TJ GARCIA | SPECIAL TO THE MONITOR
Their collegiate careers have been inextricably intertwined for the past four years.
Two Rio Grande Valley kickers. Both in love with soccer, but they followed the football route to collegiate success. One from Edinburg. One from Brownsville. They’ve taken turns being the Division-II Lone Star Conference’s best kicker the last few seasons. Both are incredibly accurate, and one even has a national championship ring.
In 2015, Edinburg’s Kristov Martinez and Brownsville’s Julio De La Garza were both named LSC all-conference honorable mentions as freshman. Martinez went 12 for 19 on field goals and finished with 92 points, while De La Garza was 10 for 14 and had 68 points.
Next year, Brownsville Lopez’s De La Garza earned first-team all-conference honors, making 11 of 14 field goals and 53 of 55 PATs for 86 total points to help the 9-3 Texas A&M-Kingsville Javelinas to a bowl game. Second team? Naturally, that was Edinburg High’s Martinez. The 5-foot-6 former UTRGV student went 18 for 24 on field goals and 55 for 58 on PATs for 109 points.
Martinez took his turn last season. He earned LSC first-team all-conference honors and third-team NCAA DII All-America status with a sensational 2017 campaign (24 of 28 FGs and 137 total points), playing a huge role in helping the 14-1 Texas A&M-Commerce Lions capture the DII national title.
In 2017, the 5-foot-10 De La Garza went 11 of 15 on field goals and made 33 PATs for 66 points, earning LSC honorable mention for a TAMUK team that struggled, finishing 4-7 overall.
Now this year — in part because of last year’s unqualified success and his team’s 2018 No. 1 ranking — the senior Martinez was highlighted by Lindy’s Sports as a preseason second-team All-American. Through three games this season, the senior is 3 for 5 on FGs (both misses were beyond 40 yards) and leads the 3-0 Lions in scoring with 19 points.
Kingsville and Commerce met to open the 2018 season, and the Lions bested the Javalinas 37-36 in double overtime. Both kickers had field goals and several extra points in the contest, but in the second OT Texas A&M-Kingsville opted for a two-point try after a TD and failed, giving Commerce the one-point victory. Martinez had the winning extra point for the Lions.
Still, the senior De La Garza — like Martinez — leads his team in scoring this season, booting two field goals and 12 extra points for 18 points through three games.
MEMORIAL’S SPEIGHTS HAS BEST GAME FOR STANFORD
To say Stanford is a running back factory is to say that Ford can churn out F-150s. Welcome McAllen Memorial product Trevor Speights, with hard hat on and football in hand. He manufactured 87 yards on 11 carries to lead the Cardinal past UC-Davis 38-10 on Saturday.
The 5-foot-11, 209-pound junior has been playing behind Heisman Trophy candidate Bryce Love and NFL player Christian McCaffrey for the last two seasons. Although Speights saw action in 11 games last year, play was limited. He had 142 yards on 36 carries in 2017. Saturday’s 11 attempts, 87 yards and a long of 38 were all career best for Speights. Stanford is ranked No. 7 in this week’s AP poll.
SOUTH’S DEL ANGEL SEEING ACTION AT COASTAL BEND
Harlingen South alum Cameron Del Angel has been a major part of the rotation at Coastal Bend College this season. The freshman outside hitter has played in 11 of the Cougars’ 12 matches, racking up 77 kills in 43 sets. The 5-foot-8 Del Angel has also picked up 14 assists and 13 blocks for the 9-3 junior college in Beeville.
Del Angel, who was also a star hoopster at Harlingen South, was an all-district volleyball selection for the Hawks. Coastal Bend plays in the NJCAA’s Region XIV with schools like Laredo Community College and Blinn College. The Cougars’ regular season runs through the end of October, with the region tournament set to begin Nov. 2.
LOS FRESNOS’ ZAPATA IN MIDSEASON FORM AT UTRGV
After a redshirt season in 2017, Los Fresnos product Jennifer Zapata is back where she belongs. The UTRGV cross country runner posted an impressive time of 14 minutes, 48.9 seconds at the Texas A&M Aggie Opener on Aug. 31 and finished fourth among 55 runners from six Division-I universities including TAMU, Houston and UTSA.
The Vaqueros cross country team would be glad to have the 5-foot-2 senior replicate her 2016 success. As a junior, Zapata competed in six meets and earned a spot in the NCAA South Central Regional Championships, where she posted a 37th-place finish with a time of 21:47.2 in the 6K race. Zapata was named WAC second-team all-conference for her work in 2016.
ROMA’S CANTU HITS GRIDIRON FOR KANSAS’ McPHERSON COLLEGE
Diego Cantu is hitting his stride in his third year at McPherson College, a four-year NAIA school in Kansas. The 5-foot-9, 160-pound starting safety has one interception and 10 tackles (eight solo) for the 2-1 Bulldogs in 2018. During the previous two seasons combined, he recorded just eight tackles in eight games played.
The former Roma Gladiator was seen playing safety on TV last weekend as ESPN broadcast McPherson’s game vs. Southwestern (Kan.) on one of its multiple sports channels via Spectrum. Earlier in the season, Cantu had a season-high five tackles against Bethany College. MacPherson is a magnet for RGV talent, as Roma’s R.J. Garza and Edinburg Vela’s Brandon Guzman and Orlando Guzman are also on the Bulldogs’ roster.