalez, has the skills to get the ball to them.
2017 record: 5-5
Returning starters (O/D): 8/3
COACH’S TENURE
Coach: Aaron Garcia
Year at school: 3rd
Record: 11-9