BY SAUL BERRIOS-THOMAS | STAFF WRITER
GRULLA — On Oct. 20, quarterback Dillen Salinas and the Grulla Gators were battling with Zapata.
Salinas rolled out of the pocket, looking to run the ball to the sideline.
“It was a horse-collar, but whatever. It’s football,” Salinas said.
What made the impact so much worse was the Grulla offensive lineman who got tangled up and landed on Salinas’ left ankle.
“I heard a pop,” Salinas said. “I knew I was done. I was there crying a little bit”
Salinas’ junior year came to an end that day.
Shortly after, he had surgery on his ankle to insert pins, which will give him stability.
Salinas was devastated. Through six games, he led the district in passing yards, rushing yards, and touchdowns.
“After the surgery, I felt like I didn’t want to play anymore, because I felt sad and stuff,” Salinas said. “The first day of therapy I was like, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore.’ I stopped going for five days.”
Salinas felt alone. He was frustrated, and all he wanted was to be back out on the field for the team.
“We knew if Dillen went down, we were going to be in trouble, because we didn’t really have a backup,” Grulla coach Abel Gonzalez III said. “Ruy (Salinas) did a great job for us stepping in and taking over that role. But we knew with Dillen going out, it would be tough for us. For it to happen the first week of district play was tough for our kids, but our kids kept battling. Our kids kept playing hard.”
Freshman quarterback J.T. Trujillo injured his ankle during Week 1 of the season, which meant Grulla didn’t have a true quarterback to fill the role. Ruy Salinas, no relation to Dillen Salinas, is a defensive back who stepped in at quarterback for his junior year last season. Things only went downhill from there, as the Gators lost three of their next four games. The team closed the season one game away from a share of the district title, going 5-6 overall and 2-2 in district.
After five days, Dillen Salinas decided he had to return to therapy. On day six, he made a beeline for lead athletic trainer Gary Aguirre’s office.
“I realized that it’s football,” Dillen said. “My last year. I have to make it my best year. People say that, ‘Senior is your best year.’ So, I have to make it my best year.”
Dillen Salinas came back to therapy with a renewed urgency. His goal was to be healthy for spring sports.
“Missing football, I cried a lot. I had depression here and there,” Dillen Salinas said. “I wanted to play sports my junior year. I wasn’t going to miss any sport that I didn’t have to.”
He worked hard and was ready for baseball season. He even competed in track. He came into the Grulla summer football program on a mission.
“It was a pretty tough injury,” Gonzalez said. “He was on an MVP pace before the injury. He’s hungry to get back out there. He has a lot of his weapons out there, which is going to help him out.”
The goals are high for the Gators this year. Last year left a bad taste in their mouths, and now they are eager to get back to the top of the district, where they have been so often under Gonzalez.
“I set my mind to it: Do a lot of therapy, a lot of therapy,” Dillen Salinas said. “I was in Gary’s room 24/7. First game came, and I did good. Practice has been good.
“I am really excited to be back out here again, and hopefully win that district title.”
“We need him. It was really tough when he got hurt,” junior receiver Jesus Garza Jr. said. “Now that we have him back, we are going to do some big things.”
NONSTOP
Most of the Gators will tell you senior Miguel Salazar is one of the strongest players on the team.
Not only can he do some very impressive things in the weight room, but he is mentally strong, as well.
This summer, Salazar got a job but kept his devotion to the team.
“I would wake up early, come here to the school to do my footwork and conditioning, and then I would go to work at 4, and stay until the end of the day (10:30),” Salazar said. “I worked the whole entire summer, but when they needed me here, I was here. No excuses. Because this is my last year, I can’t let them down.”
Salazar plays left guard on the offensive line and tackle on the defensive line.
Most of the offensive line players have nicknames for each other, and Salazar is no exception.
The guy they call “Fluffy” will be anything but when his opponents run up against him this year.
“Miguel Salazar, who has played offensive line, will also be back on that defensive line,” Gonzalez said. “He is a really strong player and a leader out there for us. He has worked very hard this summer, and we are really glad to have him this year.”
After a long night at his job at KFC, Salazar was always there in the morning to lift weights with the guys.
“We are super competitive,” Salazar said. “We are always throwing up those two plates just for warm-up, and we compete with each other and push each other. We know we can’t be the weaker team on the field, because we don’t have that size. What we do have is strength, speed and conditioning. We are always running, constantly. We will be the more fit team every time.”
CONSISTENCY
Gonzalez enters his ninth year as the head coach at Grulla this year.
“I’ve been blessed here at La Grula,” Gonzalez said. “We were able to have success here early in my career. The kids understand that the program works. What we do is for a reason. We say things for a reason. Success breeds success. We find ourselves in the playoffs every year. We find ourselves trying to fight for a district title every year. 2016 we won it. Last year, we were about a half away from winning a share of it. Our kids have bought into what we are trying to do, offensively, defensively and on special teams.”
The kids come in knowing they can rely on their coaches to put them in the best position to win.
“(The staff’s continuity) helps a lot, because they have been here for a very long time and they have communication,” Salazar said. “They all went to school together. They have that spark. They want to win. We want to win. So it helps a lot.”
GRULLA’S KEY TO THE SEASON
Everything looks right for Grulla to regain their throne atop the district, but the Gators were reminded last year just how devastating even one injury can be at the 4A level.
2017 record: 5-6
Returning starters O/D: 7/6
COACH’S TENURE
Coach: Abel Gonzalez III
Year at the school: 9th
Record at Grulla: 37-49