By KEVIN NARRO
Staff Writer
LA FERIA — The 2018 football season will be one to remember for La Feria coach Oscar Salinas.
The Lions put together an 11-win season, the most wins by Salinas in his eight years as the coach of La Feria. The Lions also made an appearance in the third round of the playoffs for the first time since the 2008 season.
With the banner year, Salinas was named the Valley Morning Star All-STAR Coach of the Year.
“This means a lot, but it is not about me, it is about my coaching staff and the kids,” said Salinas, who has a 19-year coaching career. “They all work very hard, and the coaching staff does a great job preparing the kids. The community as well, they do a great job supporting us.”
Salinas spent 11 seasons as the Edinburg Economedes coach before he was tabbed the coach and athletic director in La Feria.
Not only was the 11-win season a career best at La Feria, but reaching the third round was a first for Salinas as a head coach.
“When we got to district and beat Kingsville, we knew we had something going,” Salinas said. “Our offense was struggling early on, but once we got to district they kicked it up a notch, and defensively we knew we had the pieces in play to match up well. When we did those things, we knew we had a shot to make a run.”
The Lions will have plenty of weapons coming back in 2019, including soon-to-be-senior Dorian Hernandez. With the success of 2018, La Feria feels its window of opportunity is just beginning to open.
“We are a year ahead of schedule, we have plenty of kids coming back and we feel that this year can set us up for next season, and the kids did well all year and when district play came, they stepped up,” Salinas said. “Moving forward the expectations are higher, and you never know how it is going to go, but now we have the confidence. We need to play with the teams from up north.”