BY NATE KOTISSO | STAFF WRITER
MISSION — When a team goes as far as the Mission Veterans Patriots have in the 2018 UIL Class 5A Division I playoffs, there is never one hero. There are several. This is how teams built to be good become great and, perhaps, historically great.
This is where the Patriots stand before their Region IV-5A DI final against San Antonio Wagner at 10 a.m. Saturday in The Alamodome in San Antonio.
Two seasons ago, Jazz Vallejo was a sophomore linebacker who appeared in 13 games. Vallejo was second on the team in tackles (109), second in sacks (3.0) and third with 16 tackles for a loss.
All signs pointed to Vallejo emerging as one of the Valley’s top linebackers in 2017, but his season was cut shortly after the Patriots’ season-opening win over Harlingen High.
“After the Harlingen game, I had rhabdomyolysis, which comes from extreme dehydration,” Vallejo said. “I was in the hospital and that took me out for two weeks.”
According to the Mayo Clinic, rhabdomyolysis takes shape when muscle cells break down and release a protein pigment called myoglobin into the bloodstream. While it didn’t happen in Vallejo’s case, myoglobin has the potential to cause severe damage to the kidneys.
“He had a tough year,” Mission Veterans coach David Gilpin said. “He was hospitalized. I went to see him after the Harlingen game and he still had his white uniform on. His white uniform wasn’t white anymore. It was soaked. That’s serious stuff. It scared him, scared his family and scared us.”
Vallejo returned to the starting lineup against Sharyland High on Nov. 3, 2017, but his junior season would officially end that same day when he tore an ACL versus the Rattlers.
“This was a guy who started most of his games as a sophomore and he was well put together,” Gilpin said. “He’s got the body to handle it. We don’t have a lot of big, strong guys but Jazz is one of them. It was a big blow.”
“I was going through a lot of emotions, but I knew that I couldn’t end my career that way,” Vallejo said. “I had to go out the right way. I started my career well and I had to finish it well. That’s how I’ve seen it since I was a little kid who played football. Every day, I had to wake up and grind. I didn’t have time to be sad. It became all about my senior year. My teammates were always there to support me. I always thought about them. They made it easy to come back.”
The senior Vallejo has gone through several battles in the middle of the defense alongside fellow senior Joey Garcia. Garcia has a career-high 139 tackles so far this season and has led the Patriots (12-1) in tackles for two of the past three seasons.
“As seniors, our job is to motivate people,” Garcia said. “Sometimes, players might be scared or have their head down, but Jazz, (senior safety) Gus (Garza) and I are there to talk to them and help keep their heads up. Players make mistakes and even I make mistakes on the field because no one’s perfect. We keep things positive, nothing negative.”
In the Patriots’ third-round game against Corpus Christi Veterans, Vallejo pulled off the biggest play of his career. Down two points with the ball, Corpus Christi Veterans began a play from its own 1-yard line.
Eagles quarterback Joseph Gonzalez lined up from the shotgun several yards deep into his own end zone. Gonzalez took the snap and lofted a pass he thought would be caught by one of his receivers, but Vallejo reached up with both hands for an interception. He returned the ball seven yards for a touchdown, giving Mission Veterans a two-possession lead 33 seconds into the fourth quarter.
“We talked about covering the curl route in practice and Gus Garza always tells me before a pass play to watch for a curl,” Vallejo said. “There was nothing special about the play. I just did my reads and I happened to be there at that time. It’s crazy that it was me, but if you look back at that play, Joey (Garcia) and another defensive back were back there. It was going to be picked off regardless.”
“Jazz is right now playing the best football that he has ever played for us,” Gilpin said. “He’s as physical as he’s ever been. He’s always been good about being where he needs to be, but he’s helped our outside linebackers set the edge. Jazz has taken it to another level since the playoffs started.”
Mission Veterans and San Antonio Wagner (12-1) are in search of the same goal: to win the first-ever fourth-round game in each program’s history on Saturday.
“I know we have a chance,” Gilpin said. “I’m not trying to give them (Wagner) bulletin board material, but our group has what it takes to win this football game. Wagner should be expected to win the game, but that doesn’t change who we are and how we’re going to go about our business and our expectation when we step onto that Alamodome field.”