By Mark Molina | The Brownsville Herald
After an 0-1 start, the Los Fresnos Falcons have rebounded with back-to-back wins over Austin LBJ and Edcouch-Elsa.
Now, the Falcons will look to make it three in a roll when they host the Edinburg Vela Sabercats at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Leo Aguilar Memorial Stadium in The Brownsville Herald’s Game of the Week.
The Falcons (2-1) came into the season with a stout non-district schedule and have had their challenges over the first three weeks, but head coach Patrick Brown said the Sabercats might present the biggest hurdle to date.
“They are the best team we’ve played this year,” he said. “We think we’ve played some pretty good teams. (Vela) is as big as anybody we’ve seen, they’re as fast as anybody we’ve seen and they’re pretty scary. We’ve got our hands full, but our kids and our coaches love a challenge. Come Friday night, we’re going to show up and we’re going to play.”
Vela (3-0) comes in widely regarded as the Rio Grande Valley’s top team and their second-year head coach John Campbell believes his team is better at this point of the season than they were a year ago.
However, he believes his team needs to be more consistent in all facets of the game as they still have a ways to go to get to where they ultimately want to be.
“We definitely don’t feel like we’re in midseason form by any stretch, so we have a sense of urgency when we come to practice because we have some things we feel we can definitely improve on,” Campbell said. “I feel pretty good about where we’re at, but we have a pretty good opponent staring us in the face. We definitely expect to have another competitive ballgame on Friday.”
Vela will face a Los Fresnos team with plenty of momentum and a big reason for its success has been its offense finding its rhythm after a lackluster Week 1 loss to El Paso Montwood that saw the Falcons net just 169 total yards.
In the last two weeks, they’ve racked up 837 yards and nine touchdowns.
Quarterback Sergio Martinez has come on strong with 588 yards passing and six touchdowns.
Martinez’s top target has been junior wide receiver Nico Valencia, who has caught 21 passes for 270 yards and five scores. The duo could set for another big week as the Vela defense has been giving up 411 yards a game.
Brown said getting the offense going has been about patience and a strong work ethic from the players on the defensive side of the ball.
“One thing we take the biggest amount of pride in is that you’re never going to hear a defensive guy get mad at an offensive guy,” he said. “Our defense has been supportive of our offense. So our offense hasn’t felt the crushing pressure of ‘We’re letting the team down.’ We’ve been able to develop a lot of our young kids. I hope we’re on the verge of becoming a Los Fresnos Falcons true offensive team that we’ve been in the past.”
It’s been the Los Fresnos defense, however, that has set the tone, holding opposing offenses to 293 yards per game, while recording 10 sacks and seven turnovers.
The secondary has been solid with four interceptions, two coming from defensive back Johnny Cadengo, who also had a 72-yard pick-six in last week’s win at Edcouch-Elsa.
“This year, whatever our defense does, we follow offensively,” Brown said. “When Cadengo had the pick-six, something clicked in our kids because before that, we were slow to get started (on offense). We know our defense is going to pick our offense up. They’re a very good defense; the best I’ve seen since I’ve been here.”
The matchup between the Los Fresnos defense and the Sabercats offense could prove to be and important one.
Vela has average 376 yards per game and has outscored their opponents 123-61. They are led by quarterback Anthony Sotelo (402 yards passing, 3 TDs), running back Christian
Flores (291 yards, 3 TDs) and a trio of upperclassmen at receiver.
They can move the ball, but that could prove tough this week.
“(Los Fresnos) is experienced (on defense) and you expect them to play well defensively and that’s showing up on video,” Campbell said. “They are very sound, kids play hard and you can tell that they know what they’re doing. They’re obviously very, very well-coached.”